Digital Books

If you are looking for a book to really understand the outgoing Net Revolution, don't look further. Martin takes you to the center of the digital movement in a cristal clear writing. This is a book to change the way we think, the way we live. The beggining of a personal revolution

An *EXCELLENT* book, written in a very easy-to-read style, that puts the Internet revolution in perspective. If you are a confirmed 'nethead, then this book is not for you - it is only telling you what you already know. If you don't "get it", and/or you are sceptical about the net, then GET THIS BOOK. It has changed our lives and will continue to change it for some time to come. Chuck uses real examples from real companies and people to drive home his points. Some of the links need to be updated on his website, but other than that, I highly recommend this. A good companion read would be James Martin's "Cybercorp"

In a domain positively viscous with lame literature, this book doesn't have any serious competition. It's very helpful at all levels, but its witty and humane approach is particularly good for business people moving onto the Web for the first time. Martin gives sound, detailed explanations of Web advertising, branding, business planning and building an on-line community by using the actual experiences of Net companies that are building today's new Internet economy

If you've been awake and actively using the net over the past few years, you probably already know just about everything in this book. Martin has very good insight into what the web can really be...beyond all the technology hoopla, building virtual communities, supplying appropriate content, making a corporate web site that is actually useful to consumers, etc.. A GREAT read for those trying to make sense of the web, understand how people use the web, and see how other companies have created successful enterprises or applications integrating the internet. The copy I got had some duplicate/missing pages in the introduction of the book.

This book is a "must read" for all company owners and managers involved in the corporate planning process. The Digital Estate digs into the successes and failures of pure on-line businesses and electronic efforts of other companies to define the principals of doing business today. This is not a "technology book" and is not targeted for "net heads" or persons already in the Internet business. It is a business book for executives that contrasts the "old way" and new methods that are transforming business thinking. It is a book for business heads that need a grounding in business on the Internet. Written in a clear and concise manner, sans hype and jargon, it is engrossing, clever and insightful. I can not over emphasize the importance of this book to all business executives.

Not soemthing I would read cover to cover, but the individual "Hacks" that I have read are pretty good. I have lots of books along this line and this is one of the bet. I put it up there with Stu's "DV Rebels Guide" which is also incredible. If you like the Rebel guide, you will probably like this as well. Lots of good stuff. Enjoy!

Great book with great content I recommend it to anyone who want to take there film making a step forward and is to busy or lazy to download the information from the internet becaue it is all there. Spread around of course but you will find every piece of information even most of the pictures used in this book so. If you have time and dedication you can save yourself the money by looking it up on the internet.

This book covers many aspects of video. Labeling tapes, making excel spreadsheets for saving information, time code on tapes, how to achieve certain effects, lighting, and green screen effects just name a few. The book is general to most all video software and is a very usefull tool I'm glad I purchased. Don't let the term "HACKS' fool you it 's only refering to tips or tricks.

I found the book to be very practical and have the
kind of "nuts-and-bolts" pointers that I like. You
don't have to read it cover to cover (I didn't) but
can pick it up and go to the points that interest you
or where you are currently in need of help. It refers
to various "commerical products" that the author has
used to get the job done. I found this helpful. With so
many competing products to chose from it's nice to
hear, "If you get product X you'll be able to do Z,"
rather than buying and hoping (or not buying and
wondering). Kuddos to the author.

I learned so much from this book. In fact, I've already implemented several of the ideas and have had great results. If you're semi-professional (video has been added to your responsibilities but you have no experience with this medium) BUY THIS BOOK.

Who would have thought of parchment paper and clothes pins to diffuse light and create a softer, more natural light over the subject? That's just one of the great tips I've already started using.

I've bought several digital video books while trying to learn this medium, and this has been by far the most useful.

What a great story! Mr. Schreck is a very talented writer and has created a character that you just want to keep reading about. Can't wait to read more about Duffy!

What can I say. Mr.Shreck has done it again. If I did not know better I would think the mans name ended in a vowel. The passion that he brings to his characters stricks of someone who comes from the olive groves of napels. This story is worth more then $.49. I feel like I am stealing it. I cannot wait for the next story that comes from this giant of the spoken word.

A story that makes you want to meet all the characters...from Duffy to the Foursome.
We have all faced the same decision points that Duffy had to face. The question for the reader is...do we do what Duffy did or what he wanted to do?
Bring us more Duffy!

What a nice story w/ an especially clever title. Shreck writes a very strong character in a story that was too short. Let me know when the book comes out!

I loved it. It's a great story and the ending is wonderful. The good guys trimuph over the bad guys and the reader has some fun along the way. There's a lesson to be learned too. I hope to read more about this guy Duffy. He's a likeable character with a heart of gold.

What else can I say? MKL's work always proves to be this. And absurd--but still believable. Will's life is somewhat fantastic, but by the end of the excerpt, every reader will find him/herself relating to at least pieces of it. In that way, the writing is a nice mix of surface humor & in-depth reflection. Well done.

I found the piece to be very descriptive. In a few short pages I was drawn in...ready to read more. I could truly visualize the scene, as if I were there. The characters were very intriguing...left you with wanting to know more about their past and future.

On the night of our hero's best friend's wedding, Will Mangan seems hardly prepared:

"My tux was rented and smelled of sweat and garlic. My present was so ineptly wrapped common decency would prevent most people from pawning it off on a vegetative great-uncle."

Well, to be honest. Will really isn't prepared. He's over Mary, the bride, but they did have a thing going on at one point:

"Back in our college days I used to call her Mary Magdalene, because she was beautiful enough to turn Jesus' head and just slutty enough to make a quality hooker."

Now, he's just contemplating his own post-graduate school future and getting quickly drunk. Everyone expects it. The bride's father's been given instructions to watch out for him. He probably should have been watching out for his wife who's been drinking from a flask all day.

Ah, weddings, they do bring out the best in people....Will's about to steal back his gift when he meets Knight, the bridesmaid, who just might be the woman of his dreams.

Oh, this is one of those excerpts that will brighten even a bad day. It's laden with more than just a few snarky funny lines and the well-paced tempo just keeps you reading and laughing.

Would I read the rest? Give ma few pages more and I could tell you for sure. One thing I will tell you is that M. K. Laughlin knows how to end an excerpt making me wish I had at least those few more pages. Probably after that issue resolves, I will want a few more after that...

M. K., this is one very funny and too-true wedding. Thank you for the laughter and may your future be very bright.

I wish there was more to this story - my wife and I read it together ad we both loved it. The characters were very real and capture your attention from the very beginning. The atmosphere and family dynamic at the wedding is something everyone can relate to. I would like to see more from this author!

This was a really good start I hope I can read the rest of it. I think the title is great. That hologram jesus sounds really scary. I was definitely laughing out loud throughout the entire excerpt. This sounds like a great book.

This is such a beautiful and poignant story about one man's love for his daughter and how far he's willing to go to protect her from harm. The story has so much honesty and faith. I ended it with a lump in my throat and a wish that everyone in the world had the faith and love of this father.

A painful truth emerges from the heart of author John W. Cassell. His story -telling ability is second to none.The title, "Lest We Forget," fits the mood of this towering piece.Emotional, grabbing, and entrenched describes the words that take the reader to a level of understanding not found in most reads.
The autobiographical flavor adds a striking dimension to this story, factual and a special recount from one who has been there. Mr. Cassell leaves no doubt for the strength of his love so passionately held for his daughter and the present fears for her safety as she relives today what he once experienced.
I found Mr. Cassell's portrayal of personal demons most remarkable, a soldier with a wounded psyche, "War is Hell."
Finally, I thank Mr. Cassell for giving me a profound definition of love for a daughter;
Love is courage and commitment to forgive oneself, not the act of weakness but one of strength. Once you realize there is something or someone greater than you are, only then can you love with perfection.
A must read and definitely 5 star material.

Robert A Meacham, author of poetry, suspense novels, and contributor to Amazon Short Program.

Heartfelt. Emotional. Love and faith driven by a father's devotion in a tragic situation. Presented in a well-writen two dimensional world, John Cassell, again, lives up to his extraordinary ability of story telling. Very poignant. Having a daughter her age--and being one who still "smells" the cordite and "hears" screams at night--John Cassell poised a thoughtful question for me. The answer was yes! The power of the pen is within his hand!

Incredible pain; incredible love, that is what the author, John W. Cassell, has fashioned in this truly heartfelt tribute to his daughter. John sends his daughter, Christine, off to war because she has told him it is her desire and duty to do what is right and honorable. Like any good father, John is filled with worry over the horrible possibilities such a deployment might provide for his beloved Christine.

But John has already been where his daughter is about to venture. A different time and place, to be sure; but identical in so very many ways. To lessen his worry for the safety of his daughter, John makes a pact with a Higher force, real or imagined may be fuzzy in our minds but we realize not so in John's, to be, in a very tangible way, a vicarious substitution for the deadly fate that could very well be awaiting his precious Christine. Given the circumstances and John's intimate relationship with those circumstances he understood only too well what his own duty was and he fulfilled his obligation.

A great read and a great tribute. Thank you, John.

Joshua Berry, Andrea's Dream and Amazon Shorts. Take a look. And take a look at all the other works of John W. Cassell.

`Lest we Forget' is a story about a father's love for his daughter and an underlying sense of regret over an event in his life in which he had no control.

Thru it all, the two loves of his live converge as his memories of the past haunt his life and his wish for his daughter's safety carry the story forward.

It is well written, highly emotional, and it gives a peek into the life of a man who has suffered many travails, but still carries on because of his faith.

This book is like a SQL SERVER 2000 bible for me. It has the most wonderful information in it, clear and easy to understand. I needed to interview for a job and I looked to this book for clarity and knowledge and boy was I enlightened. A must read for a beginner DBA like myself!!!!!

I have been a DBA for a bunch of small sites for many years. Recently I committed to a job w/ a large, online OLTP retailer and needed to fine tune my knowledge of the SQL Server engine.

I was shocked at just how flawed/lacking my knowledge was after reading this book.

Let me first state this sucker isn't for people looking to get by using the Enterprise Manger GUI. This book dissects the inner most workings of the db engine and it's under lying theory. Their is a lot of TSQL. I found myself limited to reading only a small number of pages at a time and then needing a break. The book is that intense and I have a Masters of Science degree as well as MCDBA and MCITP certifications.

Probably my favorite feature of the book is its small size, under 400 pages from tip to tail. I'd suggest this book to anyone wanting an understanding of what they are actually doing in SQL Server when they issue commands from EM. This book should be a requirement for any DBA or DB Designer in my opinion.

This is the best book ever written on performance tuning. Excellent text and very well written too. Thanks a lot.

I have been working with SQL for several years and always felt a bit weak in my understanding of best practices. I have only absorbed a few chapters so far on index structure and execution plans but already I feel like I have fast tracked into the clever peoples class. The layout is excellent and the language unambigous.

I am a SQL Server performance consultant to many large corporations and government agencies. I have read and re-read this book so many times I should know it by heart. Still, I carry it with me on consulting engagements everywhere I go. There is almost always someone at my client's site who wants to improve their performance tuning skills. I show them the book and tell them this is where you start.

I don't know if there will be a version specifically for 2005, but it really doesn't matter much. The central concepts of the book have not changed for SQL Server 2005.

Ken England's writing style is clean and lucid. He can explain complex issues in a remarkably understandable way. His explanation of indexes and strategies of indexing is a great example of readable technical writing. He also has a good understanding of what is important and what is not.

This book is accessible to anyone who has some experience with SQL Server or any relational database. Someone with little experience may not get it all in one pass, but they will be much better prepared for real-world SQL Server performance tuning.

This quirky thriller drew me in from page one. I loved the character of the victim services counselor as a protagonist and her literal and virtual connections to the investigating officer, victim, and suspect. The narrative is driven by a sexual energy that tenses and relaxes, moving the plot like a snake after prey. Can't wait to see what happens next!

Well written with the pleasure of an intricate mystery puzzle. Appears to be a fast-paced, mesmerizing read with well-developed characters. The author does a great job of making her characters seem real. They are very well drawn so that one can really visualize them. The work is very engrossing and one can see where the experiences of the characters might become very personal to the reader. I look forward to reading more.

This grabbed me from the very beginning. The character development is enticing, the writing is sexy and compelling, and I couln't stop reading. I hope I get a chance to read more so I can find out what happens with the relationships and with the murder investigation.

Intelligence, uncertainty, and a flair for old-fashioned storytelling. J. Corcoran's portrait of a forensic social worker offers the reader a glimpse of murder through Alayne's eyes. A Month of Sundays is a good read. Looking forward to more from this author.

I read the excerpt with excitement and was hooked quickly. The mystery surrounding the poet/diarist's death is compelling in itself, while the narrative evokes a curious blend: the reader experiences Alayne's emotions intuitively, yet never senses a loss of the storyteller's authority. Alayne's journey intertwines sexual tension with a riddle, pulling the reader forward together. The erotic chapter was vivid and engrossing.
I want to know what happens next!

This book is more than just a restoration and retouching. Mark Fitzgerald has included the basics of photoshop in a clear and easy to understand way. The book is easy to navigate and find answers to your questions. One of his suggestions saved me hours of work. I highly recommend this book, it is a must have in anyone's photoshop library!

I've been working with Mark's book at my side for about a month now; it's clearly the best, most easily organized Photoshop book I've ever used. Every section of it taught me something new, or re-introduced me to concepts that I thought I had known but were made clearer and easier to use. I have had the pleasure of working with Mark on a couple of occasions conducting lighting workshops, so I know first-hand his excellent teaching skills. He brings them all to this book; its content and organization are first rate. Even though the book is organized primarily around restoration and retouching, it covers the whole spectrum of Photoshop and demonstrates indispensable skills for any photographer, at any skill level. I particularly found his section on file management (chapter 5: Getting Organized) to be the clearest, most easily applied description to be found anywhere, but every chapter in the book is equally content rich and superbly organized. There's a ton of Photoshop books out there (I think I have at least half of them!) but this is hands-down the best.

For a photographer who is new to Photoshop CS3 and it's amazing complexity as digital manipulation software, it can be intimidating to use. What is helpful about a technical book like "Restoration and Retouching Bible" is that it makes it easy to understand and use. The book is well written by the author who has a clear understanding of the software and it's tools. The first 200 pages are designed to help you understand the fundamentals and tools to succeed as a digital photographer manipulating digital images. I recommend this book as a great resource for entry level upgrade from Photoshop elements users to experienced Photoshop CS3 photographers.

Excellent Reference guide, April 8, 2008

I have been a photoshop user for a couple of years, but tend to only edit the obvious such as exposure, color balance, maybe the contrast and/or sharpness and then I'm done. It wasn't until recently that I have been using various layers to enhance my images and im finding that I still lack confidence with the abundance of tools and options CS3 has to offer. I relate these inadequacies to sporadic practice. Like anything, practice makes perfect, and if you don't use it... you loose it. Since photoshop isn't my full time job, I find that I forget minor details more often than not. This is where "The Photoshop Bible," comes in as an amazing resource. First of all the table of contents is written very well. Being able to look up a specific tool or scenario, fast (portraiture, architecture) is vital to a 500 page book of information. This book is relatively new to me and I have already used it several times as reference and im happy I did. Each time I have used the book, I start by scanning the index, after finding the page and reading into it I always find additional information that helps me perform the task more effectively. I also find that his dialogue makes for an easy read that's comprehendible the first time read.

I would recommend this book to anyone serious about photoshop, who doesn't have the time to continually practice and learn the new tricks because this author makes it easy! It's easy to find what your looking for and it's easy to read, understand and perform what the author says!

As an architectural photographer, who has been using Photoshop since version 2, I intended this book as merely an occasional reference guide. Due to the title, I anticipated that some areas of the book would have little relevance to me. Not the case. I was delighted to find it was written with universal relevance. When working with a program for as long as I have Photoshop, certain approaches become habit and I at times fail to become familiar with many new program functions without frequent periodic review. This book's author is able to organize and communicate clearly, through examples, the principles behind the program and its new features in a way that all users would benefit. I am not accustomed to writing reviews or recommendations, but I feel it is well deserved here.

I have another Photoshop book which is good but this one has additional info and different ways of doing things that helps. Only downside is the version it's based on is earlier than mine. But most of the suggestions that had changed, I could figure out.

I echo the comments from everyone else. This is the best choise book to buy to learn how to use this product.

I have uesed this book more than any book I have on photoshop. This is my seconed copy. My first I gave to a friend. Everyone who sees this book wants it. Mat makes everything so easy, you will wonder how you ever did with out it. I give this book five stars. I would love to give it 20 stars,but they only give me five. You will be working in elements and photoshop like a pro in one day. Debbie

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is a new user to Elements or even those who have been using it for a while. You can always learn some new, or improved techniques that you had not thought about. The examples are very easy to follow and they work. They are grouped logically and it is well written with very few errors. You can not go wrong with this book.

I've used Photoshop Elements for several years. I started with Elements 2 & upgraded to PE3 a couple of years ago. I found it too complicated so I went back to PE2. The problem is, I never learned to use layers & fudged on restorations & enhancements. Some looked pretty good, some looked "fake". Without layers there was lots I couldn't do. I got the PE5 program a few months ago & thought I might be able to figure it out. I gave up until 3 weeks ago. That's when I got Matt's book. I have worked thru most of the book & love the detailed visual guide for each lesson. I don't want theory, I just want a simple explanation on how to do things. I can't say enough about this wonderful book. I was able to go to Matt's website & download all of the "before" photos that are in the book. I followed the instructions for each lesson using his photos. After finishing each lesson I worked with photos of my own. I can't imagine a better PSE how-to book than this!

It looks like Dave Barry has some competition. I loved Landon's quirky sense of humor and was immediately drawn into the story. I felt like the main character was right there, just for me, telling me a story that I could not wait to hear. There are very few books that can make me laugh out loud, even fewer that can do so in the first few pages. I'd say this is a must read once it is available for sale.

Completely enjoyable! In only a few pages, Landon has constructed a strong foundation for a wonderfully unique tale. The narrator's style is really what makes this a great read. By the end of the excerpt I was hooked and looking for the next page.

This excerpt simply left me wanting to read the rest of this book and see what happens. It is well written with great descriptive detail and a hook that draws you in from the very first paragraph leaving you so intrenched in the story you can't get out!

This is an awesome read! I recommend it to everyone. The excerpt peaks the reader's interest immediately. Landon gives the reader an instant and complete feel for the protagonist by effectively weaving snippets of his past in and out of the chapter. Do not miss this one!

Wonderful!! I want to have more pages of this book. The book grabbed my interest almost from the first page. I look forward to reading the entire story.