Equipment and Software Books

After taking Cisco CCNA 1 and gaining a summer job at a school district, I have found this book very helpful. Though the information is taught in CCNA and A+ classes is the same, this book is a nice refresher and good step by step problem solving guide nevertheless.

This book is as up to date as possible considering the fast changing technology and publishing times.It is a huge book and covers everything. It has answered a hundred questions I didn't even know to ask. The detail with which it answers these questions is wonderful. I only hope the author will see fit to give us a yearly update supplement.

The cover says "Ideal for A+ certified technicians," which I am not, but I could imagine they'd be even more frustrated with this book that I am.

I bought this book after acquiring a large collection of older PC parts. I thought it would be handy to have a troubleshooting reference nearby while working with the parts. I've had this book a number of months now, built 2 fully operational computers from scratch, and have not found this book helpful ONCE. I'd recommend saving your money and buying another book or searching Google Groups for your answers.

Just to be fair, there is a lot of interesting information about how certain technologies evolved and is fairly comprehensive. (Such as full page pictures of what midtower cases and toolless screws look like.) But when it comes to troubleshooting issues while working on a computer, it's just about worthless. (Plot spoiler: just about all the "Immediate Solutions" sections tell you to check the cables, or something that obvious.)

I'll admit I'm a software technician by trade and enjoy fiddling with stuff. This book may very well be good for the novice or intermediate user. But if you've built computers before or know your way around troubleshooting an issue, look elsewhere for a hardware reference.

I BOUGHT THIS BOOK THINKING I WAS GOING TO BE ENLIGHTED WITH SOME ADVANCED TROUBLESHOOTING KNOWLEDGE. I AM A PC TECH AND THIS BOOK JUST GOES INTO DETAIL ABOUT ALL THE COMPONENTS THAT MAKE UP THE SYSTEM AND THEIR HISTORY.IF YOU ARE A+ CERTIFIED YOU ALREADY LEARNED ALL THIS INFORMATION AND YOU`LL JUST LOOSE INTEREST RIGHT FROM THE START BECAUSE THE WRITER IS JUST REHASHING ALL THIS SAME INFO.THIS BOOK IS 713 PAGES AND THE LITTLE BIT OF TROUBLESHOOTING INFORMATION IN THE BOOK WOULD FILL NO MORE THAN FIFTY PAGES,JUST A LOT FLUFF SO THEY CAN MAKE THE BOOK AS THICK AS THEY CAN.THIS BOOK MIGHT ACTUALLY BE SOME GOOD FOR A PERSON WHO MAYBE IS JUST STARTING OUT,AND WANTS TO LEARNED EVERYTHING FROM THE BEGINING AND GETTING READY TO LEARN A+.IF YOU ARE ALREADY A TECHNICIAN YOU`LL JUST GET BURNED.ALOT OF AUTHORS SEEM TO BE TRYING TO MAKE A QUICK BUCK WHENEVER POSSIBLE.
"PC TECHNICIAN BLACKBOOK" THERE ARE NO SECRETS HIDDEN IN THIS BOOK GUY`S.

There are many things in this book of interest to either the beginner or the experienced technician. I found the background information to be informative without going way into the history and technical details of legacy gear. It had just enough of the past to make the present meaningful. The troubleshooting tips included many things I would not have thought to even ask and cleared up some things I was confused about. I recommend this to anyone wanting to know more about their computer and how to keep it running.

For the bewildered beginner, this book is ideal. There are NO longwinded chapters filled with theory that you have to digest. On the contrary, the entire book is written 'Betty Crocker' style, with a topic no longer than two pages long. Most of the page consists of pictures demonstrating the steps. The actual steps are listed at the bottom of the page. One can quickly learn how to work effectively without feeling like they're enrolled in an academic course.

If you have ever bought software only to be befuddled by the tombs demonstrate it, this is the series for you.

The book promises that you will read less and learn more. For the visual learner, the full colored screen shots and succinct explanations break 140 Photoshop 7 topics into two-page lessons.

Simple; direct; helpful: What more would you want from an introductory software text?

This book was exactly what I was looking for. It's easier than taking a class in PhotoShop. The visual layout makes it so easy to learn the software. It walks you through every step and shows the screen so you know exactly what to look for. Even the most computer illiterate person, like myself, can easily master PhotoShop with the help of this book. I see that some of the other reviews say that it is elementary, but that's exactly what I like about it. It isn't a bunch of hi-tech guru speak that confuses the basic understanding. And if you have it open right next to your computer as you walk through all the processes, it is so simple to learn the program. Maybe it's not in depth enough for the experts, but its perfect for me. Highly recommend!!!!!

Book Bytes has admired maranGraphics' approach to visual learning for many years. What works best here are specific screen shots in vibrant colors giving clear, concise, detailed instructions for beginning users of Photoshop 7.

This cross-platform book provides specific directions for OS 9, OS X, and Windows whenever necessary. Bravo! It's a multi-OS world out there, publishers and authors. Two-page lesson spreads make valuable use of the highly successful "Teach Yourself Visually" format. Helpful Q&A style tips enhance each lesson.

Turning to pages 82-83, we learn how to "skew or distort a selection" in Photoshop, complete with numbered, bulleted steps. It would take hundreds of words to instruct without comparable impact of the four-panel illustration. Just one example among many from Wooldridge and maranGraphics.

Any gripes? Yes:

* Often items within a screen being targeted visually are too tiny to see clearly if you're not following along while running Photoshop on your computer.

* I'm being picky, but I get tired of seeing the same JPG examples used over and over again: bagels, palm trees, and light bulbs, for example. I understand they are repeated for continuity, but a little more variety would add spice to the imagery. (I do like that lime-green bagel multiple-effects layer project on pages 192-193, though.)

* Teach Yourself Visually Adobe Photoshop 7 is a teaser, making me want to try everything in P7, but then I'll need to dig deeper within a more extensive book. Some beginners will outgrow the book before they finish using its tutorials.

This book is most suited for readers who learn best from a visual presentation, then work on their own to develop more skills. Teach Yourself Visually Adobe Photoshop 7 makes just about everything in the software seem approachable.

WOULD I BUY IT? Yes, to help students who fit the above profile.

WOULD I USE IT IF IT WAS THE ONLY PHOTOSHOP BOOK AVAILABLE: Yes, and then set it aside in favor of PhotoShop's built-in Help application for additional instruction.

DO I RECOMMEND IT? Yes, as mentioned above...

This book didn't teach me anything that I didn't know already. I learnt a lot more by playing around with the software. It doesn't even teach you how to do impressive special effects, like montages or TV lines.

If you have already played around with Photoshop, then you don't need this book! There are better tutorials out there on the internet and they are free!

Save your money!!!

The book did a thorough job of covering all the features of the Canon 5D. I thought the subject matter was organized logically. Charlotte has obviously worked with this camera a lot. The book discusses info such as issues around Picture Style values being different within each Style, you won't find this stuff in the camera manual.

The writing is usually very clear, not super dry, and provides practical data on setting up this camera for different subjects. Comments about religious themes in the book (in another review) seem to relate to wedding photographs being taken in a church. Duh! Go figger...

The book speeded up my learning about using the camera and I would buy it again.

This book is well written and well laid out. There are chapters covering just about every conceivable topic! I am nearly done reading this book and already it has helped me to determine a number of upgrades this year, including a couple of new lens. Much kudos to the author and I will be watching for new books from her in the future.

If you have a 5D get this book! I have bought all the others.. and they remain mostly unread on the shelf (or lost!). The color illustrations inspire and I have learned some new techniques by reading this text.

My one question is, are Canon Picture Styles *really* passed along when you set your 5D to RAW mode? The book says this is so, but I thought it was just for JPEG. Mind you.. I don't use Canon's DPP software (I use Camera RAW from Adobe with Photoshop instead) so maybe that is where a Picture Style will come through. Also.. I *think* they may show in Lightroom too (just started using that). Anyway.. this is more a question that a cricism of the book. Anyone having more details on this, feel free to add a comment!

Bottom line.. you will enjoy this book. If in doubt go look at a local copy 1st. You won't want to put it down and leave it behind if you do.

When I bought the 5D I quickly realized I wanted something besides the Canon manual. There are very few choices out there so I took the chance on this. For very little money you get an easily read, well rounded book about the 5D. I found it pretty easy to navigate around, and it answered all the questions I had.
It is clearly geared more to the newer DSLR user and covers different type of photography (i.e. event, portrait, etc) which is not quite what I would expect in a field guide but the information is accurate and will be very helpful to newcomers. See the review just before mine for detailed information on chapters, etc. The best of limited choices and I definitely recommend.

Canon -EOS 5D
Digital Field Guide
By Bryden D.

this field guide for the Canon 5D is basically aimed at the DSLR amateur and prosumer photographer.
It is obvious that the writer worked with this camera for some time before writing this book.
The technical advantages of the 5D are presented in four major sections that really make it easy to understand and follow.

Part 1. " Using the canon EOS 5D "
Part 2. " Selecting and using lens - Working with Canon Speeslites."
Part 3. " Shooting with the EOS 5D "
Part 4. " Appendixes A & B "
A- Canon CMOS Sensors and Processors
B- EOS 5D Specifiacations

Lowrie writes in a way that easily explains most of the technical fatures of th 5D.
Although not perfect, this book is a good choice to help make it easier to understand some of the clipped explanations used in the Canon 5D User Manual.

The author answers a range of questions commonly asked about the Canon EOS 5D but the book's layout is clunky and the flow of technical information requires patience when sorting through it. There are also editing errors. For example, the author refers to chapter 12 when discussing RAW and JPEG and there is no chapter 12. From the book's dedication to many of the photos used as examples, there's a very noticeable religious theme. She also relies on a large number of photos taken at a family wedding. I found these and other photos simplistic, cutesy and distracting. How do I grade it? Disappointing, especially after such a long wait due to publishing issues.

This is the worst kind of manual - a tutorial. Everything is turotials. You can't get a simple answer to a simple question. For example. Have a question about selection markees? All you can do is follow a tutorial for page after page looking for something that might be applicable to your actual question. There is no simple explanation of the various markees. It's the same with any question you might want an answer to. Go to their CD, open their files and follow a tutorial that might eventually get you where you need to go and might not. Can you tell I'm hot? I just wasted $50 on this book.

Also, this is a PC book, which gives bare lipservice to the Mac world. If you work on a Mac, don't buy this book

I highly recommend this book for any serious user of Photoshop. What's great about the Bouton style of writing is that you actually come away learning something about the software that you can apply in practical terms to your own projects, rather than being bogged down with technical details and examples.

With each new upgrade of Photoshop, Gary explores "under the hood" to find the new uses for the software. Photoshop CS represents a pretty significant upgrade for the Mac and Windows user alike since Photoshop is now part of Adobe's "Creative Suite" integrating it with other core software to make up powerful solutions for personal and business use. Gary will break down some of the inherent barriers in this complex set, so you can see how it can apply toward your goals.

Gary also briefly explains some of the technical jargon, so you get a better handle on how PhotoshopCS actually manipulates your images. He explanations are clear and illustrated well, so you come away better equiped to handle the lessons down the road.

His book is primarily aimed toward the intermediate skill level, but a beginner who applies him or herself will find it easy going since each lesson builds upon itself.

There are plenty of easter eggs and nuggets of wisdom in every Bouton book. You will want to keep this one handy or share with a friend as your skill with Photoshop progresses. This is an exciting time to own Photoshop and Gary Bouton keeps that excitement alive with this edition of Inside PhotoshopCS.

I have another book by Gary Bouton and it is quite well written. Unfortunately, this one is not, at least not in the beginning chapters. I have gotten through the first few chapters but not without considerable difficulty. I can only assume that Gary was working with a prerelease version of CS since the steps he lists simply do not work as indicated much of the time and I know his quality standard is generally high. This is so frustrating that I just wanted to put down the book and find another. Chapter one is CS basics, and if you don't get the basics, it is difficult to go any farther. I tried the SAMS Publishing website for errata but found none. If you already have a good understanding of Photoshop, the book should be much easier to follow and offer some excellent tips and procedures,however, I would not recommend it for a beginner.

An overwhelming book. In over a thousand pages, the authors have striven to include all manners of Photoshop usage. They address the book to every class of designer. Note the choice of the word, designer. You do not necessarily have to be a photographer. In fact, the output of a photographer, in the form of a digital image, is your input.

While the book is massive, it shows that Photoshop can be understood as revolving around a few simple ideas. Like layers. Today, it is hard to imagine or remember a version of Photoshop that lacked this ability. Much of image composition flows from being able to load images into layers and then manipulate the layers. The book has reams of detail, but the basic concept is trivial.

Likewise, another key idea well described in the book is filtering. A very mature ability; present for some 10 years now in Photoshop. Many native filters are explained. Perhaps as importantly, the book describes how Photoshop can input third party filters. Expands the scope. Perhaps even including yourself, if you're so inclined to craft a custom filter.

The book has far more than these topics. But the above should give some idea as to their usefulness.

Gary's has written a text which is an educational experience based on doing. This doesn't mean that the theoretical basis of image manipulation is shorted but rather that it is offered during practical lessons so the intellectual component has a contextual grounding. "Inside Photoshop CS" takes one through a course which touches and applies vitrually aspect of the most complex and popular software programs in the world including all the new and upgraded tools. While I wouldn't necessarily recommend it for an absolute beginner, if someone is self-motivated and serious about studying Photoshop CS with the goal of progressing toward expertise, working through this one book would be more valuable than several semesters of college classes. Cheaper too!

This will be my only Photoshop CS book purchase.

This book isn't nearly as methodical as the other "Bible" books. If you are a Photoshop beginner and want step-by-step instructions on how to create various effects, I'd tell you to look elsewhere. There are too many times you have to flip back to previous paragraphs or chapters and reference previous steps in order to continue with the present effect. Ever encounter the "then a miracle occurs" gap? There are plenty in this book. Too bad, because I usually like Deke's books.

This book was so comprehensive that, after reading it I began developing graphics for a company website using layers, etc. before reading this book, I tried to learn PhotoShop by trial and error and failed.

All I have to say is these other people don't know what they are talking about. This book was very easy to understand and a great reference for beginers, or advanced users of photoshop 4.

I use this book both as a reference, and as a textbook. I couldn't live without it. It is very comprehensive, and pretty easy to understand. The language is plain, and there's even some humor(though a bit corny : ) ). I recommend this book highly.

I gave this a one-star review because I purchased it based on the Foreward which the author said was the definitive work on the subject of Photoshop 4.0. As a rank beginner, I was lost and overwhelmed. This tome might be excellent for the experienced Photoshop user who is upgrading, but for my purposes of learning how to use my scanner, digital camera and Photoshop software, this was not the answer. If you are new to Photoshop, look elsewhere. I am!

This is a good book for opening your mind to the creative possibilities possible with digital photographs and Photoshop. The author showcases many different projects that employ many different techniques in Photoshop. While he does step you through each project, he does not hold your hand with each step, so I would not recommend this book for absolute beginners, but for those who know how to use layers, masks, etc.

I only wish that the image files used in each project were available for download so the reader could work through each project in the book. The book would be infinitely more useful if this were the case.

This book has a lot of good information. The pictures described in this book are fascinating and gets the creative juices flowing. This author is very thorough and meticulous about describing the techniques used in the images presented. Good for the ameture photoshop user because it is easy to understand.

Good lecture if you are at the end of a Photoshop tutorials.

This is a decent book. If you are an advanced photoshop user, there are a couple of things that you will be able to pick up from. It also helps open your mind to possibilites of blending images together.

Not for the beginner. Nice picts, but not much direction for the novice user. Needs more tutorial info.

If you want to get more indepth with InfoPath, this is the book for you. It covers advanced topics to launch you into designing more powerful digital forms.

I especially enjoying the topics on workflow, sharepoint and Web service integration.

With all due respect to my esteemed fellow InfoPath programmer, this is the only book worth owning if you have to code complex projects in InfoPath VBScript or JavaScript. InfoPath is supposed to be the world's most cutting edge XML tool. With it's strong hooks to Web Services, it's supposed to be a thin-client tool for th 21st century. But how do you code connections to a Web Service? How do you auto populate a form using information queried from a web service? How do you query a web service from code in the first place? How do you access a UDDI catalog from code? How do you fill a list box with a number of web service descriptions to let the user choose which one is the correct service? How do you code a master-detail one-to-many form in VBScript or JScript?

This is the only book which shows you how to code this very common, typical, highly characteristic programming problems.

Just two comments:
1) This books fails to convince me that InfoPath is a necessary product at all. Looks like more bloatware from Microsoft. It is nothing more that a weak scripting technology. Microsoft should have used more time in better development for Access, or Excel, instead of creating some new package. But I know some people at MS, and I know that a new product there means another position for Product Unit Managers, Development Managers, Test Managers, etc. So, that is probably the only reason they needed to add yet another product to the already bloated Office.

2) It looks like the book authors understand InfoPath, but then they don't understand anything else: BizTalk, Web Services, etc. The book is very, very, very weak when it comes down to software architecture and design. And it comes short in many other issues that affect any other piece of software built nowadays: globalization, customization, security, etc.

A better use of your time and money is probably not to use InfoPath at all in your projects. Stick to SmartClient technology, which is well explained is several paper in MSDN.

I understand that it's probably not that easy to write a book for something like InfoPath. It's a powerful product that has tons of ins and outs; however, I expected much more for my money. Some of the examples in the book get shortchanged on explanation, and the reader is often left to fill in the gaps. In addition to that, some chapters, like chapter 10 don't even have functioning code. For instance, see if you can spot the error with this line of critical code:

Dim sContact As String = String.Format("//Roles/Approvers/{0}[@alias=" & Quote & "{1}" & Quote & "]", sAlias)

Perhaps it's just me but it seems that the string.format needs to be passed two arguments rather than one. This is in a project that attempts to implement workflow.

This also brings to mind how the DEVELOPMENT part of the book is handled. It's fairly standard in development books to start out with simple examples and build iteratively in complexity as you go. Not with this book, you get little bits and pieces of managed code and then get a BUNCH of code in Chapter 10. Not sure why the authors decided on this style. Perhaps they were trying to show how far you can go with declarative programming.

As far as InfoPath goes, I am not sure how the standard everyday user of Office products is supposed to get excited here. The minute you need to do something even moderately standard, like having multiple sign-offs on a document, you are forced to code. And once you are forced to code you had better understand the DOM, XML, XPath, etc. Not sure what Microsoft was thinking.


Not sure that this book is much help.

I used the "hands-on" exercises to brush up my own knowledge of the Office components and I had my students use them in a closed computer laboratory setting. For me and for my students, those exercises were extremely effective. This is the fastest way to master Office.

It was to basic not worth the mone

Although I didn't read the whole book,I feel like I know everything already. I learned a lot from this book.

This book offers what any user needs. A hands on approach to learning. With the use of sample files to work on, downloaded from the internet, you can get going immediatley. The book is simplistic as well as complex. You can pace your learning to suit yourself and not have to worry about missing the class, your the teacher, student and most of all the one who gets the results. The results are immediate and you have a reference which you can refer to at any time.

Grauer's books are what I would recommend to anyone looking for a good book that does not cost, your arm and leg to buy. The results will be just what you wanted.

Although there may be useful information in this book, it's much too confusing and boring. He shows an example of what can be done, without saying why, and says it will be explained in another chapter. I've used Photoshop for 8 years, and am proficient in the basics for my job, but, finaly decided to learn more about manipulation and tricks. I plan to exchange it for another book in the same area that will be interesting and less confusing.

I spent hours in a bookstore looking for the Photoshop guide that suited my goals the most. Then I spent hours scanning through this book. It's not for beginners. Surely not for beginners who expect to learn everything from a book and get easily discouraged when come across a term they are not familiar with. However, if you're an adventurous beginner and are willing to explore Photoshop secrets on your own you will get the help and motivation you need from this book. Well written, clear, focused, an excellent reference book for pros as well. Why only four stars if it's this brilliant? The editorial is slightly misleading. It suggests that the book will teach you everything about Photoshop 5.5 from the beginnigs - and this is not the case. So, some people will get disappointed. And in my evaluation this costs one star.

Although the author writes well and obviously knows his stuff, he seems to have totally forgotten what it's like to be a beginner. I frequently found myself scratching my head, wondering "Did I miss something?" Two examples: To do most things in Photoshop you have to select, but this topic doesn't even arise until chapter 6! Similarly, layers are crucial, and yet there's no basic explanation of how to use them. (The book directs you to the publisher's Web site for a tutorial on layers, but it's nowhere to be found on the site map or via a search. Feeling stupid, I bought the "Dummies" Photoshop book. Even though I hate that title, and the constant cornball humor is distracting--at least things are clear. Voila! I can do something after all. Even though this book is marketed to beginners, a giant thumbs down from this one.

Look at the title " Photoshop 5.5- Get Professional Results ". The other review of this book downgrades the book because it is not for beginner. This is not fair to the author.

If you have a modest Photoshop background and want to move to a higher level, this is a book to consider. It is well written and is a very good guide to advanced tasks in Photoshop.

If you want a book that gets to the point of using Photoshop or want a reference book for Photoshop, stay away. The Adobe classroom in a book series is far superior.

If you are new to Photoshop, this book is a pretty good place to start. Carla Rose takes care to explain all of Photoshop's tools in detail. But I thought the tutorials were written very badly. After downloading the images from her website with the understanding that they would be used for the tutorials, I found that the images that she did use for her tutorials weren't the ones that she told us to download so I ended up not being able to follow along with her examples. If you don't care about using tutorials and just want to learn the basics, then this book will be good for you.

I learned things I thought I already knew about file composition and color. This is an outstanding book for those wanting to get started in Adobe Photoshop 5.5.

I have started with this book and I thought it was pretty good. The book breaks down Photoshop 5.5 into easy to read chapters that any one can follow easily. That is why this book is great for beginners. I did not bother to do the tutorials from the web since I am not much of an internet person, but it works well even with your own pictures. This book is a good start, and can be used for a tutorial. Much easier to understand than Photoshop 5.5 Classroom in a Book, which I thought was a trickier read. This book will make a good referance when you move to more advanced books.