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	A Personal Protection Guide By Solveig Singleton January 25, 1999 Worried about protecting your financial assets, bank accounts, and stock holdings from Y2K? Fretting over those prescription pills? That's the kind of advice that J.R. Morris offers. Morris' Year 2000: Personal Protection Guide (Sterlingmoor Publishing Company, $21.95) does tell you how to approach your doctor about the possibility that Y2K will interrupt the availability of medicines or complicate illness. But sadly, it doesn't warn about the possible complications of becoming pregnant or giving birth when Y2K arrives. In general, the author's focus makes a lot of sense -- after all, many people think that Y2K will be just a hiccup, at worst generating billing errors, false audits, loss and confusion in records. How likely is it that Y2K will sweep human civilization away in a tidal wave of destruction? Isn't it much more likely to annoy us with a thousand petty stings? Preparing for a power outage or a fuel or water shortage is mostly common sense. But securing one's tax records from the IRS is not. So this is an excellent book, particularly for the older person with a lot of assets and medical problems. But it isn't a whole lot of fun to contemplate the campaign of letter-writing and filing of documents that the book recommends. Do I really want to track my bank records for months to determine the exact normal date of electronic deposits into my account, so I can spring into action like a pit bull crossed with an accountant if it is late? I'd much rather contemplate the collapse of civilization. And if civilization doesn't end in panic and ruin, well, perhaps we'll be so relieved we'll consider it a privilege to muddle through problems with lost retirement accounts. True, this is more a reflection on my character than on the book -- I probably should follow the author's advice and undertake his regimen of paper-shuffling. But I know I won't. Instead, I'll just rely on what until now has been a bad habit: Never throwing anything away.		FEATURES Book Reviews Y2K already has spawned its own genre. We tell you what books are worth buying. Chip 'n Little Cartoons Chip 'n Little goes on TV Chip 'n Little visits John Koskinen Chip 'n Little saves the world Warning: This cartoon has been called "foolish and tasteless." Y2K from A to Z Y2K Haiku Traditionalists may be shocked. Mad Cow Culture What does Y2K have in common with today's Mad Cow Culture? Answer: Everything. Declan McCullagh's Y2K articles Psychology of Y2K LATEST NEWS As of December 31, 1999 Get Your T-Shirt Quick Bill Gates Does Y2K Reader Feedback A Sarcastic Calendar Cooking After the Apocalypse A Real Y2K Disaster Hitchhiker's Guide Meets Y2K