THE WOMAN'S GUIDE TO STARTING A BUSINESS

The first half of this is a compendium of basic information--how to obtain bank loans, insurance, publicity, and a good accountant. The second half is a series of women-bucking-the-business-odds-and-succeeding stories, and that's where the book goes awry: nearly all of the operating firms described are based on a ""cutesy"" idea. One woman organizes people's kitchens and offices for a living; another dishes out tacos from a pushcart outside New York's Plaza Hotel; still another gives Italian cooking demonstrations in Louisiana. . . hardly the stuff from which a solid business can grow. The authors virtually ignore the fact that women can make it in the conventional way, and so they defeat themselves by dodging their own premise.