hypertext, a text that contains interactive information. A new concept related to hypertext is hypermedia, described as a synthesis of a hypertext method and multi- media technology. The dictionary has many applications, not only as a reference book, but also as accompanying material for language learning. Designing good textbooks seems to be a hard task. Nonetheless, we can be con- fident that teachers, scholars, authors and publishing companies will continue to be interested in overcoming the obstacles placed in their way by external agencies, and that they will continue to exploit the possibilities of new technologies in the interest of language learners. Hang Ferrer Mora Department of English and German Philology, University of Valencia, Blasco Iba ´n ˜ez 32, 46010 Valencia, Spain E-mail address: hang.ferrer@uv.es PII: S0346-251X(01)00019-7 The Bilingualism Reader Edited by Li Wei. Routledge, London. 2000. xiv+541 pp. Price £60.00 hb/£18.99 pb. ISBN 0415-21335-5/0415-21336-3. This book starts from an anecdote which will ring bells with most readers of this journal. Li Wei recounts how, as a PhD student, he had been chided by his super- visor for quoting work by Labov without having read the original. Clearly humbled by this experience, he made good the error by reading the original paper, and dis- covered that the secondary sources he had relied on had badly misrepresented the views of Labov. ‘Since then’, he says, ‘I have been rather suspicious of authors’ interpretations and comments, especially the sharply worded ones, on other peoples’ work.’ The result is a collection of ‘classic’ articles intended as a basic source book for students working in the field of bilingualism. The 18 papers in this volume will be familiar to most people who teach courses in this area. They include work by Mackey, Ferguson, Fishman, Blom and Gumperz, Myers-Scotton, Auer, Milroy, Poplack, Clyne, Genesee, Meisel, Obler, Paradis, Green, de Bot and Grosjean, together with introductory and concluding papers by Li Wei. The papers are organised into three main sections: Language choice and bilingual interaction, Code-switching and language acquisition of bilingual children, and the Bilingual brain and bilingual speech processing. Each sub-section begins with a short introduction by the editor, and is completed by a set of ‘Notes for stu- dents and instructors’. These last consist of study questions aimed at getting students to extract information from the texts in the section, study activities in which readers are encouraged to use and reflect on the methodologies discussed in the texts, and Book reviews / System 29 (2001) 419–426 421