EARLY REAGAN by Anne Edwards (Morrow: $21.95; 741 pp.).

With books, it is often a matter of timing. And so it is unfortunate that Anne Edwards’ book, “Early Reagan,� had to come out when it did. For it is just too close to Gary Wills’ splendid “Reagan’s America: Innocents at Home.� Both examine Ronald Reagan’s childhood, college years, radio days, life in Hollywood and work for General Electric. His political development is scrutinized. Edwards has done what appear to be meticulous interviews. Her book is thorough. But, unlike Wills, Edwards’ ideas don’t resonate.

There are the little things. Edwards cites (from Reagan’s autobiography) that Reagan worked as lifeguard at a park named after James Russell Lowell, author of “Ode to a Waterfowl.� However, Wills found that the park is named after a Col. Charles Russell Lowell, and in any case, Lowell the poet did not even write “Ode to a Waterfowl.�

But it is also unfortunate that Edwards, a writer who has been under contract and has experienced Hollywood firsthand, should display less understanding of the movie industry than Wills, a historian from Chicago. Even when she has the goods on MCA--the powerful talent agency that profited unduly while Reagan was president of the Screen Actors Guild--Edwards tap-dances around the issue. She doesn’t fit the pieces together.

And, all too often, Edwards lapses into the breathless prose of a Hollywood biographer. My particular favorite is: “Nothing had changed in Nancy Davis’ life. Although she had met and dated two of Hollywood’s greatest stars, she remained unemployed.�