Hardware Books

First I should say that I HATE Word. So does Word annoy me? Obviously. However, I'm forced to use Word at work and am struggling with it each and every day and swearing at MS. I thought this book would help and it does. It's a very well written book that is easy to understand. The author is an expert in Word simply from having to use it for years and has figured it all out himself. Instead of being the typical manual that says do this/do that, the author has written it almost in the style of a FAQ, but in organized sections to make it easier to find answers. The author uses some amount of humour - statements like: will Word do that? No, get over it. Would I say that this book solved all my annoyances? No. But it certainly reduced the number of them. If you are completely annoyed with Word, switch to a different program. If you have to use Word, buy this book, it's worth every penny.

If you've ever said-even under your breath-"I hate Word," you'll like this book.

The book has answers for dozens of the little aggravations that Word visits upon you. It solves things you thought you just had to live with (though you knew you'd never forgive the programmers at Microsoft who made them this way).

The author writes in an engaging question- ("The Annoyance" by you) and-answer ("The Fix" by him) style that's friendly and yet precise. I would have liked it to be a bit less wordy, but it's okay because the directions are very clear and even, in many cases, contain version-specific instructions for Word 2000, 2003, XP and so on. He also sprinkles the text with occasional helpful tips in little text boxes.

Lots of documents you open frequently? The author shows you how to add a Work menu that will keep up to 9 documents readily available (p. 16). Hate it when Word won't let you put a .jpg or .gif in a document? You can change an option in the Office Setup Wizard. Want to unclutter your menus? Learn how to customize which commands show up.

Boy, this one really annoys me-how about you? Sometimes when I close Word, it asks me if I want to save the changes to Normal.dot. Now, I happen to know that Normal.dot is the default template for new documents. But I don't remember making changes to it! Why is this happening?
To kill this seemingly random prompt, choose Tools -> Options, click Save tab and uncheck "Prompt to save Normal template" box (pp. 9, 14). But it might still happen to you for other reasons-the only solution they say is to quit Word and restart Windows. Sigh.
That #$%^&@# Task Pane

This one I was paying my tech guru to fix for me-but he couldn't find the "next step." I gave up worrying about it but continued wasting time (and putting extra stress on my mouse hand) having to manually close the "new document" task pane that pops up-and stays up-on my screen, hogging valuable screen space. We'd both found the place to supposedly turn this off (Tools -> Options, click the View tab, uncheck the Startup Task Pane box in the Show area, click OK) but, as the author says, it just wouldn't obey! So I'm going to give you this whole fix in case that stupid pane annoys you, too.
If the task pane doesn't obey on your first effort, close Word and create a system restore point. Don't be afraid-this isn't as scary as it sounds. Choose Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> System Restore, click the "Create a restore point" option, click the Next button and follow the prompts.Next, choose Start -> Run, type regedit and press Enter to open the Registry Editor.
Navigate to the following Registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common\General (in some versions it may read "...\Office\10.0\..."). Then, right-click the DoNotDismissFileNewTaskPane key, choose Delete from the shortcut menu and click OK to confirm. Choose File -> Exit to close the Registry Editor. Restart Word and you're done. This works like a charm, and I'm thoroughly delighted.

Template magic

Here's a really good tip if your work involves creating many documents of certain basic types, or if you work with others who have to create documents for you that use specific styles. Too bad I didn't read this one before that last big project-I spent hours manually correcting all the headings and fonts in the other writers' drafts because they didn't know how to use styles!

To create a template for each type of document you need, choose File -> New and in that task pane on the right that we mentioned earlier, click either "On my computer" (Word 2003) or "General templates" (Word XP). Up comes the Templates dialog box. (In Word 2000, choose File -> New to get there.)

Highlight an existing template, click Template at the bottom, and click OK. Save the .dot file with a name you'll remember. Then lay out and format the document (fonts, headings, etc.) as you want all final documents to appear. You can even enter text that you want to have in all documents based on this template.

You can create AutoText and AutoCorrect entries for boilerplate text (your company info, etc.) that doesn't specifically belong in any template. Save the changes to the template and then close it. To create a new document based on the template, open the Templates or New dialog box, select the template and click OK.

To create a template from an existing document, choose File -> Save As, select Document Template in the "Save as type" drop-down list, specify the name and click the Save button. Templates and documents look pretty much the same except for the file extension.
File gigantic?

Ever had your file be too big to send by email-even after you've deleted everything but a paragraph? That's enough to make you crazy. The author goes into a long-drawn-out explanation of why this happens-get the book if you want to read it. Otherwise, just turn off the culprit (fast saving). Choose Tools -> Options, click the Save tab and uncheck the "Allow fast saves" box.

Got a bunch of documents open and want to save them all? Shift-click the File menu and click Save All. Then, to close them shift-click File and click Close All. Easier yet (as you may already have discovered from having to shut down because Word just hangs there), just close Word and it saves and closes all your documents for you.

Home document security

Ever notice in Windows Explorer that someone else originated one of your documents? Maybe you asked your friend to help you draft something. If you want to be sure the other person's name doesn't appear when you move your cursor over that document in Explorer, remove the personal data (metadata) from the document.

Choose File -> Properties and manually delete what you want. In Word 2003/XP, choose Tools -> Options, click the Security tab and check the "Remove personal information from file properties on save" box. Then, save the document to preserve your changes.
HTML malfunctions

Writing HTML pages in Word? First piece of advice, don't-if you can help it. Word's HTML code is so wordy and clunky that your page will take longer to load and, heaven help you if you want to make changes outside Word. You'll be trying to change a font and end up with some of the strangest behaviors.

If you must use Word for HTML, save as "Web Page, Filtered" for pages you want to put on your web site. That cuts out a small amount of the messy code, but not much.
Potpourri of pleasantries

Want to stop those ridiculous "Shall we report this error to Microsoft" prompts? Who crammed all that useless code in there anyway? Just turn it off. You'll find out how on p. 30.

I don't know about you, but sometimes when I'm pasting from the web the formatting is way off, even if I should accidentally remember to use Paste Special. The author tells us how to fix this-sort of. Choosing Edit -> Paste Special and selecting the "Unformatted text" option should give you plain text. If not, paste the text into Notepad first, then copy it and paste it into Word.

Ever get something someone copied from an email and it's full of spaces or >> signs at the beginning of each paragraph with a first-line indent? I knew this, but it's a good tip to share with you in case you don't.

Use Find and Replace. In a later fix he tells you all the symbols to indicate formatting in this dialog box. Replace ^p (paragraph mark) and four spaces with ^p and a distinctive string - for example, ^pfirstlineindent. Then replace firstlineindent with nothing but the paragraph formatting that you need: delete the contents of the "Replace with" box, choose Paragraph in the Format drop-down list, specify the indentation level, click OK and click Replace All. (Alternatively, once you've deleted the whitespace, you can use a style to apply a first-line indent to all of the paragraphs.
Learn how to reformat WordPerfect documents on pp. 32, 78.

Here's a big question for most of us I bet: How do I correct automatic numbering in numbered lists? You know you're not going to be happy with the answer when a guy starts his response with "Bad news" and it's four pages long (pp. 80 to 84).

Do you ever get aggravated that when you're selecting text with the mouse, it keeps grabbing more than you want? The author says this is Word's smart-selection feature.

Choose Tools -> Options, click the Edit tab and see whether "When selecting, automatically select entire word" and "Use smart paragraph selection" boxes are checked. If so, try unchecking them and see if you prefer the resulting selection behavior.
Do you have to count your words sometimes? I like this one: Instead of using Tools -> Word Count each time, do this: Display the Word Count toolbar; go to View -> Toolbars or right-click any displayed toolbar and click the Word Count item. To force a recount, press Alt + C or click the Recount button.

Sometimes have to type web or email addresses and don't want the auto-hyperlink? Read all about it on p. 94.

I've never been good at using Compare and Merge Documents-like when someone else has made changes and you want to see where they are. Here's a cool tip for comparing multiple versions:

Open the original version and choose Tools -> Compare and Merge Documents. In the Compare and Merge Documents dialog box, select the first of the other versions of the document, click the drop-down arrow on the Merge button, and choose "Merge into Current Document." Word merges the documents and marks the changes with revision marks. If the results look okay, repeat the procedure with the next version, etc.
Hate how Word's columns act when you need to change the width of one of them? Try clicking Shift as you drag it. This makes Word keep the columns to the right the same, but it does mean that your table's overall width will change.

How do I convert a long list of names or other data that are separated with regular old spaces instead of tabs? He says it's easy.

Choose Edit -> Replace and replace ^w (whitespace) with ^t (a tab). Select the list, choose Table -> Convert -> Text to Table, make sure the Tabs option is selected and that the "Number of columns" box shows the right number of columns, and click the OK button to perform the conversion.
All told, I'd say get this book if you experience periodic aggravations with Word. Don't try to go through the whole thing. The index is pretty good, so just keep it next to your computer.

When it comes to word processing programs Word is so predominant in the marketplace as to be ubiquitous. Unfortunately just because it is everywhere doesn't mean that there are not a lot of problems with it. Learning how to deal with all those annoying problems is the purpose of this book. The author covers installation problems, dealing with multiple versions, moving Word to another computer, dealing with long startup times, when it runs slowly, when it takes a long time to close, modifying the toolbar, saving all open documents at once, keeping separate versions of the same document, dealing with crashes and document corruption, transferring your auto-correct entries to another computer, the myriad problems of working with styles and layouts, printing problems (and there are many of these), mail merge, and even dealing with problems specific to the Mac OS.

Written in a question and answer format it contains all the most commonly asked questions about how to get Word to work the way you want. I've worked with Word for years and still found a couple of tips in this book that I really appreciated. If you use Word for anything other than an expanded notepad you will want a copy of Word Annoyances.

This book is a guide to making Word work your way. Users are advised on how to get rid of Word's greatest annoyances, such creating hyperlinks the user doesn't want, and how to turn off automatic paragraph numbering, among others. It provides solutions to common and unusual problems in editing, formatting, printing, faxing, and scanning. There are hundreds of customizations, fixes, workarounds, and instructions which show you how to make Word work your way. You can save a lot of time by using the advice in this book.

Because I spend most of my time programming and not writing reports and such in Word, I just figure that certain quirks of Word existed because I was too dumb to know better. While that may still be the case, I now have a way to make my Word time more productive and less annoying... Word Annoyances by Guy Hart-Davis. This is a *really* good book for anyone who uses Word (although Microsoft may tend to disagree)...

Contents: Installation, Repair, and Configuration; Creating and Saving Documents; Text Entry and Editing; Formatting and Layout; Forms, Revising, Proofing, and Finalizing; Printing, Faxing, and Scanning; Tables, Columns, and Text Boxes; Automate Annoyances Away with Macros; OLE, Mail Merge, and Office Applications; Mac Word Annoyances; Index

If you've never had the pleasure of reading an Annoyances book before, here's how it works. The author gathers up a large number of questions and "annoyances" from regular users of the product. Then in an irreverent question and answer format, he (or she) proceeds to show solutions and workarounds to allow the reader to bypass those irritations. Since this book deals with Word, you'll learn all sorts of interesting stuff on how to "fix" auto-formatting, how to change your default template, and dozens of other gems that will quickly make this one of your favorite Office books (much to Microsoft's chagrin). I'm sure they'd like you to believe that their software doesn't have any annoying features, and that everything is very helpful and well-implemented. Not! Even things that I didn't give a second thought to before now stand out as things I don't have to live with.

Obviously, not every tip in this book will apply to your needs or situations. You'll either never use a particular feature, or you've already figured out how to fix the behavior. But there are far more instances where you'll say "so *that's* how you get rid of that!". So get a copy of this book, sit down in front of your computer, open up Word, and start reading. The "Eureka!" moments will start coming fast and furious...

In 20+ years of software development on a host of different target processors I've seen all kinds of documentation. My current projects represent my first exposure to the ARM. I have found this book to contain everything almost everything I've needed. The only thing that I'd like to see the author add in the next edition is a better discussion on EABIs (Extended Application Binary Interface). This book is a very good source for anyone needing to understand the guts of the ARM processor for software related needs. It is one of the better sources I used over the years.

This IS a good book. Plenty of contents. It's better be used as a mix-purpose book as a guide material and a referrence. You'd better focus what you want if you don't have that much time. Otherwise it will be a very good spare time reading.

This is a really good book to have ! Real stuff !

This is an excellent introductory book for the budding ARM programmer. I bought it because I am trying to learn more about programming for the GameBoy Advance, but that is only one of the many different devices that use the ARM.

For those who are scared by assembly language and the low-level details, this book is a good way to learn without being tossed into the fire.

If you already consider yourself an assembly wizz on another CPU, this book will give you a lot of the details that you might miss otherwise. For example, while the ARM can be coded for in a way similar to the popular x86 line, doing so can lead to very poor code.

The ARM chip is also RISC based, and in the past, RISC meant programmer unfriendly. This book shows you the insides of the most programmer friendly RISC chip you'll ever find.

I say that if you have any interest in programming for an ARM device (and believe me, there are plenty to program for), this should be on your shelf, right next to the documentation from the ARM web site.

This book is very easy to read, but it also provides surprisingly quite detailed information that is sufficient to understand ARM chips' design and architecture. The book is almost self-contained although a little background in computer organization/architecture is helpful (but not necessary).

I've read this book from cover to cover. I've read many books on software development, software processes, best practices, qualitative approaches, and quantitative approaches, many from SEI. This book has to be one of the top two. For software professionals in leadership positions facing today's pressures of delivering quality software that meets customer expectations according to plan, this book is a must-read. You will be able to implement techniques directly into your organizational processes and deliverables with considerable ease. Kolawa and Huizinga have forged a grimoire that should be on every software leaders' desk, be they Project Managers, Software Architects, PMO Directors, of Vice Presidents of Development. Here are the key take-aways from this book:

1. Clarity: All concepts, practices, and examples were extraordinarily clear. There was never a question as to what was meant, or confusion in the information conveyed.

2. Readability: The text is very user-friendly. Coming from a very technical background, I tend to read challenging and complicated material. In this book, you were able to frame both technical and complex material in a readable way. In other words, I never had to re-read anything in the book. All of the material was very easy to understand. I feel the ability to effectively reduce complexity to simplicity is the hallmark of good authorship.

3. Implementable: I found the practice-side of the book to be what I call `out-of-the-box.' This means I was able to take material directly from the text and apply that into my process(es) or deliverables with very little work or trouble. (I actually did this multiple times.) This is a testament to the subtitle of the book, Best Practices in Software Management.

4. Usefulness: The book is actually aimed at being useful within for-profit businesses. Theoretical books are good for concepts, but it's up to the readers to find ways to translate the theory into executable practices (which often is beyond the role and responsibility of the readers). Your book actually bridges this gap, and provides mechanisms to help readers implement valuable techniques into their organizations, independent of their infrastructure.

These four points make a huge difference for readers looking to improve their software development processes to ensure profitability, cost savings, and customer satisfaction. Producing quality software while building defect prevention into your processes is key in today's competitive software marketplace. With these techniques, your organization will continue to become better, managing, reducing, and even eliminating the traditional sources of defects in software deliverables. You won't be disappointed in buying this book, as you'll refer to over and over again as you build process improvement into your organization.

What sets this book apart from other software quality management books is its focus on real-world solutions. Many quality improvement strategies sound great on paper, but are impractical to implement because they end up slowing project progress and stirring resentment throughout the ranks. Rather than ignore the demands of modern day development, this book embraces them. The result is a refreshingly realistic approach to boosting software quality... while at the same time actually improving team productivity and developer satisfaction.

This book offers a straight-forward, realistic approach to solving challenges of day-to-day projects that the software industry faces. Not only does it address the necessity of technology businesses to increase efficiency and productivity, but it also takes into account the psychological need for individual software professionals to be challenged and intellectually fulfilled on a daily basis. The powerful gains of software automation are amplified by the strategic best practices described in this software management book.

Automated Defect Prevention delivers a realistic approach to the nagging software quality problem. If you are responsible for developers who deliver business applications, you need to read this book. If you are an software architect or engineer, the book will offer a pragmatic road map to achieve incremental productivity gains within your software development lifecycle.

When I read this book I had a huge realization. Most of the quality initiatives that I had been involved with or observed had introduced (or layered on) additional tasks and responsibilities for either the architect, developer or QA engineer. Over time, these layered tasks ultimately resulted in dragging down productivity. Investing in the *correct* infrastructure to automate the monotonous/repetitive is the key to success. Quality should be the outcome of intelligent investment in productivity.

One issue I have with the software industry is that too many project managers, or stake holders managing software people, lack the understanding of just how important software quality is and how it can benefit the software teams and products. As the people most accountable for what happens with a software initiative, managers should have a solid understanding of what options are available to improve developer skills and the software they release. This book provides that needed information and helps explain who is responsible for what tasks, when they should be considering phasing in a particular practice and the benefits of a given item.

I like the way the information is presented in this book because I feel a project manager would be able to quickly evaluate a practice for phasing in without facing an all-or-nothing approach that some other books take. If, for example, a manager felt that they enjoyed the chapter on testing models, this book provides the information on what is needed, the benefits and the roles people need to take to phase that approach into their teams.

I enjoyed this book and I wish that more development teams used many of the practices in this book. While there were samples at the end of the chapters and a chapter on case studies, I would have liked to have seen a bit more information on difficulty and time constraints presented within some of the sections themselves. Overall this is a great book and definitely worth having on your desk.

This is a very well-written study-guide. It gets to the point without getting too wordy. It could serve as a model for other study guides. But, I do have a few minor gripes. First, some of the pages were printed kind of blurry, a kind of shadow image. Second, there is too much preaching about what the author feels are best practices, some of which I question. Best practices questions are not on the exam, at least the one I took, and thus should be left out of a study guide except as perhaps small footnotes. There were also a few minor typos, but being a niche market I can forgive that for technical books.

This is pretty much the only material you need to pass the certification. I was thinking of getting the exam buster as previous reviewer suggested, but exam buster does not promise same day delivery of their products, and with the exam one day away, I had only this guide to rely on.

Here is the approach I took that might work for you as well if you are pressed for time: Work on the end of chapter exercises first, mark all the questions that you are unsure of, if you have the time, go back and read the chapters and correct your own mistakes (I skipped this one because of time issue), and finally check the answers at the back. Note all the ones you were unsure of or didn't get right and studied the reasons provided with each answer. If you don't feel confident of the topic or you have made enough mistakes in the questions, read that chapter.

Before I read the guide, I scored a 70% using Ben's site. After a day of going through the guide using the "algorithm" above, I got an Advanced certification the next day. It goes to show you how good the guide is. One thing to be aware of, some answers are not correct (ran into about 4-5 incorrect answers at the back of the book), thankfully the answer analysis are correct most of the time so you can catch any mistakes in the answers the book provides. Do Ben a favor and get this book, he really deserves the royalty.

Ben Forta's deep experience and practical application overflows from the pages of this book that I highly recommend. Of the dozens of computer books I've ever read, this one kept me astounded me with its perfect-sized chapters, handy reference and cross-reference segments, and the well-written pages. Not only is Ben Forta a good writer, he's an outstanding teacher.
Clarke Schroeder
Advanced Macromedia ColdFusion Certified

This is a very good book, however the coupon for 15% off of the exam is no longer valid. It expired December 31st of 2003.

This book does a good job of giving you information on every possible topic of the certification exam. I used the original study guide to take and pass the first exam. This book includes just about everything in the first book, and goes into topics that are relaevent for MX (i.e. CFCs, XML, Flash intergration, etc.). If you want answers in a few pages vs. a few chapters, then buy this book.

I love this book. It's a robust mix of exercises and software how-to, unique among all the FCP books I've read. I'm very glad to have it in my library.

I wrote this to Wolsky, might as well share it with the world:
Hi, guys. I met you at the fcpug last Weds and bought a (signed!) copy of your book. I haven't started to do the tutorial yet but I can't put the book down. It's so clear and easy to understand, and I'm already implementing the stuff I've picked up just from reading, "Now, did he say.... option X? Oh, wow, it works." It's the best book I've seen and I tend to look at everything in hopes that where one person confuses me another will set me straight. Anyway, this is a fan letter. And the writing is extraordinarily fine, literate and grammatical. Thank you.

The author is candid in his discussion about editing with Final Cut Pro. The most valuable information to me was his numerious comparisons between FCP and other editing software. For example, he points out those areas where other programs might be stronger in certain areas than FCP and specifies those programs. I read the book cover to cover and continually refer back to it as a guide and inspiratoin when editing.

Reading many, if not most, software instruction books, is akin to being clubbed by a thousand hammers...overload, overload. They are constructed as reference books, but one has to fight through tons on incidental material to figure out how to use the program.

Tom Wolsky's Final Cut Pro 2 book is, instead, a precise tool, which gets you cutting in no time. Wolsky's credits list him as an editor and a teacher, and his book make it clear he is outstanding in both regards.

At first glance you might think that this book is the same as the other FCP click-step books for the manual-adverse. You'd be wrong. Tom has crafted an excellent instructional work that richly supplements, rather than reiterates, Apple's enormous, exhaustive FCP 2 manual. Certainly he has featured many pages of clear dance-step instruction throughout the book. But, more noteworthy, Tom also incorporates a great deal of contextual insight into why certain features might be useful to the reader and draws upon his professional experience to give readers insights into the professional post-production process.

This book quickly became the mainstay of my FCP editing library. The only feature that would improve upon it is a spiral binding enabling it to lie flat while open!

I was going to avoid reviewing this book because I'm too close to the authors and my copy was free so I thought I would be too biased, but the book merits a stellar review...bias aside.

Generator concepts are in bite size chunks and easy to follow, yet not so easy that they bore the reader. The book follows a natural progression in complexity and will be usefull to developers of all experience levels stepping up to the Generator plate.

The level at which the author's stand in the developer community gives them the opportunity to bestow their knowledge in "we know it all" manner, but instead they maintain a humbleness that says "hey, we're just developers like you who've had a lot more time on our hands."

Chock full of all the essentials, and the non-essentials, this book is a must have for the Generator developer (or the developer wanna-be) and looks to have a long shelf life.

Chris, Phil, Mike-nice work!

Finally someone to really take the shrink wrap off two of the best tools in the business. It shouldn't surprise anyone that the eccentric behind flashenabled.com would be able to show all of us common men how to take the next step with Flash and Generator. Awesome.

I was going to avoid reviewing this book because I'm too close to the authors and my copy was free so I thought I would be too biased, but the book merits a stellar review...bias aside.

Generator concepts are in bite size chunks and easy to follow, yet not so easy that they bore the reader. The book follows a natural progression in complexity and will be usefull to developers of all experience levels stepping up to the Generator plate.

The level at which the author's stand in the developer community gives them the opportunity to bestow their knowledge in "we know it all" manner, but instead they maintain a humbleness that says "hey, we're just developers like you who've had a lot more time on our hands."

Chock full of all the essentials, and the non-essentials, this book is a must have for the Generator developer (or the developer wanna-be) and looks to have a long shelf life.

Chris, Phil, Mike-nice work!

Want to learn Generator? This is it, bar none!
As a Generator and Flash trainer I always look for good material to add to class for future reading, this book will not only top the list but will be integrated into all future classes. Having used Generator since 1.0 I thought I knew many of the tricks but this book showed me a few that I have never seen before and will use immediately.
If nothing else know that the authors are top of their game and that the material for this book matches their excellence.

This book is a must-have resource for anyone interested in working with Generator. Mike, Phillip, and Chris not only know their stuff, but they did a great job at sharing their knowledge in a way that even a novice can understand. They are able to share their real-world experience, and make using Generator just a little (maybe even a lot?) more palatable for the average Flash user.

A refreshing book that focuses its energy on the qualities of leadership beyond "book smarts." This was a real eye opener!

This approach to leadership is comprehensive and easy to understand. The wholehearted leading approach embraces the four chambers of competency, intimacy, integrity and passion, and illustrates how they work together in a synergistic manner to provide the foundation for effective leadership. Each chamber of the heart model is critical for success. Informative with practical applications!

Few books on leadership provide as clear, dynamic and strategic guidance and insight as The Seven Acts of Courage and The Heart of Leadership. They provide the reader with a sound and useful foundation upon which and rom which to grow. In my experience as a Personal and Professional Development Coach, I have had the pleasure of working with many individuals who have read and studied these books and find these individuals not only motivated, but inspired by the principles they have gleaned. Perhaps the greatest benefit of these books is that the principles they present are readily teachable to those being led. Dusty's insights and intimacy are powerful and penetrating. Dusty sets the leadership bar, both higher and deeper!

The FOUR Chambers of the Heart model makes this approach easy to visualize, grasp and learn. It teaches a balanced approach to leadership -- all parts of the chambers are equally important. I recommend this book to everyone. It's a GREAT book!

In Robert Staub's The Heart Of Leadership: 12 Practices Of Courageous Leaders, lays out an articulate inquiry into, and explanation of, critically essential aspects of effective business leadership including competency, intimacy, integrity, and passion. Articulate, educative, ardent, and inspiring Staub offers a thoroughly "reader friendly" and practical presentation that is very highly recommended for anyone charged with an entrepreneurial or business management responsibility, from the smallest company to the largest international corporation.

What can podcasting do for a business? That's the wrong question to ask, say Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson. Like any communication tool, podcasting should be applied as a solution, not as a goal in and of itself. "Podcasting ought to come up in larger discussions about ways to reach audiences, to convey particular messages, or to address specific situations and problems," they advise.
Hobson and Holtz are internationally known business communicators, bloggers, and consultants.
Besides detailing all the technical aspects of podcasting, Hobson and Holtz preach the gospel of strategic planning. Thinking about producing a podcast? First, address the question: What outcomes are you trying to achieve? Would it serve as a marketing vehicle, or to supplement public relations and financial communications, or to enhance customer relations, or to enhance customer support? And how will you measure the success of your efforts?
They offer many examples of podcasting done well. Purina's Animal Advice podcast, for example, provides information pet owners can use; it does not `sell product.' Stanford University podcasts offer faculty lectures, interviews, music, and sports content. Target groups include students and alums. IBM's The Future Of .... Podcast reaches investors and features interviews with engineers, product managers, and others in the trenches--not with PR or marketing staff.

Shel and Neville's book should be required reading for anyone who does a podcast, everyone who's thinking about doing a podcast, even for anyone who listens to podcasts.

They cover all the "nuts and bolts" in an easy-to-read, conversational style. They cover all the tech stuff, like hardware and software, making it understandable for even the non-techies among us. They explain the actual recording and editing process as well as how to get your efforts heard.

More important, at least for me, they go into great detail about the reasons WHY to podcast. They discuss podcasting as a business tool and how it fits into the overall communication plan.

If you wonder about Shel and Neville's credentials, check out their "For Immediate Release" podcast. It's produced twice each week (Monday and Thursday) with Shel normally being in California and Neville in England. But, both men travel for their respective businesses, so they're likely to both be in hotel rooms, halfway around the globe from each other. Yet their podcasts come off without a hitch (usually).

I can't imagine anyone getting into podcasting without reading this book.

This is an excellent, valuable, thorough, well-written resource. No relection on the authors or the book, but I made the mistake of paying for an "Amazon Upgrade" for this title (supposedly enabling online reading and use of the book in addition to the physical book). The text looks like somebody hosed it down (blurry, and the more you zoom, the blurrier it gets). Ditto for the images (text within the images is totally illegible.

This book was all I needed to get set up for my first podcast. I am one of those types who can't just settle for the basics, which can be an expensive problem. But this book will get anyone who is budget-conscious up and running with less than $100 out of pocket, assuming you at least have a computer.

If you are looking for some expertise about equipment or how to set up your rig in the studio, this is not the book for you. You might want to look for a book about home recording or even professional broadcasting. I have to give these authors big kudos though, this really is everything you need to know about *the basics* of podcasting. If that's what you need to know, you won't go wrong with this book. Oh yeah, it is very well-written and easy to read also.

Disclaimer: As a contributor to the authors' podcast, For Immediate Release, I might be expected to have a biased opinion. I do, but I also held the book to the standards of their podcast and their blogs. If it hadn't been good, I would have been seriously disappointed.

But not to worry, it's good.

Naming a book "How to Do Everything with Podcasting" is ambitious, but that was the publisher's choice. They have a whole series of "How to Do Everything" books. And while there might be things you can do with podcasting that aren't covered in the book, it's impressively comprehensive.

I particularly appreciated the details about sound editing in Chapter 9 when I had to assemble the interviews from the iMeme conference. (It helped, but with background noise as bad as that, there's not a lot you can do if you don't use a directional mic in the first place.) The only omission I'm aware of in that section is a reference to the Levelator, an amazing tool every podcaster should have. (It's free, too. Gigavox invented it in self-defense.)

I imagine many people will head straight to Part IV, "Make Money with Your Podcast," but I really appreciated Part V, "Use a Podcast as a Business Communication Tool." These 65 pages are pure gold for any podcast evangelist operating in either the corporate or small-business world. Shel and Neville start by pointing out that creating a podcast is not a business goal. Rather, podcasting is a tool that can serve a purpose in the business' overall strategy. If your company starts podcasting "because everyone else is doing it," the podcast is not likely to be a success.

There's also an appendix about legal considerations for podcasters, one listing podcasting resources, and a podcasting glossary to help you sort out the jargon. And to keep up to date (because things on the Web change so quickly), there's a website for the book at EverythingwithPodcasting.com. You can find Shel's mix-minus instructional video (for recording Skype calls without echoes) and a whole lot of other good stuff--including a long list of links to podcasts.

Three cheers and five stars, guys.

SRG

I just bought a camera phone 3 weeks ago, and this book has saved me! Well, not literally. But it has been a big help. It's a pretty hefty 300+ pages with easy to follow steps. And it's geared to non-techies like myself.

Now I know how to work the camera, but I still take $#!++% photos!

at last I have a book that I can give to my technology-impared friends and family! thanks for getting me off the hook, john frederick moore!

This is a book made for the person (like me) who's basically intimidated by technology, afraid that any attempt to utilize this or that fancy feature will spell nothing but frustration and futility in the end. It doesn't have to be that way. I was given a camera phone as a present, and until I found this book, it stayed in its box. I was that intimidated. (Let's just say my experience with user manuals hasn't been good.) The first thing that struck me about this book was the clean writing. Moore has a knack for making complicated things seem really simple. This book is comprehensive and straightforward and has lots of helpful visuals to add further clarity. I can now begin taking advantage of my phone's features without fear. It's terrific.

As someone whose technological literacy is only slightly better than a mushroom, I was hesitant to use and intimidated by my new cell phone camera. Despite the salesperson's assuarnce that "anyone can use it," I knew I'd be the addled exception. Thank God for this book! Not only is it well-written and interesting, but it's for people like me - who need lots of extra help. Because of this book, I'm happy to say, I now love using my cell phone camera and have become quite the master at it - even giving my friends advice and "tutorials." I take great photos with my cell and have captured and shared lots of great memories I would have otherwise missed. Thanks for the great, helpful read!

Disclaimer on the star rating: I don't have a camera phone, but my mom does. And my mom called, a lot, to ask how to use this, that, etc. So I bought her this book, and my time spent on those calls have been cut to almost nothing!

Clear direction, illustrations and well written instruction mean that even my mom can master her phone. Of course now I spend even more time downloading the pictures of my neices and nephews she captures on her phone, but it is time well spent! And seeing the results my mom is getting....well, a picture phone might be in my future as well.

I pass ccna2.0 with 935/1000 today. All I have is this book and Boson exams. I've read my friend's Todd Lammle book. I think this book is much better than Todd's. Todd's is written for passing the exam. For the ICND book, you actally learn the CCNA stuff in depth. I strongely recommend this book for everyone who want to pass the CCNA2.0 with FULLY understanding.

I pass ccna2.0 with 935/1000 today. All I have is this book and Boson exams. I've read my friend's Todd Lammle book. I think this book is much better than Todd's. Todd's is written for passing the exam. For the ICND book, you actally learn the CCNA stuff in depth. I strongely recommend this book for everyone who want to pass the CCNA2.0 with FULLY understanding.

I read ICND by Cisco Press before. I found this book used on Amazon and bought it just because it was cheap. Now I can not put it down. This book is far better than Cisco Press' ICND. It has about 100 more pages than Cisco's. To me it is worth every minute spent to read this book.
I passed CCNA in December. So, I don't have the exam pressure. I am reading this just for fun and enjoying it.
I strongly recommend it over Cisco's ICND if you intent to take CCNA test.

I just finished reading this book cover to cover and feel very confident about moving on to the next stage of my CCNA preparation, practice tests and simulation! I've been using the CCExam software from CCStudy.com as well as a few other practice tests and am amazed how easy a lot of the questions were after reading this book. Just an indication of how comprehensive this book is.

More important, in my opinion, is the book's "readability"! I'm sure there are numerous books that cover the exact same information as this book yet might not be written in a manner that is clear and simple to understand, especially for Cisco newbies like myself. This book is just a lot of fun to read.

Finally, I really enjoyed the "real world" tone of this title. It isn't written for someone who's bound for the testing center, but rather for someone who needs to apply the knowledge at work in the field. I'm certain that I'll constantly be using this book as a reference even after passing the exam. Very cool.

All in all, I'd like to recommend ICND to the Cisco neophyte who's looking for that great "First Book" to start off his or her Cisco library. I'm really glad I got this book and I'm sure you will be too.

Good luck on your CCNA!

I pass ccna2.0 with 935/1000 today. All I have is this book and Boson exams. I've read my friend's Todd Lammle book. I think this book is much better than Todd's. Todd's is written for passing the exam. For the ICND book, you actally learn the CCNA stuff in depth. I strongely recommend this book for everyone who want to pass the CCNA2.0 with FULLY understanding.