Web Books

This book is a great resource to get introduced into the information graphics field and to brush up on your skills in order to make clean, concise news graphics. Everything you need to help you understand what the business is all about is explained in a clear, easy-to-understand format. For classrooms, the author helps you structure your lessons wonderfully, and for professionals, she reminds you what to strive for.

This book is great for the young reporter just getting started and as a reference in the newsroom. I especially recommend it to introductory and intermediate graphics programs at journalism schools everywhere!

Confused about how to conceptualize and execute information graphics? For journalists and graphic artists alike, this book is an invaluable resource for how to bring the two crafts together. The author takes care to provide real world examples that are clear and to-the-point and illustrate the topics at hand. This is an invaluable resource for small and medium-sized newsrooms in particular, as well as classrooms or individuals wanting to brush up on the state of the art of news graphics presentation.

This book is clean, simple, easy to understand. It's full of examples from daily graphics to large-scale graphics media thrive on. But, best of all, it gets right to the point of explaining why those graphics work. If you're an expert, you should get a copy as a reminder of what to shoot for and help check your work. If you're a student, you need one.

If you have an interest in learning about mashups, this is a book you don't want to miss. Whether you're just starting out or have some understanding of the subject already this book will dramatically increase your understanding of the subject.

An excellent, up-to-date (2008) book on mashups including: a workmanlike overview of the components with real exercises, details of the services, list of leading websites supporting mashups with specific interactions/examples of several, resource links, etc. A common thread through the book is using Flickr services, which makes sense as a learning exercise -- theirs is a widely used and robust set of features and services. While I could actually care less about interacting with Flickr, it was a good learning tool, and if by chance you do want to use Flickr in your mashups, then order the book right now.

One point, though, is that while the author tries to speak to all levels of web developer, that doesn't succeed so well -- the topic is really pretty advanced for beginners. Though anyone can glean useful knowledge, this is really a book for mid-level and above developers. If your exposure to websites is limited to Photoshop and Dreamweaver, this is probably not the best book for you.

I use (mostly) PHP now (formerly Java and before that C++ and before that you don't want to know), and there were a lot of PHP-specifics (though not exclusive), which I appreciated. The scattered resource links were invaluable. I tend to be submerged in my own field, and don't have the time to keep up with every trend, and this book pointed out several sites/tools that are apparently widely known and used, but with which I was unfamiliar.

Excellent job.

This is the type of book that you can either skim and get ideas from or sit down at a computer and work through all of the examples. The material is presented clearly and thoroughly illustrates different types of mashups. The book discusses how to use Yahoo Pipes and Google Mashup Editor, their respective map API's along with manipulating Flickr properties and API's. Integrating feeds and blogs into mashups are also described. Though not required, a reader would understand more of the book with some background in languages like javascript, php, and of course xml/html.

Kudos to the author and publisher for this release.
This book is a tour de force of the subject of Mashups.

I was looking for a good book on this subject so that I could introduce it to students as part of an extra-curricular technology program in NYC and this book is perfect.

In a sentence, Mashups are created by taking data from one or more sources and making something new and useful from them.

In my opinion, the subject is very important because there is a vast amount of data that is available now. Today the challenge is not just finding data but putting to use. This book shows you how to do that.

The author's writing style is excellent, mixing theory and applications. The book is filled with hands on examples as well as references for research in each of the areas.

I believe that this book can be read by anyone interested in the subject, regardless of their technical background. For those that want to create Mashups without programming, this book shows you how. For those that want to delve into programming, everything that you need is covered including AJAX, PHP, various data formats and how to parse them, various Javascript libraries and more.

The book is laid out in four parts:

1. Remixing Information Without Programming
As the title suggests, the chapters in this section require no previous programming experience. The author walks through some specific examples, introduces terminology and analyzes how sites like Flickr and del.icio.us work so that you can get the most out of them. Tools such as Yahoo! Pipes (a browser-based visual application for Mashups and Remixing) are explored. Following along with the discussion the reader can put together a Mashup or Remix by simply understanding the concepts and using tools, but not having to delve into coding.

2. Remixing a Single Web Application Using Its API
For the person who wants to code, this part of the book jumps right in discussing the Flickr API, PHP usage, XML processing and more. From there the discussion moves to other APIs and using AJAX/Javascript widgets.

3. Making Mashups
This section starts by delving into the ProgrammableWeb website. Showing how to find what resources are available, studying existing Mashups via which APIs they use and how to go about creating new ones. From there XMLHttpRequest and Javascript libraries such as YUI are covered and a step-by-step example is given using the previously discussed techniques. Lastly, the author addresses issues around implementing Mashups on your site including standards, accessibility and your own API. I was glad to see these topics covered as sometimes in the haste of getting something online, they can be overlooked.

4. Exploring Other Mashup Topics
This final section of the book covers a large range of interesting topics such as Map-based Mashups, Social Bookmarking, Calendars, Online Storage, Desktop and Office Suites, Embeddable Data Formats and Searches.

As you can see, there's a lot of information covered in this book. In my opinion, everything that one could want on the subject and written in such a way that you want to keep reading, exploring and creating your own Mashups.

I highly recommend this book - so far, it has been my favorite read of 2008!

Simply put, this book is by far, the best Domino book on the market.

I get bored easy, and this book kept my interest (finished it in two days). I like the way important information was presented in tables--easy to use as a reference. If you can't afford to take the Lotus Classes on Domino/Web....get this book! Also, after reviewing the Lotus sampe exams, I would recommend this book as a study guide. NUMEROUS typos in this book (but I can learn to live with that). Wish it was out in R4.6!

An excellent book to take one from "traditional" Notes application development to development of web applications. Unfortunately, the publishers did a TERRIBLE job of copy editing: references to figures that don't exist or are mis-numbered, paragraphs that end in mid-sentence, mis-formatted tables with items listed in the wrong column.
Deserved much better pre-publication from the editors/publishers and a higher rating.

My students have asked me many times if there are third party books about Notes and Domino that I would recommend. My answer was always no until I read Professional Developer's Guide to Domino. The authors' enthusiasm about Domino made me want to start developing and hosting web sites for clients and I'm not even a developer. The authors presented information about Domino in a easily understandable format. The book is full of useful development techniques and administration procedures. As a consultant, I have used the information in the book to help design and support Notes infrastructures. As an instructor, I found new and better ways to describe how some Notes/Domino processes work. If you are in the groupware profession, add this book to your collection and it will be used more than the official documentation. When was the last time that you picked up a yellow Notes book just to read?

Profit for Life shatters the old paradigm that success in business means sucking the life from people and natural resources by viewing both as dispensable commodities. By showing us how success in business--including big business--goes hand-in-hand with respect for human and natural communities, Bragdon frees us from the wrenching misconception that profit and citizenship represent a kind of zero-sum game.

Bragdon unites head and heart in one of the most uplifting books I have ever read. Profit for Life offers hope with a firm footing. I recommend Profit for Life to anyone with an interest in business management, strategic investment, or corporate citizenship.

Daniel D. Dutcher, J.D., Ph.D.
Project Director
The Clean Energy Group
Montpelier, Vermont

Book Review for Profit for Life: How Capitalism Excels
by Ann McGee-Cooper

How do you measure the value of servant leadership in business? How can we know it works? These have been two of the most frequently asked questions in our consulting practice over the past 30 years.

In Profit for Life, Jay Bragdon provides us with some compelling answers. He does this by setting aside much of the linear cause-and-effect thinking that drives business these days, and adopts a more rounded, holistic approach that gives us deeper insight into the firm.

The book is based on the experiences of 60 companies - Bragdon's "learning lab" - that broadly represent the industry/sector diversity of the world economy. Throughout the text he describes 16 of these pioneering companies, called the Focus Group. The distinguishing feature of all these firms is their effort to mimic living systems - in the ways they organize, manage and add value. This mental model is radically different from the traditional one that views the firm as a money making machine.

Although it may seem counter intuitive, the living system approach yields vastly superior results than the traditional one. For example, the average equity return of learning lab companies was nearly double the S&P 500 over the past decade; and their excess performance continues as this review is written. Bragdon expects such premium returns will diminish over time as the more effective methods of the living system model become copied and enter the mainstream. Nevertheless, these results are a strong affirmation of the milieu in which servant leadership normally operates.

Servant leadership, to Bragdon, is all about relationships. He says "relational equity" is the foundation on which companies build financial equity. When companies care about people and the things people care about, Employees become inspired and their inspiration cascades into everything they do, including their relationships with customers, suppliers and other key stakeholders.

The raison d'etre of these servant-led firms is value creation - value that permeates all relationships. Companies that excel at such value creation pursue a strategy Bragdon calls "living asset stewardship" (LAS). The fundamental premise of LAS is: Profit arises from life, and must therefore serve life if it is to be sustainable.

To understand the strategic value of living asset stewardship, Bragdon makes a critical distinction between living assets (people and Nature) and non-living capital assets (buildings, equipment and financial reserves). We see this in three contexts. First, people are closely bonded to Nature - genetically, physically and spiritually - in ways that capital assets are not. Second, living assets are the source of non-living capital assets. And third, because living assets are inherently creative and emergent, their value grows over time rather than depreciating as capital assets do.

The operating leverage in the learning lab and the 16 Focus Group companies resides in the human heart rather than in mechanistic financial gearing. This is supported by the fact that they generate consistently higher returns on equity while carrying substantially lower debt ratios.

Although traditionally managed companies have been adopting some stewardship practices in the past decade, Bragdon finds their approach differs fundamentally from those in his study. In the mechanistic view of these firms, stewardship is an add-on that is subservient to their drive for profit. By contrast, in companies that have adopted the living system model, LAS is deeply woven into the value creation process - reflecting the fact that they see themselves as "living" and therefore integral to, rather than separate from, Nature and society.

Profit for Life builds on the brilliant work of Arie deGeus, former coordinator of Group Planning at Royal Dutch/Shell, and Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson. DeGeus' classic, The Living Company, noted that long-lived companies had a collective consciousness, were sensitive to their environments, tried to work in harmony with the world around them, and strove to leave a legacy to future generations. Wilson tells us this collective consciousness is an expression of humanity's deep affinity for life, which he calls "biophilia," and that our biophilic instincts have evolved over thousands of generations of natural selection.

In my work as a teacher of servant leadership, I would highlight the paradigm shift Bragdon describes. The mission of leaders in LAS organizations is to serve and grow their people because that is the source of the firm's liveliness and capacity for growth. As Robert K. Greenleaf said: "The first order of business is to build a group of people who, under the influence of the institution, grow taller and become healthier, stronger and more autonomous." That seminal quote is used twice in the book to describe the power and generative capacity of LAS.

I highly recommend this book and will be using it regularly in our practice.

Ann McGee-Cooper, Ed.D., Business Consultant & Executive coach
in the field of Servant Leadership & growing Learning Organization.
Ann McGee-Cooper & Associates, Inc.

I intend to recommend Profit for Life to all my current MBA students. Next fall I am team teaching an MBA core course that combines Operations Management and Managerial Accounting. I intend to make the case that your book should be required reading and part of the course.

I became familiar with the work of W. Edwards Deming in 1990 and attended one of his four day seminars a year later. I also began to follow Peter Senge's work and later read Margaret Wheatley's book, Leadership and the New Science. Tom Johnson's book, Profit Beyond Measure, has been required reading in my Advanced Managerial Accounting elective at the MBA level.

Bragdon's book has brought the ideas, theories, and concepts discussed by these individuals together for me in a way that I could not have imagined. More importantly, he has not only taken their ideas to the next level, but done it in a way that provides a tangible blue print for how to change our current style of command and control management with its focus on profit maximization to a LAS Theory of Management.

The use of the sixteen focus companies from the LAMP INDEX and the author's ability ability to clearly show the distinctions in their style of management from the traditional management models that continue to be taught in almost all business schools, and the success these companies have achieved not just financially, gives those of us hoping to change management education and core business curriculums a new hope.

Thank you for such an outstanding book.

Joseph F. Castellano
Professor, Department of Accounting
University of Dayton Business School

This is not one of those lightweight business books that repeats its Chapter 1 message over and over. It's chock full of research-based information that anyone involved in the sustainability movement should have. The publisher is Peter Senge's non-profit, so if you're familiar with his excellent work over the years, this would make a great addition to your library. The author's passion for his subject is obvious from page one.

Made by top gurus came from the publishing universe this books is the more extensive and well made to real manage InDesign world. Perfectly illustrated and written this edition covers CS2. Aditional chapters related to PDF or scripts amplify its scopes. Although some points should deserve more explanations in the future (align to grid, problems with styles) this book deserves the maximum awards.

The table of contents tells you everything you need to know about the target audience. It's not divided into sections on Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, GoLive, and Acrobat. Instead, it deals with concepts; for instance, the chapter on "Type" discusses how each program in CS2 handles fonts and text options, which application is best at doing what, and how to use them in combination to do complicated tasks.

As such, this book is definitely not for beginners; it won't teach you how to use any of the individual programs. But if you're already familiar with Adobe's lineup, this will give you lots of ideas on how to integrate the different parts of CS2, as well as showing you a lot of really deep features that aren't obvious. The book's approach is to treat CS2 as one very large program, and by the time you get done with it, so will you.

As another reviewer noted, this is not a tutorial for beginners. It's an in-depth resource exploring the interaction of the CS2 products. On their own, the apps are powerful, but it's important to know how to take advantage of the ways they knit together. The authors are quite knowledgeable, and they impart a *ton* of priceless information in a very readable way. Even if you're just using, say, Photoshop and Illustrator, you'll discover valuable ways to make the most of the interaction between the two apps. I know all the CS2 apps very well (except GoLive), and I still learned a lot! And the content is *not* gimmicky "amaze your friends with silly tricks" stuff. It's practical and beneficial for users involved in production.

Creative Suite packs in many powerful programs: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat and GoLive: to understand how they work both individually and as a unit, Real World Creative Suite 2: Industrial-Strength Production Techniques teaches all the basics. Learn how to maintain consistency between applications, how to use special effects to maximum efficiency, how to work with style, colors and layers, and more with a title which focuses on seamless integration of processes for professional results.

I love this book. The writing style is easy to understand, and carries the reader forward in a natural progression. It's a book that can be read straight through. It has great tutorials on VBScript and SQL (although I wanted more on SQL), and a lot of friendly ASP tutorials. Definitely a great book for the library. It's hard to find everything you need to develop a web application in one book, which is why I give this one 5 stars. I can get quick answers, or read through for more complete understanding. I have a lot of ASP books, but this is my favorite due to its completeness and easy, friendly writing style. I love Kris Jamsa books, and now I'm adding Rob Francis books to my Must Have list.

I was very intimidated about moving to ASP.NET. This book's seven lessons on ASP.NET got me up and running the same day! Very easy to understand and follows -- explains the differences you must know to get started.

This is by far the easiest book to understand that I have found for Active Server Pages -- my hats off to Rob Francis (I just bought his Visual Basic book -- I hope it is as good).

I have been trying to use PHP -- Francis makes ASP very easy to understand and shows how to integrate key objects to perform complex tasks. PHP even makes more sense now ... but I am going to stick with ASP.

I am not using ASP.NET yet, so I can't comment on that part of the book.

The ASP material is very good and very easy.

I had never created an active server page before. My Web site had over a dozen after my first weekend with the book. The lessons make the process very easy!

I borrowed a copy of this book from someone who got an early realease. but i will buy it when it comes out.

Awesome! this book is great.

If oyu are not very familiar with C, back off, as this is a coders book.

But if you want to fight spam, this book has a ton of good info.

As the title says, the bulk of this book is on working with spam on the sendmail software package. If you are using sendmail, there is no question that this is the book for you.

The strange thing is, that there is so much information on spam contained in this book that I'd recommend it even if you are using some other software package. The general discussion on spam, its history, its impact on the industry and on individuals, and especially on it's techniques of spammers.

I particularly enjoyed his philosophy of setting up a Bait Machine just to collect inbound spam. He then began developing techniques to stop the spam that was coming to the bait machine. Great concept.

In the ongoing struggle against spam, adding filters to sendmail is a vital ability. Sendmail is probably the most common mail transfer agent on the Internet. The book describes how the latest sendmail supports a Milter interface. So that you, as a sysadmin or programmer, can write a program, usually in C, that implements a filter of your choice.

There has been various documentation on how to do this. Often scattered throughout the Web, and at various levels of competence and detail. But finally here, we have an entire book devoted to comprehensively explaining Milter.

It should be said that the authors deliberately don't go into details of what filters you might write. That is an open ended topic which is properly your remit, not theirs.

But as a bonus, there is a superb chapter on spam. It concisely goes into explaining techniques spammers use to obfuscate their mail. You can find out why blocking spam on the basis of checking subjects is essentially useless, for example. The chapter describes methods that other books on spam rarely go into. Actually, even if you have no intention of using Milter, you may want to consider the book for this chapter alone.

This is a programmer's book. It's heavy on C code, and if you can't at least read C, a lot of this isn't going to mean much to you. However, it does have a lot of general information that is of interest to anyone, and it could be helpful in unmdertstanding how someone else's milter works and how to modify it, etc.

I enjoyed it, but I like code heavy books - you may not.

There's a surprising amount of detail here; even getting into how to decode mime, and advice on user friendliness. I was a bit amused that they gave advice on how to attract spam to test milters; I don't think too many of us have any shortage of spam nowadays.

The Sentinel by voracious reader and avid technology buff James P. Moss is a dark and chilling novel monsters who use distance and cyberspace technology to cover the tracks of their crimes. After losing his lover and companion to a sadistic on-screen murder, Jack Pond investigates a string of killings that lead him to the Internet Crime Bureau - which is supposedly also investigating the murder spree. One never knows who or what is truly on the other side of an online chat screen, in this suspense-laden mystery.

I enjoyed the way the author drives you to an intimate knowledge of characters. His detailed descriptions of their moods and the scenes make the reader feel the atmosphere and the environment.

It is also attractive to feel that apart from the reader there is some body else watching, giving information on what is going on, and at the same time getting sentimentally involved with the characters.

The book has explicit descriptions of sex and violence - scenes that need an open mind to be read, but it also has tenderness scenes that help to reconcile with the author.

It is interesting to read the way in which the past influences personalities and the impact it has on future behavior of people.

Reading The Sentinel is easy as it maintains expectation in each chapter and awakens the impulse to read it to the end. The way events are linked keeps alertness and the presence of certain elements, very well described, maintain interest in what happens in the novel. It is easy to identify with characters and get involved in their feelings.

The climax, which happens in the last chapter, has a sequence that maintains expectation and permits to start concluding on the role of each character and to understand their participation on the scenes described earlier and in the whole plot.

I did enjoy reading The Sentinel and I do recommend its reading.

An outstanding technology thriller. Fast paced action that keeps you reading. True to life circumstances that make you want to "look over your shoulder."

To those of us who use our computers as work horses - to write, crunch numbers, or communicate - The Sentinel will introduce the darker side of cyberspace. Between these covers you will find an erotic thriller, a haunting murder mystery, and high tech savvy most of us cannot imagine.

Jack Pond learned at his father's knee to take care of business and "get it done". That work ethic has fed Jack's success and made him a very rich man. When Jack meets Lisa, it's love at first sight. They commute by plane to steal precious time with each other, and when that is not possible they fuel their relationship in cyberspace. What could it hurt? They are both consenting adults and everything is protected by encrypted passwords, right? Wrong. During a romantic cyber-encounter, Lisa is brutally murdered as Jack looks on. >From that night, he isolates himself in high tech luxury and has nothing left to live for but the hunt for Lisa's killer.

Jack's prey is pure voyeuristic evil, taking perverse pleasure in forcing friends and lovers to witness each victim's demise. Technology easily tracks committed lovers amd casual pleasure seekers as they fulfill sexual fantasies online in supposed safety. Lisa is the killer's first victim, but not the last. Numbed into celibacy for several years, Jack wades through the sometimes unsavory cesspool of private chat cams in search of clues. One suspect after another is examined and eliminated. No one is safe.

The Sentinel is a tidy thriller. You won't know the killer until the end. Not recommended for young teenagers or sensitive readers due to mature subject matter and strong sexual content.

I like this boo

I got an old version copy of this book. I was wondering if they have published an updated copy yet. This is "the" book you need to know everything about internet server administration. I wish the publisher print the book in a new updated edition.

Almost two years ago I was lucky enough to find this wonderful reference book. At the time I was just getting stated as an Internet consultant and was in great need of some technical material. Little did I know that this book would play such a big part in my future. I'll admit that at first, some of the material was a bit over my head. However, as my work drew me deeper into the tech aspect of web servers, I always had the answers I needed close at hand. It's hard to believe that with all the advancements in technology, this book has not been outdated. In fact, until recently, I would reach for it on a frequent basis. I would still be reaching for it today, but unfortunately my copy was book-napped!

This book is two years old and is still the best one on the market.

It covers all the topics a webmaster needs to know: bandwidth calculation, httpd server setup, html, and cgi forms. The information is presented in a clear manner for the novice without talking down or being "cute". Read it cover to cover and it will take you to journeyman webmaster status.

Sorrow's Web -- the book I've needed to read for decades. Ms. Sheffield deals with the subject of growing up with a depressive mother in such an insightful, intelligent, and honest way! I found recognition, understanding and comfort from her combination of the personal and the more "scientific" information. I urge mothers, daughters, sons -- and, yes -- fathers, to read this book. It has the potential profoundly affect your life and the life of those you love most.

This balanced, frank, and insightful account will make a difference in a lot of lives. Thoroughly explores and illustrates the many aspects and consequences of maternal depression in detail, is packed with valuable observations and information - no wasted words here. Devoted to straight talk. Sheffield offers knowledgeable support to her reader, does not flinch from using her own experiences to illustrate her points, and provides clear, practical advice on therapy choices with no waffling on any of the challenges we will meet in seeking the right treatment for ourselves or others close to us. Provides lists of resources for information, newsletters, local support groups. An illuminating and much needed book.

This is an extraordinary book -- sensitive, revealing and READABLE. I only wish I had it thirty years ago!

Sheffield's biggest contribution may offering an answer to those who have struggled with chronic depression: "Why have I always felt so strange? Where did this all come from?" In other words, the fallout from living with a mother who is depressed -- even someone who has never been identified as "depressed" -- can have lifelong consequences. The book will probably convince those who have been reluctant to get treatment to do so. Much of the rest is a standard round-up of recent literature and the usual advice on what to do when you are depressed --take medication, find a therapist - maybe. Despite its failings and its occasionally cutesy writing, it's probably the book about depression that has been the most personally helpful. I'd give this five stars for the idea and three for the execution.