IF you enjoy the career pieces by Anne Byrne and Catherine Foley every week in, you'll be interested in Career Choice: The Guide to Careers and Courses in Ireland. Written and compiled by Byrne (Collins Press £7.99), it's essential reading for students, parents and teachers. There's lots of practical advice and useful information, including an explanation of the CAO system, the cost of going to college, PLCs and the ladder system which operates in the IT sector. A useful chapter lists the most common queries to

The Irish Times helpline each year. For example, "Are all the courses listed in the CAO handbook covered by the free fees initiative?" Or "What happens to my free fees if I fail my exams and have to repeat a year?"

There are chapters, too, on applications procedures for art and design courses and on applications by mature students. But the book is about more than traditional third-level programmes. It's packed with information on careers in the Defence Forces and the Garda and includes a section on FAS apprenticeships.

Drawing on her experiences as careers and guidance correspondent with The Irish Times, Byrne sets down in detail the steps to be taken to qualify as a lawyer, nurse, or electronic engineer and how to train as a hairdresser, teacher or graphic designer. Together, Anne Byrne and Catherine Foley put up to 26 different careers under the microscope.