Mr. Beddow had been on the full-time staff as a Book World assistant editor since 1983, and earlier he had worked part-time at The Post as an on-call copy editor in Style since 1979. He also had worked at The Post as a reporter in the Metro section and as a Sunday magazine editor in the early 1960s.

A resident of Washington, Mr. Beddow was born in Dubuque, Iowa. He attended Yale University. In 1956, he joined the Air Force, serving as a translator in an intelligence unit in Korea and later as an operations specialist with the Strategic Air Command. He moved to Washington in 1961 after leaving the Air Force.

From 1973 to 1975, he also was special assistant to the dean at American University Law School. Later he was special assistant to the executive director of an organization called Youthwork, which attempted to find ways to alleviate unemployment among black teenagers.

He returned to The Post in 1979 as a part-time editor and in that capacity took every opportunity to work in Book World until becoming full-time in 1983.

"The wonderful thing about working for Book World is that one is forever learning," Mr. Beddow once wrote. "Each new book is a challenge to put it in the hands of a worthy reviewer."

Survivors include two sisters, Janet Trick of Olympia, Wash., and Shirley Hall of Las Cruces, N.M