Multimedia Books

You can't watch television these days without getting bombarded with ads for on line brokerage companies. What's been missing has been a centralized source for information about the whole thing. This book provides that source. It's not complete - if it were it would be so big that you couldn't carry it around - but it's a great start.

You can read this book from cover to cover in just a few hours. That is, just a few hours if you don't take the time to go out on the web looking at the things she suggests. And that right there is the key to this book. Here is a good start that covers the whole field from A to Z, and at nearly each and every point along the way she points you to web sites for more information about specific points.

The problem with going to the web for more information, of course, is that web sites appear, go away, merge or whatever. She admits this, but accepts this risk and gives you multiple sites (you couldn't possibly visit all that she mentions) or suggests ways to find a missing or dead site.

This is a great way to get the basic information you need before getting started with selecting a broker and deciding what to buy.

I came here to write a review for this book, and found that a reviewer below, "A reader", had already written what I was going to write. This book provides a reader with no information, but with long lists of websites to look at. You can access those websites most often just wasting time (like "A reader" already said). Using search engines like Google/Yahoo is much better than thumbing through this book.

As I surf the Web, I often feel that it's like visiting a library where all the books have been spilled on the floor. The information is there but I don't know where to begin my search. "Investing Online For Dummies" explained how to get started, steered me to free or low cost online services, pointed out the important parts of Web sites, and showed me the process of online investing.

The delivery was on time. The book is good for me

This newest edition of "Investing Online for Dummies" reflects the latest changes and improvements to online investing Web sites. Addresses building an online information system, setting up a basic investment strategy, determining how much to invest, selecting an online broker and trading online, finding the right investments, performing Internet transactions securely, saving on commissions, managing a portfolio, and much more.

I just purchased this book and I'm looking forward to learn how to create games using flash. I have to get a good grip on the basics of flash first though. I got this book for $5 from Amazon's used book marketplace. Even though this is for Flash 5, this book can still be applied to Flash MX.

The book was a very simple read. Good online examples, but I was looking for something a little deeper.

I bought this book after flash mx was released, so I spent a great deal of time rewriting the code from this book to be more "mx-like". Such as having the code more centralized and creating clips instead of duplicating. If you stick to the flash 5 ways of doing things, this is a great book...however, some of the techniques in this book are now considered bad technique with MX. As far as gaming goes, this book is really good. Just wish I waited on the mx version!

Having mastered flash basics - this was the first Actionscript book I bought. It's nice to get straight into making cool programmes instead of having to master hundreds of commands first. Gary explains actionscript in a really easy to understand way and you end up with some really good programmes that you will probably use again and again. 5 days later I'm churning out work like I've been using Flash all my life. Thanks Gary!

This book is certainly the most fun way to learn ActionScript ! The examples are great and FUN ! Even if you're not interested in games, I would recommend this for beginners wanting to work with ActionScript. I also bought Moock's book, which was a quite boring read and is only useful as a reference. This book is the kind that you go through from cover to cover (you can't put it down until you finish it !)

My husband asked me to find a book of some kind for Adobe Illustrator because he knew WHAT he wanted to do, but couldn't figure out HOW. I did the research on my favorite site (Amazon!) and picked this one. He loves it!! He's been going through chapter by chapter and learning all kinds of new stuff. Thank you Amazon.com, and thanks to all the posters for the reviews.

Recieved item on time, right when we were told it would arrive. Book in very good condition.

I bought this book because it was required for a graphic art class. We went through the first 5 chapters, and now we are going to learn Photoshop. It is not good as a reference book, but more as a step-by-step "cookbook". The accompanying CD was very helpful in learning techniques. Anyone want to buy it from me?

I've been working with Illustrator over the past months, and this book helps me to understand some quite useful topics. The books is writen in a easy-to-follow way, so you can go chapter by chapter, or just jump to a desired function. Also, the book is full of highlighted items, so its easy to follow one example that leads you to new and useful tips and tricks.

Generally a good book and handy tutorial. The CD is helpful and the books give users a quick aptitude for the programs. Which is what we want. I give this three stars for the one big problem I have with this and the rest of the Classroom in a Book series: they are often inaccurate! There are a lot of frustrating little inaccuracies that make the user wonder if he has gone crazy or is doing something wrong. Please, Adobe, edit these books a little more carefully!

I have following comments on both Effective C++ and More Effective C++ CDs:
positive:
- good practical tips and advice on avoiding pitfalls
- heavily cross referenced
constructive:
- too informal at times and sometimes patronizing
- lack of structuring in explanation at some places

I am a huge fan of Scott's philosophy. I re-read his books every couple of years. Having his books on CD is most convenient. You can copy the CD to your hard drive and browse it whenever. Don't forget to look at his STD Lib book.

Very well written book. It not only give what to do and what not to do. It also has very detail explanations.

This book is not for C++ beginner nor a reference. But there are a lot of interesting and useful ways of programming C++.

This is the most disapointing book on C++ that I have ever read. Not only are the author's "simple" examples unrelated to anything that programmers do in the real world, they are written from the viewpoint of the programming gods on Mount Olympus. Does anybody really care whether your "pointer to a derived function of a virtual base class that inherits nothing, can end up being a consternation for those expecting a pure, inherited pointer to a class that is virtually derived?"

Huh? Enough said.

C++ is an obscure language enough. And not one that will be around for very long in view of the developments of web programming in general. It will always be a basis to start from -- then once learned, quickly forgotten, like Latin.

If you want more from this book then study FORTRAN, the precursor of the Latin we all know (and are struggling to work with to this day).

This CD does not work on modern computers. You need Internet Explorer 4.0 to view it. With other browsers no diagrams are shown.
I could not find a bug fix on the authors web page.

It is interesting to see that one of the big software gurus doesn't seem to know about graceful degradation. He could have easily added a statically linked HTML-only version to the CD.

Amazing service, I will keep shopping with amazon time and time again, Thank you foe the fast service,

A++++

I ordered this book for school as I do many of my books from amazon. I paid 16.50 for the book to come failry quickly to get the book and it is written all over and in very poor condition. I am not able to read some of the pages because they are all highlighted and written in. So I have waisted money that I really cannot afford.

This book was great. Not only did they describe important terms in detail, they had many illustrations to help interpret the meanings. The book also had premade flash cards and the CD had great learning games. It was concise, yet very education.

I found too many errors within this text. I was amazed that they were not located in the proofing prior to selling. I had no choice but to use this book for a class in Medical Assisting. Major errors including defining terms with the wrong definition. One section states a word meaning one thing and then the next section had a complete different definition. I recommend any instructor seeing this to use another text.

This book was in better than good condition, came soon enough for me to catch up in class and had the required components, thanks a lot for saving me money!

look how great i am.....i am a member of the senior leadership team which means i just go to meetings all day and really dont do any work....i just blowhard at work all day like i am blowing hard reviewing this book

No Joke. A serious six-sigma book written in most elegant form. I like the part where the Authors provide insights into "Sir Pork" - a really good way to put serious stuffs into readable form. Ignore the stars. It could have been 6 :).

This book will tell you that six sigma is an excellent quality improvement program, (You probably heard this already) yet authors won't equip reader with the tools that six sigma offers. I read this book twice with a strong desire to understand the principles of the six sigma, but after reading it cover to cover twice I got nowhere.

I like to read, and through the years I read a lot of books, but consider this to be the worst business book I read so far! Jack Welch, in his book Winning (which I strongly recommend) dedicates one short chapter to Six sigma, and it covers everything you will learn from this book. This book offers no substance what's so ever!!

More power to you if you can get something worthwile from this book. I bought the book on CD, and it was easily the most forgettable experience I've had in a while. The information is presented from a 30,000 mile view. So "big picture" oriented that it's useless to try and consider the action behind the concepts presented.

If you're looking for a way to appear to have read something complicated and high level about Six Sigma. you found your source. If you want real, usable information, look elsewhere.

If you're looking to learn about Six Sigma, this is the book to start with. It provides a good overview and quickly dispels the common myths (e.g. Six sigma is for manufacturing companies alone). It helps the reader to determine if Six Sigma is right for his/her organization, and provides clear steps demonstrating how to implement the six sigma roadmaps. It doesn't get too heavy into the advanced statistics, although there is a chapter that explains some of the tools and how they are used. Bottom line: While the reader may still need some assistance (from a trained Black Belt), this book provides the tools necessary to complete a six sigma project. I've read a few books on the topic and this was the most comprehensive - the best of the lot.

I have room for only one reference book in my camera bag. I carry my camera manual and the third edition of Digital Photography Pocket Guide. The information is up to date and constant. Buy it and use it.

This book is a good reference pint to start with for beginners or intermidiate. Cover many topics and list many functions. Good book to have

If you have used point-and-shoot camera for a while and want to learn more tricks like me, I would not recommend this book because two third of the guide gives the basics you should already know, and the last third has few tips you might think useful. In addition, this book is B&W print that makes the example photos not standing out between different settings.

This book is pretty decent for a beginner's guide, but not as in-depth as you might expect. Overall, I'm happy with it, but if you really want a great photography book, get Understand Exposure by Bryan Peterson.

Even though it is a Pocket Guide, I was expecting more from this book. I'm not saying it is a bad book but it is very very basic; practically focussed to those who have never EVER used a digital camera. The only chapter (to my taste anyway) that I find with relevant/interesting/good information is the 3rd chapter where the writer describes some tips on "how to questions". In summary, if you have some experience on digital photography this book won't be that usefull and if you want to learn about aperture, shutter speed and so on..there are better books to learn those subjects.

In short 178 pages Michael Rubin covers the essentials of making home videos. This is a book for beginners. It follows a structure (and approach) smilar to an English composition college course - Rubin teaches techniques (types of shots, as you would cover paragraph structure), but also fundamental stylistic considerations (movies ,not unlike Enlgish compositions, must have structure, e.g. beginning, middle and an end).

There is much I liked about the book:

(1) Comprehensive - covers everything a novice would need (a) products (out of date - see below), (b) camcorder handling technique, (c) shooting techniques and (d) editing

(2) Less product covereage; more focus on techniques - spends almost no time on discussion regarding camcorder choice (which seems to be the area where most other similar book allocate too much attention) .

Thechniques are described in detail and author's views are clearly argumented.

For example, chapter 3 "Shooting" introduces camera holding techniques, gives Rubin's summary 11 rules of shooting and covers major techniques:
(a) structure - beginning, middle and ending shots; close-up, medium, large shots;
(b) coverage - establishing shots, over the shoulder shots, cut-away shots.

Or, Chapter 6, Editing, provides the following brakdown of approximate time required for postproduction of 20 min of material:
- 20min capturing the material on computer
- 45min creating the "first cut"
- 30min recutting and trimming
- 15 minutes creating titles and effects
- 10 min finalizing

(3) Clearly expressed opinnions - Rubin is not afraid to articulate his position (the market is otherwise full of "decriptive" books whose authors are afraid from taking a point of view).

For example, regarding close-ups, Rubin states, "...because your camera's viewfinder and LCD are so small, there is a real tendency to shoot everything too close...when you are shooting someone's face, don't be afraid of cutting off the top of their head. It's the eyes, not the head, that make for a powerful close-up of a person."

(4) Rubin is an able teache - and he teaches substance, not just technique, which is to say - he suggest a style of thinking while making movies.

For example, here is how Rubin puts forward his idea that making movies is what he calls, "shooting to edit" - "Shooting to edit involves nonlinear thinking - tha is, thinking "out of order". The last shot you make may turn out to be your opening shot..."

(5) Practical examples and exercises - Rubin illustrates with pictures many of his ideas (I would have loved a cideo-CD with the book). He also suggests exercises. For example - shooting at a dog park, so that one fine-tunes techniques (such as allowing subjects to "exit" the frame).


I also have a concern (or two) about the book:

(1) Technical material is dated - the book is published in 2002 and largely focuses on discussion of tape-based camcorders. There is no discussion of high definition videos.

(2) Limited additional information - a CD/video CD or web-site supplied with the book would have been nice. While illustrations (in black and white) in the book are OK, real video examples will have been useful.

All-in-all, this an excellent book for beginners.

This can by no stretch of the imagination be considered a comprehensive guide to digital video. It cannot even be considered an adequate "operator's manual". It serves a much different purpose. It helps one who knows nothing or practically nothing to get started, to learn the right questions to ask and to determine if this is really a field of interest after all. For those purposes, it is excellent.

In addition to some very basic general priniciples, this book also contains a lot of practical advice and entry level explanation. Why is time code important? Why should tapes be logged? What is the best way to capture the kids' birthday party and not completely bore everyone? Each of these questions, and others, is important but their importance may not seem at all obvious to a beginner. This book answers question like that so that people who will take this hobby further will get started on the right track.

The place I see this book as particularly valuable is for someone considering the purchase of video equipment. It will provide insight as to what is involved. Someone who has already bought some expnesive equipment might be better served by a book that is a bit more advanced.

My home videos are better already because of this book! This book is not necessarily aimed at the pros, but at the amateur who wants to make better home videos. The information and tips are excellent, but some of the writing style could have used editing.

This is NOT a book for those people who already know and practice video making skills. It is an excellent book for the person with little or no introductory knowledge of digital video however.

Great book for beginners. Demonstrates everything from shooting the video to editing on the computer. The author covers nearly every video editing program available.

This book focuses on creating small projects. The book provides exercises that help you get going. They demonstrate what you should try, as well as what you should not try.

This is not a lengthy book. You will probably get through the entire book in a few days. But it is great to refer back to as you begin your own video projects.

My first exposure to ColdFusion was an expensive fast-track class. I came away from it shaking my head and wondering if I would be able to do anything with ColdFusion at all. My experience was with web design - I didn't have any database or backend experience at all. After the class, I purchased ColdFusion Studio and this book. Before my 21 days was up, I was impressing myself with what I was able to accomplish with ColdFusion. I'm looking for a book now to take me to the next step, but for a beginner this book is excellent and fun to read.

This is a great book for ColdFusion newbies and web development beginners in general. While covering most of the important ColdFusion topics, this book is primarily for beginners (eg in one chapter it explains the concept of 'view source') so if you're after anything more than the basics, it's best that you look elsewhere. That said, the book does an excellent job of introducing the reader to ColdFusion and, if tested, would probably meet its goal of enabling a completely new user to teach themselves ColdFusion 5 in 21 days (or even less). This book is well written with few (if any) errors. The tips and examples are useful, with the examples noticeably uncluttered by superfluous formatting code that often appears in these sorts of books. The Q & A section at the end of each chapter is a nice touch, and the exercises offer a good way to revise the content of the given chapter (although an accompanying CD or website containing suggested code for each exercise would be handy). Bottom line: 'Sams Teach Yourself Macromedia ColdFusion 5 in 21 Days' is a good resource for web developers wanting to learn ColdFusion 5.

The author is quite good in explaining things, however there is no CD accompanying the book. According to the technical representative, the samples can be found at http://www.... These are samples, however for a previous version of this book and may or may not work. If you don't want to hassle with this - Don't buy the book!

Charles Mohnike has not only created the best possible text for learning Coldfusion MX, but I believe he has truly created a classic text that stands above all others in the IT industry.

I used his book to learn Coldfusion, and continually refer to it as I try to solve problems.

Charles has the unique insight to include just about everything a programmer would need to know to move from a novice to intermediate Coldfusion programmer.

Charles also presents his work with cheeky good humor that really expresses the humor and culture of the web world (we are pretty whacked, generally speaking).

If you are learning Coldfusion, or need a general referral text, this is the book.

We can only hope that Charles will write an advanced Coldfusion tutorial one day to follow up on this monumental text.

If you are new to ColdFusion, but an experienced Web developer, I can tell you from experience that you will gain a lot from this book--fast. It has the typical convenience and layout of all SAMS books, and it has all the content you need to get yourself started in scripting real, practical ColdFusion Web applications.

If you are an expert developer, you really don't need any books. You can gain all you need by looking up ColdFusion reference sites on the Internet. But then, you will find information on all the ColdFusion tags, but may not necessarily find perfect examples all on one site. If you are the type of person who wants easy, smoothly flowing reading before a nights sleep, then this book is definitely for you. It doesn't just tell you what each tag does, but it also tells you practical uses and examples. There's always the tag reference in the appendix in the back of the book.

Plus, half the time you are online you are doing things other than putting effort into learning something like ColdFusion, so by purchasing this book, you will guarantee that you'll learn something about ColdFusion. Having a physical book like this is good reference to have next to you while you are programming the back-end of site, whether it's a shopping cart, content management system, online inquiry form, etc.

I read most of this book as I found the content very valuable, and have afterwards developed a few web sites using ColdFusion. I am now feeling confident with a little more self-study, I will take the Certified ColdFusion Developer examination.

I would actually recommend that you use both this book, as well as get used to the online references of ColdFusion. Since the version of ColdFusion will always change, but the infrastructure of the technology as well as logic will remain the same. You can learn the basics from the book and tweek your understanding of various versions using online references.

This is a good intro to give the basics of valuation for "old economy" businesses. It determines the valuation of companies based almost exclusively on their cash flow over the previous few years (i.e., 3, 5 and 7 year periods) to the analysis. Unfortunately it ignores (completely) too many issues that play an extremely important role in valuation. For example, the quality, background, knowledge of management, the products the company manufactures, the markets for these products, macroeconomic conditions, intellectual property, market position (i.e., oligopolistic? Is entry/exit difficult in the industry?). Not one of these issues is even touched upon!!! The authors seem to be implying that these issues are irrelevant!! Only the cash flow over the previous few years forecast forward (i.e., discounted for present value) matters according to the book!!! Perhaps this type of mentality explains why the overwhelming majority of mergers and acquistions fail!!!!

If you are looking purely for a way to use past cash flows to determine a company's "value" this is the book for you. If you are looking for a discussion of just about any other factor affecting valuation, forget it.

The delivery took three times as long as Amazon promised and the book was damaged when I recieved it. Also, it was missing content (i.e. End of chapter questions.)

This was the first time i purchased a book online. Transaction was simple and services were prompt.

The workbook force you to look at the information you received from "Valuation" from different perspective and you will recognize what you missed or misunderstood. Also, application of "Valuation" concepts in a controlled environment will make you confident that you are applying "Valation" correctly/appropriately in the real life. This is important since the matter being discussed is directly related to money!

The book itself is excellent and exactly what I was hoping for.

Amazon Customer services assured me that the CD was included and even sent me a second copy but there was no CD again..... I thought it was too much of a bargain to be true...and it was !! I will scrutinise the summary more diligently next time ;)