A really enjoyable, as with anything James Wallis et al touch. It's short, and expensive. The length is what it is -- honestly, this really feels like it was designed to be part of the boxed set and then pulled out to be sold separately. As with anything Mongooses produces, the pricing is ridiculous for the page count.

As mentioned in the description and Megan's review, this is essentially a Read This First document for newly awakened clones. It provides and a very gentle introduction to the Paranoia setting in a highly amusing way. It's the perfect counterpart to the player's guide.

Addressed to the newly-decanted first clone, the first section provides basic orientation by the Computer itself to life as an Infrared clearance member of the Alpha Complex community. That's where a new individual begins, although your group may decide to start out as Troubleshooters (minimum security clearance is Red) so this discourse would then be in your past. It's all written in a wonderfully cheerful and slightly breathless style that combines a political manifesto's honesty with an over-enthusiastic corporate onboarding document, peppered with (deliberate) errors that look like a database has crashed somewhere...

This continues through sections on gaining Red clearance, what Troubleshooters do, the enemies of Apha Complex, care and operation of your Cerebral Coretech and your very own copy of the Alphapedia - the database of useful information available online (via the cloud and accessible via Cerebral Coretech)... this all an in-character resource. Everything here may be accessed by characters and acted upon. Certainly once they reach Red clearance and become Troubleshooters, anyway.

This gives a good overview of what life is like in Alpha Complex, the background to your adventures as Troubleshooters. It's a neat way to convey the 'common knowledge' that all citizens have about their environment and society, but which their players, naturally, do not have unless the GM lectures them for hours. Better than that it also brings over the general tone and style of the game, and the 'mindset' of the Computer, thus helping all involved to get into the correct mood to play the game to best effect. (That mood should be mildly irritated, a bit uncomfortable, and trusting nothing... keep your laser handy!). It is rather expensive to give each player a copy, which would be ideal gamewise, but having a copy to share around will enhance your enjoyment of the game as it sets the scene so well.

All good Troubleshooters should remember to stay alert, trust nobody and keep their lasers handy. And the Computer is your friend...

[Note: This is a 5-star book, but it's over-priced hence it loses a star.]