Reference Guide

Need a reference guide for stocks that includes ticker symbols, earnings figures, historical price information and other data? The Times offers the S&P Annual Stock Guide, with complete 1997 data for about 5,500 common and preferred stocks, for $10.95. S&P's 1998 forecast for the top-performing stocks and mutual funds also is available, for $6.95. To order, call (800) 246-4042.

Brian Lowry's article on how current TV programming has shrunk made reference to the amount of entertainment shows introduced back in 1986 versus today ("The Incredible Shrinking Schedule," Sept. 16). A reference guide revealed the new shows from '86 were audaciously diverse, including the offbeat alien comedy "ALF," a twisted cop parody called "Sledgehammer" as well as Michael Mann's law-enforcement drama "Crime Story." This year's upcoming fare all seem cut from the same conventional cloth, with refugees from "The Breakfast Club" having now joined the CIA in both "Alias" and "24"; Jim Belushi playing yet another beleaguered sitcom dad; and how am I supposed to get excited about a show dealing with the hidden intrigue located in "Pasadena"?

Top Hotels: The Newport Beach Conference & Visitors Bureau reports that it has some award winners in its midst. The Four Seasons Hotel received the highest rating, five diamonds, from the American Automobile Assn. Le Meridien and the Marriott Suites received four diamonds. The ratings are important because they end up in AAA's national tour book, which becomes a reference guide for many of the organization's 36 million members.

Long a mainstream drug reference for doctors and consumers alike, the venerable Physician's Desk Reference has gone alternative. Sort of. PDR for Nutritional Supplements ventures beyond prescription and over-the-counter medications into the often murky world of minerals, amino acids and other substances consumers are gobbling up at an unprecedented rate.

Brian Lowry's article on how current TV programming has shrunk made reference to the amount of entertainment shows introduced back in 1986 versus today ("The Incredible Shrinking Schedule," Sept. 16). A reference guide revealed the new shows from '86 were audaciously diverse, including the offbeat alien comedy "ALF," a twisted cop parody called "Sledgehammer" as well as Michael Mann's law-enforcement drama "Crime Story." This year's upcoming fare all seem cut from the same conventional cloth, with refugees from "The Breakfast Club" having now joined the CIA in both "Alias" and "24"; Jim Belushi playing yet another beleaguered sitcom dad; and how am I supposed to get excited about a show dealing with the hidden intrigue located in "Pasadena"?

The Orange County Reading Assn. named Donna Chamber Orange County's Reading Specialist of the Year at its spring conference at Katella High School in Anaheim. Chambers, who teaches reading at the Sunkist and Juarez elementary schools in Anaheim, said she was "surprised and pleased" with the award, which is given annually to the outstanding reading or resource specialist in Orange County. In addition, the Huntington Beach woman works part time for 112 USA, an organization that contracts with companies for on-site English language training.

Call it, if you like, the Battle of the Two Margarets: Drabble took the field first, with the 1985 fifth edition of "The Oxford Companion to English Literature"; enter now Atwood, with the late 1988 first edition of "The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English." Actually, Margaret Atwood only contributes the foreword to the Cambridge book, which has been edited by Ian Ousby; Margaret Drabble is Oxford's Ousby. But call it the Battle of the Two Margarets anyway. Now then, which Margaret wins?

For parents who haven't thought to look on bookstore shelves for places, events or projects that are both Valley and kid-related, now is the time: The 1996 editions of guidebooks have arrived. But a relatively new entry in this category, from a company with headquarters in the Cahuenga Pass, delivers more than the usual. "The Parent's Guide to L.A.--1996-'97" is not only the heftiest of the guidebooks, at 516 pages, but has the most information specific to the San Fernando Valley.

Long a mainstream drug reference for doctors and consumers alike, the venerable Physician's Desk Reference has gone alternative. Sort of. PDR for Nutritional Supplements ventures beyond prescription and over-the-counter medications into the often murky world of minerals, amino acids and other substances consumers are gobbling up at an unprecedented rate.

Need a reference guide for stocks that includes ticker symbols, earnings figures, historical price information and other data? The Times offers the S&P Annual Stock Guide, with complete 1997 data for about 5,500 common and preferred stocks, for $10.95. S&P's 1998 forecast for the top-performing stocks and mutual funds also is available, for $6.95. To order, call (800) 246-4042.

For parents who haven't thought to look on bookstore shelves for places, events or projects that are both Valley and kid-related, now is the time: The 1996 editions of guidebooks have arrived. But a relatively new entry in this category, from a company with headquarters in the Cahuenga Pass, delivers more than the usual. "The Parent's Guide to L.A.--1996-'97" is not only the heftiest of the guidebooks, at 516 pages, but has the most information specific to the San Fernando Valley.

Self-publishing was considered a vain indulgence some years ago. Too often, most self-published books had amateur stamped all over them: They were obviously computer generated, badly printed and bound by authors who were either cash poor or ignorant about the publishing process. No distributor would handle them, no book section would review them. On rare occasions, a friendly neighborhood bookstore might take a few copies by a local writer on consignment.

Top Hotels: The Newport Beach Conference & Visitors Bureau reports that it has some award winners in its midst. The Four Seasons Hotel received the highest rating, five diamonds, from the American Automobile Assn. Le Meridien and the Marriott Suites received four diamonds. The ratings are important because they end up in AAA's national tour book, which becomes a reference guide for many of the organization's 36 million members.

The Sunset Western Garden Book. You will find it hanging from a nail or sitting on a counter at most nurseries. You'll see soiled, dog-eared copies clutched tightly by gardeners at flower shows, plant sales and club meetings. These green-thumbs call it their bible. "I've worked in this business 20 years and I wouldn't be without it," said Phil Miller, vice president and general manager of Roger's Gardens in Newport Beach, the largest-volume garden center in the country.

Gerianne Craft Frazier, a Newport Beach corporate lawyer and mother of two young sons, describes herself as "an absolute fiend for being organized." So it wasn't out of character that after her first son was born four years ago, Frazier began clipping newspaper and magazine articles about child-rearing issues and filing them along with handouts from parenting classes.