"100 Greatest Baby Boomer Toys" by Mark Rich (Krause Publications, 208 pages, $24.95)
This is one of those ridiculously commercial words-and-picture books that strikes one as obvious and useless -- until, like popcorn, it takes hold of you. It's abrim with charming or provocative or appalling photos and reproductions of the toys of the now-aging boomer generation: Mr. Potato Head, Howdy Doody, Davy Crockett's Coonskin Cap, Tinkertoys (an "honorary" boomer toy), Twister, Roy Rogers Cap Gun. In all, the playthings are a great deal more charming than legions (but not all) of the boomers themselves. An iced-coffee table book.
