Languages Books

The Fast Track Course on How to Write a Nonfiction Book Proposal is a solid, non-nonsense guide. It's gotten me off my rear-end to do my own book proposal, in large part because it makes the steps seem far less daunting.

The author, being a publisher, writes from experience as a person who reads book proposals all the time, and so you can bet that his advice will boost your odds when it comes to pitching your book. While it may be true that publishers will have their own quirky preferences, everything in the book just makes so much sense that it's sure to at least drive your own submission towards the top of the stack -- as long as you have something interesting to write about in the first place!

But we start with that assumption, don't we?

Thanks to Mettee for providing authors with a template for the nerve racking task of how to format a book proposal. Under his guidance I have produced a concise proposal and sent it to publishers with the confidence my book idea will be selected for publishing. A must read for new and seasoned non fiction authors!

As a publisher and publishing consultant, this is the book I recommend to writers and new publishers. It is direct, concise, and engaging. Writers serious about professional nonfiction book projects would be wise to read and use this book.

This is an excellent and concise guide to writing a nonfiction book proposal. The author covers a lot of ground in less that 115 pages and does it in an entertaining and engaging way. In general, the book is very well-organized, has text boxes with useful tips, good cartoons used sparingly and powerful quotes that are offset in the margins.

The organization of the book is broken down into three chapters: 1) First Things; 2) The Query Letter; and 3) The Proposal. The rest of the book contains a sample book proposal, query letter, agency contract, nonfiction book proposal checklist, information on formatting a proposal, a section on author's rights and various references.

In reality, this is ALL you need to start putting out book proposals. In addition to high quaility information, the tone of this book is positive and encouraging. It also contains ALL meat and no FLUFF. You will learn a lot about the basics of getting published and be entertained at the same time.

Another book worth considering that iks also good, but geared more toward scholars is Getting It Published: A Guide for Scholars and Anyone Else Serious about Serious Books (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing). I have also found Writing for Story: Craft Secrets of Dramatic Nonfiction. The ideas in this latter book are excellent, but this two-time Pulitzer winner has somewhat of an arrogant tone to his writing. If you can tolerate this, you will save yourself a lot of trouble when you get down to work. (Personally, I have found him to be right with his suggestions, but I would have preferred him to be "right" from a position of more "equinimity."

This short book goes to the heart of creating a book proposal. It includes information not easily available in other books such as a sample agreement from a literary agency, a sample book contract and detailed information about the shape of a query letter. As Mettee says, "The job of a query letter is to get an editor or agent to ask to see your full proposal." As an acquisitions editor, I know firsthand that too few writers invest enough energy into the query letter process.

In many regards, this book is an adequate introduction to the topic of book proposals. For other writers, it will leave you needing more detailed information than contained on these pages. From my perspective, it's important to study every single available resource on this topic. I recommend this book.

I found it best technical book till date but you should know Flex & Ruby before you can jump into this..

This is a great book. Peter is the #1 expert in Flex + Rails.

The author goes into great detail on how to efficiently get Rails and Flex working together. The book is updated for the latest version of Rails as well as the upcoming Flex 3 release. I've found the book easy to follow along with and enjoy the author's humor spread throughout the book.

As a developer I'm often tasked with making "things talk to each other". Typically if I can I'll use a tool like Flex Builder for a project and if I have a choice I'll pick Java, .NET or Ruby for the server back end - whatever is the best fit. This book only backed up my belief that Rails and Flex really do work very well together. I've learned a lot going through the code both on Rails and Flex.

I also liked how the author is continually refactoring the application (called "Pomodo"), that is where your learning kicks into overdrive. He uses the Cairngorm framework and even RubyAMF. I didn't have any experience in either up until this point. Now I can say I do and it all fits together nicely.

I have used Flex for about a year and I have only dabbled in Ruby/Rails development. I have been curious how I might back a Flex front end with a simple service layer that isn't hard to create, maintain or host. So far I have only worked with Java/Spring/Hibernate backend services which can take a little while to build and integrate (Grails is MUCH faster).

After about 100 pages I'm in interation 4 building an interesting RIA with a Rails backend that I can host on relatively inexpensive server if I wanted to. My only struggles thus far was getting MySQL going properly. But that was only because I forgot a step in installing it.

If you have little exposure to Rails and/or Flex and you feel at home on the command line as well as you do in an IDE like Eclipse, this is a great "project" book for you. I'd say you probably want a primer in Ruby, Rails and Flex before you get going but it is pretty easy follow and has a lot of free professional advice from someone that has obviously been around the block a few times. Peter is very upfront about some things that he has done in the book that should not be considered "best practice".

I am hoping to get some good insight how I might do something similar for Flex and Grails. Regardless, I am confident this is going to be a fun journey!

I wasn't sure whether a mixed-technologies book would be adequate for both reading and reference, especially with two technologies. As both a software engineer and a moonlighting instructor this book was an easy read from the start. Mr. Armstrong explores both Flex 3 and Rails 2 with enough background information on both technologies to get a reader ready to code--and that was just Chapter...err...Iteration 1. The second iteration begins with coding (Hello World) and it doesn't stop. This is a must for your coding library and makes a great textbook for students who enrolled in courses geared toward building web and Rich Internet Applications.

In the first book to really cover the online publishers, Penny Sansevieri has done us all a favor. She does list and compare online publishing purveyors such as Xlibris, iuniverse, Trafford, 1stBooks (now Authorhouse), Infinity and so on. She gives their prices and various packages and explains the difference between them and the old-time subsidy presses.
But one caveat: she refers to books published by subsidy online publishers such as Xlibris and iuniverse as self-published books. As a self-published author who slogged through typesetters, printers and distributors and sold over 110,00 copies of a regional guidebook (okay,it was over quite a few years) I hate to see that designation subverted by the subsidized press. Luckily her title calls it the "online revolution" which is a much better way of describing these online "publishing purveyors". And she does show how just anybody can now easily get a book printed. Getting it sold is another matter.
Where the book shines is in its marketing information. Not only does Penny give some really good tips but she also names names and give telephone numbers: the names of talk show and radio contacts and their phone numbers, that is. The woman has plenty of bright, bold ideas and they are quite different from the sort of "insider" publicist information you find in traditional marketing books. She seems to be the postcard queen and has used postcards to target markets quite effectively. Her advice on book signings, radio shows, and how to create a buzz on the Internet is useful to any author, whether published online or not. One other thing I like about Ms. Sansevieri: she keeps her prices reasonable. In a world where publishing gurus sell ten dollars worth of advice for $99.00, it's refreshing to find some really sensible suggestions for frugal publicity at a relatively good price.

Nobody else, not Poynter, not Ross, covers the likes of
Iuniverse and Booklocker.com in such detail. As a book
reviewer I see them all, and Sansavieri's book is one
of my top three for this reason. She gives useful and unduplicated
advice in other areas as well, such as marketing, press releases
etc. All in all this is a must-have book for self publishers.

I've been in the book business for a number of years, yet I learned a lot from reading "Get Published!" This is an enormously useful primer for anyone considering publishing a book by electronic or traditional means. In just a few, friendly and easy to read pages, it provides a thorough and frank picture of all the hats a writer/publisher needs to wear. "Get Published!" itself was published on-line. It is proof that the methods Penny Sansevieri discusses actually do work. This book belongs on every publisher's and writer's bookshelf.

In Get Published!, Penny Sansevieri draws upon her professional experience as a author and e-newsletter publisher to teach emerging writers how to empower themselves to publish and market their own work. With an emphasis for the new print-on-demand (POD) technologies, Get Published! explores a variety of on-line publishers including 1st Books Library, Xlibris, iUniverse, and five others, and offers a practical, comprehensive, "user friendly", step by step guide to the chaotic task of publishing and promoting a book in the competitive and rapidly evolving marketplace. Filled with resources, media contacts, and industry tips, tricks, and techniques, Get Published! is a "must" for any new writer who is ready to move beyond rejection slips to see his or her work in print!

So what is print on demand? Can you really control your future one book at a time? The answer is simply: Yes.

Do you remember your first rejection letter from a publisher? Do you remember the second, third and fourth? I sure do! However, I threw them all away a long time ago and decided to get on with my life and self-publish.

Sometimes the walls built around traditional publishing houses are just not worth trying to climb over. Especially when the walls are covered with thorny climbing rose bushes, ouch! When your book is like your true love, you really can get your heart broken when an editor rejects your manuscript. If they do write and say they actually looked at it, do throw a party! ;>

The freedom you have when you make the decision to just publish your book yourself is beyond description. Finally, you have control over how your book will look and what it will contain. You get to decide! With all this "power" you need all the information you can get so you can make all those important decisions. There are only two books you need and this is one of them!

I once attended a class on the "inside story of publishing" and after asking one question and getting the cold shoulder (for my obvious naivety at the time), I conveniently forgot to attend the second class. Now, if Penny C. Sansevieri had been the teacher, I would have made it to the second class! She actually does offer "Get Published Today" workshops through The Learning Annex and has been featured on talk radio. She is a feature writer for Readers & Writers Magazine.

Her writing is entertaining in that you hardly feel it is an effort to read her book. Once I started reading, I could not put this book down. She feeds your desire to live to see the day you get published. She offers tantalizing tidbits of information we are all craving, but have no idea where to find. Penny also serves up a wonderful sense of humor in her writing. She has "been there!" Through her encounters with other writers, she has also learned from their experiences.

The first section introduces you to the possibilities. What are your dreams? Are you ready to be an author and what will that mean? By the third chapter you will start to see the beauty and originality this book contains. First, each publisher featured was chosen after meeting a set of standards the author felt were essential. The online publisher had to have your best interests at heart. Each publisher is explored in detail and you will know what they offer and why. There are charts showing the package prices, distribution outlets, retail book prices, your rights, royalties, author discounts, hard/soft cover book options and the cancellation policy. This author did her research!

What does it take to produce a successful press release?
What is a media kit?
How do I get my book sold in a Book Club or a Catalog?
Where do I go to get my book reviewed?
How can I get the media to notice my book?

Should I consider Niche Marketing?

Throughout the book you will find answers to your questions, inspirational quotes, marketing tips and notes from authors. The pages of addresses, names and e-mail addresses is information you can really put to work.

While Penny advises you to start working on your Web site after your book is in production, may I say that you might want to start working on it now! Having a Web site ready to take orders the day your book is published sounds like a good plan to me and so that is where I have started! By having a Web site, people will start finding you and last week I was invited to co-host a radio show just because the host found my site! I asked her if I could learn how to breath again and then get back to her. ;> It was quite a shock to have such a request even before I have my book published.

If you are tired of trying to climb over the walls into the publishing fortress, you might be better off building your own castle. ;> Dare to dream! And when you do finish your castle, make sure you wave at the editor in the publishing fortress who rejected your manuscript. lol Wait, no...send them a fresh copy instead. You never know, they might see the beauty after you have done all the work to get it published. It has happened!

"We are the trendsetters for the future. We are erasing old boundaries and delving into areas that were once off-limits to us. Whatever you choose to do with this information, know this. You have, right now, the opportunity to change or enhance someone's life. It is a gift that cannot and should not be ignored." -Peggy C. Sansevieri

Simply the most organized and exciting book on the publishing revolution! You will read each delicious word so you can finally see your publishing dreams come true. This is the ultimate guide to on-line publishing.

~The Rebecca Review

This book by Mr Hubbard helped me to help my child with this sometimes troubling subject of Grammar. He enjoyed it very much.

This is a very good basic grammar book. I used it to refresh my memory, and the children in my home are learning their grammar in conjunction with Grammar House Rock. Photocopy a few pages, and kids will have a fun coloring in the black and white pictures. My only problem with this book is L. Ron Hubbard pads this book with ideas from scientology. This is only so in the beginning and end of the book. Parents, if you do not want your children to learn Scientology, find some scissors and cut those parts out. It is a great grammar book. The illustrations are beautiful, and the characters are diverse. It has pictures of Black, Latino children, and disabled children. There is also an overweight child.

Do not think this book is some kind of odd cult thing. It simplifies grammar, and children will like it because of the pictures. Just avoid the beginning and end parts of the book if you object Scientology. Get your children Grammar House Rock too. Remember to be an active part to your children's education.

I remember the horrors of English 101 when I was in school before this book was written. I use this book while tutoring my students and used it when I was homeschooling my own child. Wow, when kids understand what grammar is and how to use it, do they start to write and communicate! And this goes for adults, as well! My students whose second language was English loved this book because the simple and clearly illustrated examples make it possible to show an idea without words. This is THE grammar book to own and use!

This has helped my son get grades level and above all of his class mates. He is now able to read when before he would not even touch a book! It has also helped me and I am a school teacher!!! Get for the benifit of your child.

This book is a wonderful example of how a complicated subject can be made simple and fan to learn. I would highly recommend it not only for children, but for adult as well! Adults, this one can really improve your communication skills!

This book may not be best for a first book on speaking Latin American Spanish, however, it has been extremely helpful in helping me with pronunciation and local usage of words.

This is a great, well organized and efficient book. You do not want to go to CR without it... and it will be the only book you need while you are there! I suggest picking it up months before your trip so you can start practicing the most common sayings. Buen Viaje!

I bought this for a couple I was tutoring (Spanish lessons) because they are moving to CR. I found it helpful and even though I already speak Spanish, I had no idea how differently the Ticos do it!

When I came to Costa Rica I quickly discovered the vast majority of Costa Ricans DIDN'T speak English. Since I only had a limited Spanish vocabulary, I had a lot of problems in daily situations. Then I bought this handy little book and it virtually helped me survive the first couple of years. I still refer to it now and then for important phrases.

I spoke Spanish before coming to Costa Rica, but found the people in San Jose spoke with more slang and pachuco. Chris Howard's book helped me to communicate better and with more credibility. When I moved to the coast, the dialect was even more different. People considered me snobby when I spoke like I did originally. His information was even applicable in the countryside. I give this book as a gift to new clients and friends visiting Costa Rica.

My 6 year old is a beginning reader! He is so enjoying this book. He will read it and then read it again. It is a perfect read for him and his facination with bugs!

I acquired this book for my 2-year-old who is fascinated by bugs, especially butterflies. The text is coherent and written in a way a early reader would talk. Some of the Step 1 type books do not impress me, but this one does.

This is a great book for young readers who are just connecting the idea of words having meaning. They are predictable & have good picture context clues. My son loves it & recognized the author from another favorite bedtime story.

Few words per page. Children can reread this story without having yet the ability to decode. Provides early readers with success. Appropriate for English Language Learners of all ages.

This book is a great first book. In fact, it is the first book my son read. *sniff* I'm so proud. :-)

The sentences are short and the pictures hint at what the words may be. I would recommend this to all parents who are helping their children learn to read.

OK, so perhaps you don't need this book, but you'll enjoy it anyway!
The best review and tutorial on clusters available, this book is also funny
enough that you probably don't want to read it in a quiet environment.

As other reviewers have said, this is an excellent book and is a *must have* for anyone exploring practically any aspect of cluster computing. Even beyond the quality of the information conveyed, the writing style is wonderful and the author makes an otherwise abstract and cumbersome topic quite readable and quite approachable. This book is regarded as the Clustering Bible worldwide, and I've seen copies placed prominently in the bookshelves of individuals in Beijing, Tokyo, Paris, and the US. Microsoft's own Cluster Server was codenamed 'Wolfpack', as an honerable reference to the cover art of this specific book.

Aaron McKee
Clustering Products Manager
TurboLinux Inc.

In a subject which is probably considered dull Pfeister has written a book which is actually entertaining as well as informative.If you are new to high perforamnce computing this book will begin from the basics and teach you all the way.If you are a pro you still will find it a great refernce material worth a read.You are bound to find something new in it.

This book provides a terrific introduction to the hardware, software, and systems architecture of parallel computing, candidly discussing the issues and trade-offs in various approaches. The emphasis is on clusters, but there is lots of information on the whole continuum from single processor machines to SMPs to clusters to distributed computing. Pfister will leave you with a better understanding of things like how SMP machines keep processor caches coherent, what the differences are between SMP, NUMA, and distributed computing, how various cluster products work, real world cluster issues (like system administration), programming models used in parallel computing, and why programming code that runs efficently on these architectures is usually the hard part.

The book is somewhat dated - nothing about Beowolf for example - but the concepts remain valid. Many of the issues are illustrated with reference to mainframe clusters, especially IBM's 390 sysplex, which I found particularly interesting since I don't have much experience with these systems.

The style is highly readable and informal, but not insultingly non-technical. The book is loaded with opinion and insights - it is not a dry textbook of issues related to clustering. Highly recommended for anyone in the business of creating information systems that need to run fast.

While struggling through this book, I spend more time thinking about the characters of this author than about cluster. He has this unique style of telling a subject like a friend telling you a story and it goes like : I am going to tell you this .. but first let me explain why I tell you this .. and now I want to tell you how I am going to tell you this .. and finally this is this, believe you me .. OK, truth is - I lied, it is actually this ... and on and on. He successfully made "this" simple and understandable to a certain degree, but the "how I, why I" portion mix with some high IQ humours did confuse me no end - though it is fun. I find that at some stage I have to use a finger to point to a key sentence and said " OK, Pfister is going to tell me this - lets see how" - then at some stage I will have to judge whether he has finished what he promised and is already on to new stuff. And, he does choose some words that I suspect is more often used in classical literature - rococco, dischotomies, litany, etc - which although harmlessly infrequent, does add some irritation to the already burden mind. All things considered, going through this book is fun. In case you are one of those like me that is quite lost and struggle a fair bit, I did find chapter 6 fairly readable - so perhpas you want to starts from there and work backward/forward if other chapters frustrated you a fair bit.

I decided to get this book which I saw at a store and it was a lot smaller, and easier too read than most other SAT books. When I got my score back, it was 30 points under perfect. This is the best SAT help out there, and I reccomend it 100 percent. This book is exceptional.

I had the pleasure of reading Mr. McCutcheon's new SAT book. It helped me immensely! I particularly needed help on the Essay portion. I followed the format that was outlined, and lo and behold I scored perfect on the Essay! This book is a must for all students!

I, being a normal adolescent, tend to procrastinate. As the SAT was looming over me and steadily approaching in a week's time, I quickly searched for a quick and easy lifesaver and chose this book. 3 days before the big day, I scoured the contents and followed the tips. The result? A perfect score on the essay (which is odd considering I'm a terrible writer--thus I attribute my good grade to this book.)

Now this isn't the "end all be all" to SAT essay books, but you do have to realize no book can really "teach" people how to write. Good writing comes from a combination of guidelines and tips (which this book provides), reading what the graders are looking for and "good" essays (which this book provides), and most importantly, practice (which only you can provide).

When I recieved the book, I felt like the book was too small to contain so much information. But now I feel like I've accomplished a lot!
The book is very helpful in every espect and it doesn't JUST help in SATs but also in writing an essay in high school.
I love this book. I think everyone who is taking the SAT should have a go and try this book. ^^
This was my first time buying something from Amazon and I'm very proud of myself for having a go. I love the books and the books were delivered fast and on the right date, the books are in fine state... I just love it.
Thank you Amazon

This has great tips on how to write an SAT essay. All you have to do is apply them!

Permite adquirir el idioma y los elementos suficientes como para hacernos entender y entender lo que nos dicen.
Me gustó !

PARA APRENDER INGLÉS !
A mi me ayudó a convertirme en Secretaria Bilngue y ahora gano el doble !

PARA APRENDER INGLÉS !
A mi me ayudó a convertirme en Secretaria Bilngue y ahora gano el doble !

nos permite adquirir el idioma y los elementos suficientes como para hacernos entender y entender lo que nos dicen.
Me gustó !

my first elements of English when I didn't understand or speak one word of it...

If you read the first book this is an excellent followup to help you increase you understanding of how to build a robot of your own. If you did not a good place is start with the first book Robert Building for Begginers. These books help get you in the thought process needed to build decent robots wather small or big.

The only thing I can say is I bought it for my 16 year old grandson and he said it is awesome.

This review is by my ten year old Robot fanatic:

This book introduces the most common parts (in a beginner type robot) step by step by defining them properly. So far I have made a line following robot almost from scratch. This book sets you up with many different options. It starts with safety and where to obtain parts then moving on to introducing parts. After that you are shown how to setup a solder-less breadboard.

This book (and it's prequel, Robot Building for Beginners by the same author) is extraordinarily good. It picks up where the previous book (which is the best book in existence for the beginning roboticist, in my opinion) leaves off, getting into details of milling parts, microcontroller circuits, and such. A truly wonderful book. If you read the previous book, and then read this book, you will have an excellent grounding in robotics, and have a very entertaining time doing it. Highly recommended!

I am a novice robot builder. I appreciate the thoroughness and practical approach of this book. I have understood and implemented several circuit ideas from this excellent book.

Books like this are refreshingly down-to-earth after reading the usual college text books.