A scandalously entertaining, and actually very useful guide to getting along in Francophone Africa by the hilarious British writer and inveterate traveler. Biddlecombe has collected his best anecdotes over a decade of wandering, meeting people and doing business in West Africa. Organized geographically, he devotes a chapter each to Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Togo and Zaire.  (WAF68, $15.99)