THE MAGNIFICENT MAYA

This audio documentary which sounds like the audio tracks from a TV show--is designed for a popular audience and in ts brevity, can do little more than touch upon major points. Part of the Time Life Lost Civilizations series, the presentation does a serviceable job of telling us why we should care about its subject, but one misses the lavish illustrations typical of Time Life books. Furthermore, some of the readers are a bit maladroit. Perhaps the publishers should have given the ancient Mayas their own personality, rather than stamped out this assembly-line product in the house style. Y.R. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/SEP 98]