Computers Books

Jim Heid doesn't waste time about getting into doing things with the iLife suite. The DVD alone is worth the purchase price if you're a new or novice user. I use the iDVD portion of the DVD with beginning students to video editing. It's a no nonsence approach that keeps things moving.

As a typical instruction-manual-phobic kinda guy, this is a delight. The real clincher is the well-presented DVD tutorial, so I can sit back and learn on "autopilot".

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This is the sort of guide that Apple should be shipping with every Mac.

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It's November 2004 as I write this, and I'm surprised and a little distressed to see that this book is still selling fairly well.

Why distressed? Because this book is an older edition that covers the 2003 iLife product.

If you're using iLife '04, be sure to check out the new edition of my book/DVD, called -- amazingly enough -- "The Macintosh iLife '04." Every page has been updated for iLife '04, and the DVD is completely new, too.

Of course, if you're still using the original iLife suite -- or if you want the older DVD, which contains material not present in the '04 edition -- this is the book/DVD for you.

I have decided to review "The Macintosh iLife" by Jim Heid
in addition to the iMovie 3 Visual QuickStart Guide. This book, also distributed through Peach Pit Press, takes a more visual approach to teaching you how to use
iMovie 3 (along with the iPod, iTunes 3, iDVD 2, and iPhoto 2). When I
say visual I don't really mean pictures in the book. The book includes
a feature-length DVD (broken up into digestible parts) literally
showing you how to do the things that are written in the book.

Heid is a quality presenter both in writing and demonstration. It'd be
VERY difficult to watch this DVD and not learn how to do some pretty
sophisticated things. The pace of the DVD is well-suited to the novice
user, but not tedious for those with experience. The book on it own is
a decent reference for each of the products covered, but used as a
follow-up reference to having watched the DVD, it is a powerful
instrument making it easy to recall what you've seen without having to
actually load the DVD back into a player.

While Heid's book focuses more on the most-commonly used features, it
makes up for any gap (say, between it and the iMovie 3 VQSG) by
covering the whole suite of iLife programs rather than just one. Even
if you have the new version of iLife '04 (like I do), you can still
benefit from this book because the material in it is geared toward
utilizing functions that will exist in the new versions too. Even if
the interface has changed a little, I did not find that it was
difficult to follow anything that Heid demonstrated. Unless he
specifically updates this book (and DVD) to match iLife '04, I can do
no less than highly recommend it to all iLife users.

This book/DVD combo is simply superb. I am not technically gifted -- though I'm the son of a rocket scientist! -- but I am totally geeking out. Jim Heid is a master instructor with an utterly uncanny knack for speaking to exactly the point that you want him to address next. His sense of sequence is flawless! Apple has done a stunning job of creating an awesomely powerful, yet completely accessible, package in iLife. I'm already importing tunes, burning custom CDs and running out to buy a digital camera. I am even considering personally creating instructional DVDs for my Los Angeles based media training firm. That, in itself, is a minor miracle. I used to concede everything to IT experts; now I'm not so sure! I think Jim Heid's book -- along with David Pogue's Missing Manual series -- ought to be standard issue with any Mac.
The Mac, in my obviously biased opinion, is the most elegantly intuitive computer on earth. Equally so is this book and DVD combination. You'll be amazed at how quickly you assimilate information and navigate with growing confidence. My only criticism of this set is that I wish there was more. To that end, I plan to check out what else is available from Peachpit Press and Avondale Media (they collaberated on this combo). Well, folks, I hope I've made myself clear: The Macintosh iLife book and DVD are as good as it gets. If you've been on the wrong side of the digital divide, and if you're now ready to advance exponentially in your multimedia skills, then you simply can't go wrong with this purchase. Buy it!

Yes, it's true. I'm contemplating adding a podcast to my blog. So, I bought "Podcast Solutions" on Amazon and read it, front to back. This is a very useful book, and it comes with a CD of demo software you can use for podcasting.

Anyone who is thinking about podcasting should read this book BEFORE they start purchasing any equipment. One of the most valuable things I found in this book was information about the equipment you will need to get start. A large portion of this book is devoted to getting good quality recordings from your recording sessions so that it doesn't turn potential listeners off with popping, clicking, hissing, etc.

One of the other great things I found in this book is podsafe music. Never heard of it? Podsafe music is music from independent artists that is licensed for you to use it free of charge in your podcasts. Check out these sites: GarageBand and PodShow. The music is really good. I'm digging it.

Until someone writes something really comprehensive, this is the best there is in podcasting.

What is podcasting?

If you don't know by now - what's wrong, have you been living under a rock? ;)

A little over a year ago, I had no clue. I actually thought it was using an iPod to broadcast mp3s over FM waves to a radio (which is actually done quite often, but has nothing to do with podcasting). In fact, podcasting has little to do with iPods at all. If I had had a copy of this book a year ago, I would have know that - and a whole lot more!

"Podcast Solutions: The Complete Guide to Podcasting" is just that - a complete guide. Have no idea what podcasting is? This will tell you. Know what it is, but not how to listen to them? This book will tell you. Would you like to know how podcasting started? Look no further. Ever wondered what the relationship between podcasting and blogging is? You can find out. Want to start your own podcast? Then this is the book for you! It even comes with a CD with all the software you'll need to start podcasting right away, and it doesn't matter if you use Windows, Mac OS X, or even Linux - the CD has software for all three platforms. The book even tells you how to start making money with podcasts!

From recording the audio to publishing the XML to getting your podcast heard - it's all in the book. You should really pick this book up if you have any interest at all in podcasting. Highly recommended!

Michael Geoghegan and Dan Klass have done a great job in this 240 page book on podcasting. A great book for any podcaster. They do a good job of taking you through all of the steps necessary to learning podcasting. The book runs the gamut of the steps you'll need to preparing your podcast, to recording and subsequently publishing your podcast on the web.The book is easy to follow and has lots of links to websites for additional reference. Overall the best book on the market for podcasting.

I started out knowing diddly squat about podcasting. I read "Podcast Solutions" by Michael Geoghegan (what's up with that name?) and Dan Klass and now I know everything. But much more important than my over-generous opinion of myself I got my podcast up swiftly, easily and on time thanks to this incredible book.

They answer questions with the insight of someone who really knows all the angles, who really knows what they are talking about, who has actually done it. The book will take you through the entire process and get you up and running. And isn't that what it's really all about?

I especially enjoyed Chapter 10 "Getting Heard" which offers rich detail and many astonishing ideas about how to get people to actually listen to your podcast. And isn't that what it's really all about?

Finally, the price on this book is right. Just right. Enough to make you realize you're getting something valuable (which you are) and low enough that it's well within reach of anyone who's ever splurged on a cup of Starbuck's coffee. And isn't that what it's really all about?

Buy the book. Do it now! Buy a brand new book all for yourself. Don't chintz out and get a used one from Amazon. There's a CD inside that you need and it will probably be missing from any used copy.

In my opinion, this is THE best book I have ever read (and I have read a few) on security in a Windows network. It is very well written; unlike a standard security book that simply has configuration guides and checklists. These guys are not only security gurus, they are very good authors who know how to write. They not only offer explanations on various security best practices, but they also dispel many myths about Windows security "recommendations" by so-called experts. The book has a definite Microsoft bias (as it's title would suggest), but I found very little that I would disagree with. As a long time Windows Administrator (MCP NT4, MCSA 2000/2003 and CompTIA Security+ certified) and also being a security minded individual (though not a security specialist)I highly recommend this book.

Great people these two authors and very charismatic. If you happened to visit one of the IT forums or speeches you'll know what I mean.

Really a great book with a logical processing of different topics. One of the great things is that they create awareness by giving everyday examples of hacking attempts and how to take the right precautions. Things you'll recognize in your daily work. It's easy to read and while the book is a couple of years old, the practical site of it hasn't changed a lot. I hope they update this with Vista and Server 2008 in mind. So certainly worth buying!

Rob Faber [CISSP, CEH, MCSE]
The Netherlands

The simple truth is that if you're directly responsible for the health of a Windows network, you need to read this book. It contains a wide enough breadth to be applicable to all Windows administrators running a variety OS and application levels, while still managing the depth required to be truly informative and serve as a good everyday reference. It provides an incredible amount of detailed theory and hands-on practical advice that will give you the background information, tools and motivation to improve your defenses and keep hackers away from your data.

Those directly responsible for securing the network should read this book through and then read it again, perhaps discussing it with a peer. There's a lot of information to unpack, so a critical study of how to contextualize the recommendations to your environment would benefit from a team of individuals dedicated to understanding and carrying-out the guidelines that are given. In contrast, high-level managers and decision makers who have a more hands-off role would be well served by taking a half an hour to read the first two chapters, giving them a sobering first-hand account of the ease with which a knowledgeable attacker can subvert an entire domain. It will be 30 minutes well spent! A final group, the technically-savvy supervisors who don't actually implement (but monitor those who do), should quickly read the entire volume and hold their employees accountable for upholding at least the principles, if not the specific practices, mentioned throughout. All three groups should read it with the goal of acquiring a security mindset, filtering all their projects and goals through the "lens" created as a result of the truths learned from this pair of gurus. It is the unique combination of sufficient depth with comprehensive breadth that gives this book the edge over most recent Windows security titles from other authors. If you have to pick just one printed manual to take with you into battle, this should be your weapon of choice. I heartily recommend it as a great read for now, and as an investment for your go-to shelf later on.

Jesper and Steve begin the journey with the same eye-opening SQL injection attack you may have seen in one of the talks they present around the globe in their roles as security experts for Microsoft (Jesper has since changed employers). They exploit a poorly-written web application by feeding SQL code directly through the web form, eventually compromising the entire network, even though it's fully-patched and even somewhat hardened. They describe the intricacies of the attack from beginning to end, laying the groundwork for the defense techniques described in the remaining chapters. After taking over their victim network, they round out the section on fundamentals with a chapter on patch management. This was the low point of the book and, in my opinion, it glosses over the realities of just how time-consuming and complex change management and regression testing can be in a heterogeneous environment. Don't get discouraged by this chapter; slog through it and enjoy the informative--yet surprisingly fun--chapters that follow.

Having established the basics, more groundwork is laid with above average, but not spectacular, sections on administrative policies and physical security. These are the most "CISSP-ish" pages of the whole book and should look very familiar to members of the (ISC)^2. While the advice in these early chapters will stand the test of time, there's not much in here that won't already be a part of your daily arsenal. If you haven't figured out such basics as having a written security policy and that users will always choose convenience over security, then study this section hard. For the rest of us, you will find yourself saying "Amen" a lot as you review these four well-written and comprehensive middle chapters. The real epiphany comes at the end of Chapter 7 when they declare that the days of having a notion of a "perimeter" are over. If you haven't realized by now how incredibly porous your network is, this book should help bring you back to reality.

With the first half of the book used as an appetizer, the authors start serving the main course of practical, detailed advice about how to protect every aspect of your clients, servers and network infrastructure. Their incredible insight into password theory and how exactly a real password attack would work is so refreshing--these guys are experts, and it's demonstrated most profoundly in their chapter-long advice on the subject. Here and throughout the book they constantly bring you back to reality by refuting myths common in "security theater" and give you the best advice, with enough background to understand why it works. One particularly sobering moment was the sweeping dismissal of biometric authentication because of the myriad (often foolishly simple) flaws that can defeat even über-expensive fingerprint readers, retina scanners, etc. In the next two hundred or so pages the give you just enough instruction about IPSec, 802.1X, two-factor authentication and server/client hardening to help you understand the critical pieces of theory and find the detailed implementation instructions for yourself. You'll feel like you finally know the reasons to do all these things instead of just getting a litany of the individual steps to implement a particular setting or policy. Microsoft has published a lot of dry technical guides on every registry setting and tweak imaginable; these guys tell you the background information of why any of this stuff matters and they do it in a winsome, often satirical way that makes you want to keep reading.

The key concepts I took from reading this book were: a healthy skepticism about merely doing tweaks or checklists that have an air of sophistication but don't actually improve security; a sense of empowerment about how to untangle my network from a web of dependencies caused by shared service accounts (they even provide a handy utility to make their advice doable); and renewed sense of encouragement that least-privilege is actually obtainable. They end each chapter with an immediate call-to-action that addresses the most important steps you can take to do the most good quickly. If you can force yourself to do these challenging tasks for every area they address, you'll be well on the road to a more secure installation.

The problem with some computer security books is that they are nothing more than pages of checklists with myriad dos and don'ts. But after all the checklists have been dutifully completed, readers still don't understand the underlying concept of how to secure a computer. Within a short time, their computers and networks are insecure, and they are back where they began, as fodder for hackers.

The distinctive nature of Protect Your Windows Network : From Perimeter to Data is that it suggests ways to secure your Windows workstation and network, but it also takes a much broader approach to security and shows you how to address the issue of securing systems as a whole. This panoptic approach to securing systems is quite refreshing, and it makes the book a fascinating read.

The theme of the book is that there are three elements of a successful security program: people, processes, and technology. In 17 chapters covering the gamut of security from server hardening to password protection, the book details how to use these people, processes, and technology to ensure that Windows networks stay secure.

Early chapters deal with the basics of how attacks work and show the reader how they progress from low-level social engineering to the code manipulation that leads to the exploitation of software and vulnerabilities.

The book is filled with easy-to-understand practical and tactical solutions that can be implemented by everyone from nontechnical end users to system administrators, helping them to ensure that their Windows-based network is as secure as possible. Even at 550 densely packed pages, the book is quite readable.

I received a copy of Protect Your Windows Network (PYWN) almost one year ago, and I immediately put it aside. I figured it was another "security configuration guide," with lots of descriptions of settings and other tweaks that makes for boring reading. Recently I decided to give PYWN another look, and I am exceedingly glad I did. PYWN is one of the best security books I have ever read, and that includes nearly 200 titles over the last six years. Incredibly, even non-Windows users will find plenty of sound advice for their enterprise. Although the book is highly opinionated (and at times perhaps not on my side of the issues) I strongly recommend reading PYWN.

When I read and review books, I underline sections of interest and take notes in the margins and on separate sheets of paper. I dried out a pen underlining text and took three pages of notes while reading PYWN. The amount of good advice in the book is staggering. PYWN is incredibly engaging and clear. It is superbly organized, taking a layered approach to enterprise security. The book's strength derives from the authors' consulting experience, and they deliver many stories based on their interactions with customers.

PYWN is not a Microsoft marketing person's dream, either. In many places the book is very frank. For example, p 19 says IPsec in Windows "is the poster child for user unfriendliness." The authors correctly recognize the goal of a "protected" network by explicitly telling customers "no, your network is not secure" (p 15). They are critical of "Return on Security Investment": "following the [security] policy does not increase revenue, it does not increase productivity" (p 116).

This book is definitely not afraid to offend the reader. I do not mean the use of foul language; rather, the book takes very strong stances on certain subjects. Some of these directly contradict guidance given by others. Ch 12 even features 10 Security Myths. In many cases, I believe the authors take the right position, and they adequately defend their assertions. In other cases, I must disagree. The authors are not fans of detecting intrusions, and their monitoring advice in Ch 4 is particularly shaky. They also tend to use an example of compromising a host-based IDS deployment as an excuse to attack all detection mechanisms.

The authors are sticklers for accurate language, which I believe is required in our field. They are keen to point out that "IPSec tunnels" don't exist per se; there is, however "IPSec transport mode" or "IPsec tunnel mode." They repeatedly state that L2TP+IPsec is the only "IETF-approved" remote access solution. This stems from their requirement that such a solution authenticate the user and give his/her machine an IP address. Obviously IPSec alone doesn't fulfill those requirements, hence their promotion of an alternative.

In some cases this desire to use the right word doesn't work so well. I disagree with some of the terms used in the threat modeling discussion in Ch 9. I wonder why the authors (and other Microsofties) call this "threat modeling," instead of using Bruce Schneier's older term -- "attack trees." Sometimes the authors confuse threats with vulnerabilities. For example, p 237 says "Although a threat to an application many times can be eliminated with a patch..." That should read "Although a vulnerability in an application many times can be eliminated with a patch..." Threats can only be eliminated by incarceration; vulnerabilities are flaws which can be patched. On p 254 we read "the config.sys file poses no threat." That's right, but it's not what the authors meant. They should have said "the config.sys file poses no vulnerability," or perhaps "exposure." Finally, p 236 says "you use the model to communicate the current structure of the network and the threats created because of it." That is wrong; building a network doesn't create threats -- it creates vulnerabilities and exposures. Threats are independent of the network.

Similarly, the STRIDE model on pp 242-3 is mostly about attacks, not threats. Read any government report about threats to learn about organized crime, foreign intel services, script kiddies, corporate spies, and so on -- those are real threats. "Denial of service" is an attack; "information disclosure" is a security incident, or a consequence of an attack.

I should note that sometimes the Windows focus of the book blinds the authors to other, better security approaches -- some of which Microsoft is adopting. For example, Ch 14 recommends users "uninstall unnecessary components." This is obviously true, but it's a limitation of Windows. It's much better to start with a bare system and "add necessary components." On p 422 the authors say the Windows Backup Operators group are unsafe for backup. If that is the case, why do they exist, at least as currently configured? The advice in Ch 14 also results in an "unsupported configuration" for SQL server. The authors admit this is for "high security" needs, but this indicates a problem with Microsoft's approach. PYWN pulls no punches in some places regarding Windows, but in others it holds back.

PYWN is definitely not a security configuration guide, of which the authors are highly critical. In some places they do list ways to accomplish certain goals, but most everywhere else they refer readers to previously published books or documents on the Web. Bravo. The book contains numerous footnotes which I appreciated.

I found only a few errors in the text. On p 38, the text implies the three way handshake starts with SYN, ACK instead of SYN, SYN-ACK. On p 84; ISO is not "International Standards Organization." On p 121, the text implies SOX doesn't apply to all publicly traded companies. Since I read every word very closely, I am really impressed by PYWN.

This review is long enough. Let me conclude by saying you will absolutely not waste your time reading this book. It took me a week to finish it because I tried to make the best use of the authors' recommendations and insights. Keep my earlier comments in mind, then enjoy PYWN. I hope the authors produce a sequel or at least a second edition. They are exceptional writers, and this book could easily be called "Protect Your Computing Enterprise." Windows is an example implementation, not necessarily the core focus of the book.

Real 802.11 Security is a very well written book and gives the reader a very good background about Wifi security. It perfectly explains why WEP is not a good protocol and shows how WPA and RSN works.

Edney tackles quite a broad topic, but does well with remaining focused and developing the topic from a novice understanding of wireless security to in-depth discussions down to the packet level. With the range of the topic, the book could have easily been written *only* for the novice or specifially for the computer professional, but Edney manages to hit both audiences; not a small feat when writing a computer-related book.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in understanding why wi-fi networks are vulnerable (more so than traditional wired networks) and in learning more about wi-fi security solutions.

Hello,

I am reading this book and it is helping me a lot with my certification towards the CWNA, the material is very good, explanations are clear and the author has a very easy way to control the reader and explain the things that are sometimes hard to see. This book is a very good reading, i would suggest for whoever is starting on Security to read it, it even makes some humoristics comments during the book. Awesome, 5 stars material !
thanks a lot,

The author really knows what he is talking about. The layout of content shows his strong logical reasoning. He answers almost all questions a curious engineer would have.

Outstanding book, not just for wireless security but for encryption in general. Very clear explanations, chapter on why WEP failed is the best explanation I have read. Also very clear on how EAP, TLS, TKIP, WAP and the rest of the protocol soup relate to each other. I even appreciated the attempts at humor - my style, a bit dry.

Blatner and Fraser have the right stuff. This book is based on what photographers need, unlike many of the Photoshop after market manuals. This is the text to use for digital photographers. Inspiring (technically) for the students and the instructor.

As an Adobe Certified Expert in Photoshop I think I can talk about this book with some soft of knowledge.

Well, this book is awesome. No doubts. From a certain point of view it's even embarassing: I've read things never seen elsewhere, small tips, too small even for the manuals (but sometimes really helpful), and Big concepts explained really well. Every single page of this book hides something useful. This might be not a good thing to say if you're a certified expert, but that's it.

Of course this book is not for everyone: you will get the greatest experience if you're an expert Photoshop user and you work daily with it, as it concentrated on productivity issues and professional tasks. Forget this book if you're a Photoshop enthusiast and you're just looking for pseudo-creative tips&tricks: there are no special effects recipes, no step-by-step tutorials and no bundled clipart CDs.

This is 800 pages of deep Photoshop production techniques. I think no other book, except for Dan Margulis' "Professional Photoshop", can teach such a lot of things to already-expert readers.

First off let say this. If you just beginning to used photoshop cs, this is not the book for you. This book is aimed at the experience user who not only want to know more advanced photoshop techniques but also want to know why photoshop does what it does, in other words how photoshop thinks. Its not an encyclopedia that cover every little feature methodically, instead it covers advanced concepts in themes such as Color management, image manipulation and output. Great book, very informative, like a textbook in some respects. Until you've read it, you dont' really understand photoshop.

This book gives extremely in-depth coverage to topics that cover the gamut from the basic of images and color spaces, through to image editing, filters, typography and finally output. The coverage is very in-depth. This is not a step-by-step book. The idea is to give you a fundamental understanding of the technology and then show it's application in Photoshop. The sections on building selections and using the sharpening features are particular standouts.

If you are the type of person who learns by understanding the fundamentals and not a raw process then it's a tossup between this book and Photoshop CS Artistry. The latter is a little more terse in it's style. This book is more relaxed in style so it's a little easier to follow.

This book is absolutely, no doubt, without question, surely the best book on Photoshop CS out there. It's a real pleasure to read a book by people who actually know what they're talking about. Scott Kelby's "The Photoshop CS Book for Digital Photographers" is an exceptionally fine book if you're just starting with CS and trying to get your photographs under control and don't have time to read about the finer points, but once you've begun to get the hang of it and want not only to know "how," but "why," this is the book you absolutely have to have.

The intended audience for this book is the seasoned and open minded UNIX SA who has a smattering of understanding the Microsoft way of doing network based file sharing. The book dives right into detailed real world configurations that can be deployed right away. This book proudly sits in my library as one of the most utilitarian pieces of technical literature I own.

It is a very well organized book, usable as a reference. However, the lates version of Samba are not cover: a kind of "release notes" would be nice.

A superb book that covers all aspects of samba Config. My only critisism is that it is somewhat out of date (latest Ver 2.05) but that is OK as the principles havent changed much. Combined with the info on the samba site this book is the bible of samba, a must have.

I do UNIX system administration for my company and I bought this book hoping it would help me offer UNIX printing services to our Windows 95/98 PCs. It was a waste of money. While this book is not terrible, neither is it for everyone. If you do not have a good knowledge of Microsoft networking concepts such as Master Browsers, this book will be as useless to you as it was to me. The explanations of Microsoft networking concepts so ineegral to Samba are very poor in this book. The author basically assumes that you know as much about Windows networking as he does. Example configs are poor and good luck trying to debug any problems you might have. If you don't know what a Domain Master Browser is, you would better off to do what I did and get the new O'Reilly and Associates book _Using Samba_ which does a much better job of explaining everything you need to know to make Samba work.

Samba in a cinch. You pick up this book and within an hour you can have Samba running. There is really nothing to it. John Blair is a member of the Samba team, so he REALLY knows his stuff. He's also a remarkably good technical writer.

All the details are here, and the index is great. If you need something that this book doesn't cover, then you're way beyond me!

Have to setup Samba in a hurry? Overnight this book. The day you get it, flip through it for 10 minutes. Update the SMB.CONF file a bit. You're done - inside an hour - no question.

If you want to get fancy, this book covers that too. I haven't yet seen anything that wasn't in this book. In fact, I've found stuff that was in this book that I couldn't find ANYWHERE else.

Excellent book. Great to learn Samba. Great reference to keep handy afterward. Truly excellent book!

Sarah's Page is a wonderful book! The characters have real personality, they're not dull. You discover the story as she e-mails her best friend in New York. She's stuck on a farm with her sister and her sister's husband. Life gets tough, but Sarah is tough to.

Originally I bought this book for my niece who is a Michigander. The weekend it arrived from Amazon, she was off with her parents to a wedding for the weekend. It didn't take her long to read the entire story. This weekend she lent it to me. One day. That's all it took. I couldn't put Sarah's Page down. Not only is it a clever idea, but the story is compelling. Sarah is your best friend or the one you wish you had. (BTW I am 53 years old ;) )

Thsi book is really good. I have something in comman with the author she went to the same school that I am at now. This book relates to people today. Its a great book for girls who like to surf the web. I would reccomend this book to everyone.

I loved this book so much. It is just like real life. I could see this happening to myself or one of my friends, I felt like I was really there. Also I have something in common with Anna Murray. I go to the high school that she graduated from and I have the same English teacher she did. Maybe I will write a book some day.

The book Sarah's Page is a good, easy read. The plot is simple and good. The plot is not wonderful, but good and interesting. One factor that made this book an enjoyable read was that it was written all in e-mails. It was a different way of writting and I really liked that. For those of you who liked the book P.S. Longer Letter Later and/or the book Snail Mail No More, I think you would like this book. The characters in this book wre very believable. The book was quite detailed and added a lot of description, which was a nice aspect. The setting played an important role in the plot, for in the book the main character is this girl named Sarah who is from New York and is from a wealthy family has to live on a rustic farm and do chores. The reason why I gave this book a four star rating instead of five was because at times this book seemed to drag on a little, and got off the point. Overall, this book was pretty good. I think it is probably worth a read. I liked the writing style and characters best. I think girls ages 9, 10, or 11 would really enjoy this book. This is a good book.

I liked this book and it provided allot of answers to the new functions of what in my opinion are good products for what each are suppose to do and MS usually does a good job at patches as needed. The book was informative and laid out well and is a good reference when needed.

I am a long-time subscriber to Woody's Access news, so I expected to find an enthusiastic, simplified approach and am not disappointed. Great resource.

Very specific and detailed. best for persons who already have used Word 2007, and are familiar with its layout and tools.

Every "Using" book I own (more than a dozen) has been valuable, well written and packed with good information. This is no exception. The authors know Office. I started with Word and quickly absorbed the "flavor" of the new interface. This book will cut my frustration time dramatically.

If you are upgrading to Office 2007 from an earlier version of Office this book is a great help. Microsoft has made a number of changes in where basic tools are located and how to access them. This book makes the learning process a lot simpler and a lot quicker. However, I don't recommend you try to read the book cover-to-cover in one sitting. It is the thickness of a New York phone book. The Index at the back of the book is well done and is a good way to problem-solve individual issues.

If you have Word 2007 or plan to get it, this book is a must have. Word 2007 is DIFFERENT and then some, but all the answers are here. The large heavy tome is indexed and divided so that the answer to almost any question can be found. It may even tell you more than you care to know. Not a beach read, but a very helpful desk reference.

If you know little to nothing about Word 2007, this is not the book for you. It too often assumes you know the answer to the question you are trying to answer. Common terms that you might use if you are familiar with 2003 are not used here, so the index is useless. Save your money.

This text is excellent if you already know something about using Word 2007. Has many details especially about technical actions needed when you are composing book files.

I'm in love! I bought digital access to this book as well as ordering a copy. The day after ordering it, I was able to clean up some serious formatting messes after reading the chapter about styles online. "Using Word 2007" gives clear descriptions of how to use the basic and advanced features, including things like the Style Inspector that Microsoft seems to avoid telling you about in the Help files. It also explains the good and bad points of different options - for example, warning you that if you set a style to Automatically Update and then make a minor formatting change to the text in one location (e.g. applying italics), ALL examples of the style will change to italics whether you want that or not.

If you are forced to work with Word 2007, or support people who have to work with it, you need this book.

I needed a quick reference guide to get a crash course using Word 2007. As a graduate student, I have weekly deadlines for papers. I got a new computer with the Windows upgrade. The learning curve was high, and I did not have a lot of time to learn how to use Word. This reference guide was exactly what I needed. The reference is a valuable tool, and worth the money!

I've had this book for almost two years now, and I consider it (along with Liberty's classic "Programming C#" [I have both first and second editions]) one of the most useful books for helping me move from "beginner level" C# to "journeyman" mastery of what has become my favorite language and daily working tool of choice.

Liberty's books join with my books by Sells, Petzold, Gunnerson, Archer on that small shelf ... within arms reach ... which I consider essential tools to have as I work in Visual Studio.

What I find unique about "A Developer's Notebook" is :

1. Content : the sheer amount of immediately useful information and code samples. This is a book, imho, for people who've already reached initial mastery of .NET, and are ready for intermediate-advanced topics. There's more technical content, more information, "per square page" in this book than in many books on .NET and C# that are 800+ page "whoppers" :) And I do have the sense that every bit of code in this book has been "refined" to the efficient minimum without losing its "educational punch."

2. Book Design : imho the design and structure of the book are a "tour de force" of technical book design : it's in the form ... almost ... of a laboratory workbook; the "asides," or comments, in italic script font in the margin of the pages add a very useful commentary that evokes and provokes thought.

3. Immediacy : I get the feeling that Jesse is right there talking to me as he takes me through the intricacies of IEnumerable, Generic Interfaces, Delegate Covariance. Very good terse introductions to technologies like ClickOnce.

4. Technical Format : the book has a format of presenting a concept concisely, outlining the structure of the classes or methods involved, describing a practical usage scenario, and then, in a section titled "How Can I Do That ?," presenting a key code example that demonstrates the technique in use. I find this similar to what I perceive as the "experimental" method in Petzold's books, and, for me, this is a compelling way to learn.

4. Writing Style : As in JL's other books, I personally experience him as one of the clearest writers of technical expository prose I have ever read. In sections typically titled "What About," or "How Can I Learn More," for each major topic, he succinctly addresses questions that imho any intelligent developer might be asking about the limits or side-effects ... or the "gotchas" ... of the techniques presented.

I like to compare learning a programming language with learning a musical instrument. It seems to me that initial mastery of C#, like learning to play the guitar, involves a required period of just learning the general way you use the tools (the Visual Studio environment, the .NET compiler, assemblies, WinForms, Classes, Interfaces, UserControls) : until you have that initial "vocabulary," imho, you can't really "play a tune." But once you do have the initial comfort level and mastery of the tools, you are ready to start with studying simple "Etudes" which are designed to be musically satisfying in themeselves and, at the same time, help you progress in mastery. Using that analogy, I consider "A Developer's Notebook" a book of "Etudes," an excellent one !

In summary : this is one of the best technical books I've ever read. I do hope that at some point JL will do another book in this format, and structure, probing, in the same "experimental method" other topics in .NET 3.0 and 3.5 like LINQ, sophisticated uses of AppDomains and Contexts, the ability in WPF to get WinForms controls across domains, etc.

best, Bill Woodruff
dotScience

I purchased this book to get prepped for 2.0 development. As usual , Jesse delivered with additional benifits. He is a great, clear speaking, author. I needed the facts and he delivered.

Well worth owning for those of you transitioning from 1.1 to 2.0.

This is a very good "delta" book for moving to 2.0. It doesn't spend a lot of time with "object oriented programming began in 19..."-type gibberish. Instead it moves directly to some of the new features and talks to you like you know what your talking about.

Easy read.

However, the introduction says something to the effect of "this series skips the 'hello world' applications and is instead the often frantic scribblings of real developers performing real tasks" or something like that. In reality, none of the examples was terribly realistic. It was the same type of examples and 'hello world' demonstrations you would find in any other book. And the "scribblings" in the margins were often just pullouts from the text--just like any other book.

Overall - good book. But the marketing hype for the series is just that--hype.

I just borrowed this book from the library as I'm trying to cut down and only buy true reference books. I didn't have a whole lot of expectations, but this book was exactly what the doctor ordered. I knew C# for VS.NET 1.1 and am gradually migrating to 2.0 and all of it's extra features. I just wanted a book that covered the new stuff... and could come as close to just injecting the information into my brain without all of the extra fluff. This book does exactly that. If you're new to .NET don't get this book... but if you're looking for an incremental upgrade book (as I was) that is concise, full of examples, and covers the whole spectrum of VS.NET 2.0 then this is IT! That said, the title is just a bit misleading... the first chapter is about the new C# keywords and constructs, but this book covers changes with Forms, ASP.NET (Themes, Master Pages, ...) and so forth. This books has been hard to put down and I'm seriously considering buying this one to add to my reference collection. I've learned a lot from it in just the past 24 hours.

I was hired for a developer job using VS.NET 2005 and I need something to get me up to speed on all the new things in C#. This book did the trick and was a delight to read. It is not a lengthy book, but, is full of straightforward advice.