My first exposure to the unique writing style of Clive (call me “Max”)
Maxfield was a magazine article that he co-wrote with an associate. The
article was technically brilliant (he paid me to say that) and very infor-
mative, but it was the short biography at the end of the piece that I enjoyed
the most. I say enjoyed the most because, as you will soon learn, Max does
not necessarily follow the herd or dance to the same drummer as the masses.
Trade journals have a reputation for being informative and educational but
also as dry as West Texas real estate. Anyway, Max’s personally submitted biography not only included a
message from his mom, but also made mention of the fact that he (Max)
is taller than his co-author, who just happened to be his boss at the time.
Now to some people this may seem irrelevant, but to our readers (and Max’s
boss), these kind of things-trivial as they may seem to the uninitiated-
are what helps us to maintain our off-grid sense of the world. Max has
become, for better or worse, a part of that alternate life experience.
So now it’s a couple of years later, and Max has asked me to write a
few words by way of introduction. Personally, I think that the title of this
tome alone (hmmm, a movie?) should provide some input as to what YOU
can expect, But, for those who require a bit more: be forewarned, dear
reader, YOU will probably learn far more than you could hope to expect from
Bebop to the Boolean Boogie, just because of the unique approach Max has
to technical material. The author will guide you from the basics through
a minefield of potentially boring theoretical mish-mash, to a Nirvana
of understanding. You will not suffer that fate familiar to every reader:
was trying to say. For a limey, Max shoots amazingly well and from the hip,
but in a way that will keep you interested and amused. If you are not
vigilant, you may not only learn something, but you may even enjoy the
process. The only further advice I can give is to “expect the unexpected.”
ing paragraphs over and over wondering what in the world the author