AROUND HOME : NEW BOOKS : Tips and Techniques for Builders, EDITED AND ILLUSTRATED BY CHARLES MILLER, (The Taunton Press; 1988)

READERS OF Fine Homebuilding magazine will recognize this book as a compilation of readers’ handy hints featured in its Tips & Techniques column.

This book is divided into various home-and-tool categories, such as Frame Carpentry, Nail Tricks, Jigs and Vises, and so on. Each chapter contains labor-saving tricks of the trade (such as a sliding dump bed that sits on rollers in a pickup--to unload, the driver drops the tailgate, backs up to the dump point and hits the brakes; the dump bed slides out of the truck, emptying the contents without further human effort).

This book is full of advice that any do-it-yourselfer can use. And for those who subscribe to Fine Homebuilding, it’s still a bargain because the reader doesn’t have to search through a stack of magazines for the pertinent hint. (Paperback $9.95.)