Software Books

This is one of my favorite VC++ books. It has great examples and easy to follow explanations of the subject being covered. I have really learned from this book. Excellent.

The book is full of skills that helps programmers solve common problems when programming in MFC. Some problems exist: I found one "How-to" appeared twice in different parts of the book. Also, some programs on "Toolbars and Status Bars" have bugs. For example, the "ProgressMeter" application should derive CMeterBar from CStatusBar instead of CStatusBarCtrl. These are minor problems that can be easily corrected - I hope the authors have already done that. Besides all these problems, I still think this is a very good book on MFC programming. It prevents you from reinventing the wheel (many times).

If you have to code in MFC you need this book in addition to the Microsoft documentation and at least one other VC++ book. Scott's book uncovers techniques that are well hidden in the MFC documentation and not covered in other books but necessary in real applications. Usually if I am trying to do something slightly different from the standard look I find the answer in Scott's book or it gives me enough hints to figure out a solution. Many are not covered in the other VC++ books. Some important examples show how to change some properties in forms using MFC that are simple to change in VB but would be almost impossible to find in the MFC documentation or figure out by yourself.

An amazing amount of topics covered. Very thorough, and concise. No fluff. I constantly refering to it. One bad point: The index is not tabulated correctly, it can be difficult to find subjects. Overall the best book on Visual C++ I've seen yet.

Almost all of the programming books I have ever bought that are specific to a particular language product are worthless. They spend 550 of 600 pages describing the product's menu options and toolbar buttons then 40 pages of trivial worthless sample programs and 10 pages of index. This is not one of those books.

This book is 650 pages of pertinent and valuable examples and I have used it many times to help me solve many real world problems. I specifically liked that fact that it is the first book I have ever read that described the WM_GETMINMAXINFO message as a method of making CFormView based applications look the way they should. For the record, every other programming book I have that relates to MFC in any way gives naive CFormView examples that look stupid when running and behave stupidly when used.

First, before anything else, he links us to a character, a man named Bert Smallways, who we will follow and this allows us to see what is happening from the view of a normal man within the book. The first few chapters in fact deal only with Bert, pushing much of the major events into the background, suggested by news headlines that nobody seems to notice.
But when wars come it comes with a bam. The Earth's weapons seem to be bomb carrying airships and gun carrying airplanes.
The airships seem to be the major weapon, becoming the terrors of the sky, huge monster craft that carry death to the cities of Earth.
Why airships? The book was published in 1907. While airplanes were just being invented and designs played with, blimps and dirigibles were already flying about in good numbers. By the time World War One cames about, German airships are bombing London. Airplanes started off during the Great War totally unarmed, used for scouting out enemy movements and checking out the landscape. So, for him to suggest that airships would become the wave of the future in combat is not a great leap of logic.
One scene has German airplanes and airships destroying an American fleet of warships, a chilling vision of things to come.
As each nation designs and builds it own aircraft things get out of hand. While the air fleets can bomb the cities, they can't TAKE them (not being able to carry any troops) and they can't DEFEND them (as they carry many bombs, but few weapons to fight other aircraft), so soon the world is nothing but burnt out buildings and thousands of airships attacking anything on the ground that even LOOKS dangerous.
Will Bert survive? Will he get back to England? Will mankind ever learn to live together?

"The War of the Worlds" wasn't the only masterpiece that H.G. Wells wrote with the words "The War" in the title. "The War in the Air," which came out 10 years later, in 1908, is surely a lesser-known title by this great author, but most certainly, in my humble opinion, a masterpiece nonetheless. In this prophetic book, Wells not only predicts World War I--which wouldn't start for another six years--but also prophesies how the advent of navigable balloons and heavier-than-air flying craft would make that war inevitable. Mind you, this book was written in 1907, only four years after the Wright Brothers' historic flights at Kitty Hawk, and two years BEFORE their airplane design was sold to the U.S. Army for military purposes. In "The War in the Air," Wells also foresees air battles, as well as engagements between naval and aerial armadas. His gift of peering into the future is at times uncanny.
We see this worldwide war through the eyes of Bert Smallways, a not terribly bright Cockney Everyman who is accidentally whisked away in a balloon and lands in Germany right on the eve of that country's departure for war. Bert is brought on board one of the German airships, and so personally witnesses a titanic battle in the North Atlantic; the Battle of New York (in which the length of Broadway is destroyed and many buildings near downtown City Hall Park are levelled, looooong before 9/11); and the huge fight between the German and Asiatic forces over Niagara Falls. And these are just the start of Smallways' adventures. Wells throws quite a bit into this wonderful tale, and the detail, pace and characterizations are all marvelous. But this isn't just an entertaining piece of futuristic fiction; it's a highly moral one as well. The author, in several beautifully written passages, tells us of the terrible waste of war, and the horrors that it always entails. In this aspect, it would seem to be a more important work of fiction than even "The War of the Worlds." While that earlier work might be more seminal, this latter tale certainly raises more pressing issues. And those issues are just as worrisome today as they were nearly a century ago. In his preface to the 1941 edition of this book, Wells wrote: "I told you so. You damned fools..." As well he might! And it would seem that we STILL haven't learned the lessons that Wells tried to teach us so many years ago.
Perhaps, at this point, I should mention that readers of this novel will be faced with many geographical, historical and vocabulary/slang terms that they may not be familiar with. If those readers are like me, they will take the time to research all those obscure terms; it will make for a richer reading experience, as always.
I said before that this novel is a masterpiece, and yet, at the same time, it is not perfect. Wells does make some small booboos in prediction, for example. Zeppelins were not more important than airplanes in war; civilization did not collapse after World War I. He tells us that the distance from Union Square to City Hall Park is under a mile, whereas any New Yorker could tell you that it's more like two. Wells mentions that the Biddle Stairs (which were built in 1827, led from Goat Island to the base of Niagara Falls, and were demolished in 1927) were made of wood, while in fact they were made of metal and encased in a wooden shaft. But these are quibbles, and in no way detract from the quality of the work. Indeed, this is a novel that should be mandatory reading for all politicians, not to mention all thinking adults.

H.G. Wells-what a genius. He foresaw the future better than any supposed "psychic." This novel, little known but available again, is the proof.

In the early 20th century, the invention of aerial vehicles precipitates the outbreak of a worldwide war that had brewed for hundreds of years. The aircrafts' ability to wreck unlimited destruction lays waste to civilization, reducing it to pre-Industrial revolution levels. That is the basis of this incredible piece of political and scientific prophesy. Wells unleashes his full understanding of human "progress" and the fraility of political systems, and with every page hits truths about war and technology even more applicable today than during World War I, the combat that Wells envisioned here. He even saw 9/11 and the Iraq War, pegging Western European complaceny so accurately that I felt my jaw drop to the floor on a few occasions.

Honestly, this H. G. guy was one in a billion. He was utterly, incalculably brilliant. He was also a helluva writer, expressing ideas with flashes of humor, irony, and passion. Wells uses a countryside Englishman as witness to the fall of civilization, and manages to effortlessly switch between the epic canvas of war and the cameo portrait of a normal man seeing everything he ever understood about the world fray apart before his eyes.

In a terrific last stroke, Wells writes the final chapter that sums up the possibility that "progess" may be an illusion. This novel deserves to be considered amongst Wells finest, and this new edition with Duncan's insightful introduction, may be the firest step in getting it the wide audience it deserves.

Written in 1908, Wells predicted warfare as we know it now. He foresaw pushbutton wars, "cold-blooded slaughters ... in which men who were neither excited nor ... in any danger, poured death and destruction on homes and crowds..." Paradoxically, Wells also predicted it to be "a universal guerilla war, a war involving civilians and homes and all the apparatus of social life." He predicted weapons "ineffectual for any large expedition or conclusive attack, [but] horribly convenient for guerilla warfare, rapidly and cheaply made, easily used, easily hidden." Specifics of the story needed to be credible to Wells's 1908 reader, but major points could have been drawn from today's headlines.

Wells's war encircled the globe, years before WWI showed how widespread a war could become. Rather than narrate global destruction, though, Wells told his story through the viewpoint of Bert Smallways, an everyman of modest means, achievement, and intellect. In fact, Bert's only real skill was a knack for being in the wrong place when world-shattering events came to pass. Starting from his bicycle shop in England, Bert's involuntary travels made him witness to the destruction of whole blocks and rows of blocks in New York City, then to the rise of Eastern armies that over-ran the Western world. Then, somehow, he made it back to his sleepy village to settle into a post-war agrarian life without technology - easy enough, since the village had slept through the technology of the time anyway.

Despite the zeppelins used as warcraft, Wells's forecasts hit the bullseye of many targets. He predicted the worldwide caches of hidden weaponry, not too far from what we saw in the Cold War. He also predicted the bafflement of the common civilian, who really just wanted to settle down with a spouse, a house, and food on the table. Headlines aside, that's still the case today.

-- wiredweird

Bert Smallways is a rather backward sort, trying (but not too hard) to make a living in England, and watching the advance of technology. But, technology is moving on in directions that he might never have guessed. With the advent of the airship, a secret arms race has broken out among the world's powers, and a new type of war is about to break out.

When Bert is accidentally scooped up by a German fleet, on its way to launch a surprise attack on the United states, he finds himself with a front row seat to the greatest war that has ever been - the war in the air! This new war is to be a different sort of war than all the wars that came before it, unprecedented in its ferocity and destructiveness. When everything can be smashed, what will be left? A good deal less than you might hope.

This now largely forgotten work was written by H.G. Wells (1866-1946) in 1907, and is a masterpiece of forward thinking. While Wells missed the true course of the development of military aviation, his grasp of what a major war, involving fleets of aircraft, would mean was spot on. In fact, this book is quite spooky in its prediction of the destruction of cities and modern infrastructure, and in its portrayal of fleets of warships destroyed from the air! As a prediction of the future, this book is nothing short of amazing.

Well, if the book is so good, why is it now forgotten? In fact, while Wells' portrayal of aerial warfare is right on target, the book, as a novel, is not as good as it should be. The story starts out quite slowly, wasting too much time on the development of the character of Bert Smallways. And, there are many places throughout the narrative where the book could have benefited from some pruning and tightening of the narrative.

So, if you are a fan of H.G. Wells, or are interested in how correct a man of 1907 could have been about modern warfare, then this is the book for you. However, if you are looking for a good science-fiction story, you might be disappointed. Overall, I found this to be an interesting story, one that I am glad that I read. It's almost frightening how close to reality Mr. Wells was. I just wish that he had had a better editor.

First part of the book while describing Distributed Systems, Middleware and EAI lays strong foundation for Web Services. Second part of the book provides an extensive reporting about Web Services Architecture, related standards, service composition and BPEL. Though at the outset this book looks like serving academic purpose but it also provides the great insight of the subject to the programming community.

This book is must have which draws detailed conceptual and architectural views on Distributed Systems, EAI and Web Services.

This book is a little more expensive than most of the flashy Web Services books these days but it is well worth the money. Set in small font and not wasting pages on chapters like "History of XML and SOAP" this book is dense in content on the architecture of distributed systems, including Web Services. We get to learn about the issues of distributed transactions and the differences between conversations, coordination and orchestration. The text is precise but nevertheless easy to follow. One of the best books I have seen on Web Services architecture.

You can find a sample chapter on the author's site:
http://www.inf.ethz.ch/personal/alonso/Web-book/Chapter-5.pdf

I am using this book for a graduate level class about Web Services. I like the books approach on giving you enough background about middle-ware evolution that makes it easier to understand what Web Services are trying to accomplish. Given that the actual technology (implementation details) change so much in this area the books approach makes a lot of sense. I also found explanations to be concise and clear.

Advice: if you are looking for a hands-on how-to book about XML this is not the book to pick up. Otherwise, if you are looking for a good fundamentals book that will help you paint a big picture of Web Services this book is great!

A very nice introductory book on Web services, much different from all the others on this topic.
Excellent overview of the problematics of service oriented architectures on the Web and of their relationships with their EAI counterparts (corba,rpc,..).

If you want comprehensive high level overview of today's enterprise software landscape, this is a must-read.

One of the best books which answers the question , Why Web Services?? Unique perspective on middlewares in general.

Do not expect any code examples or details of any particular middleware.

This author's approach to the Web is one of encouraging a transfer of power; instead of following a traditional top-down business structure (i.e. in a business telling its customer base what it wants them to hear), it encourages listening to what customers want and providing that to them. On its most basic level, it is about the nuts and bolts of how to create web sites in bottom-up fashion.

Upon reading this book, I was struck by similarities between the author's propositions on web design and the economic history that is my field. Economic development has also been associated with a transfer of power away from kings, emperors, shoguns, and the church, and into the hands of merchants, farmers, and producers.

As the author proposes User's Spectacles in modules 2-3, or seeing matters from the other person's point of view, I thought of how this message is repeated in the historical movement from confrontation to negotiation and compromise. Where she calls on the designer to know the web better than the user, I recall the entrepreneurs of the Industrial Revolution in England, who had to know their customers. In module 7, where she writes of gaining the user's trust, I thought of how trade engendered trust during the period of the Enlightenment in Europe - and still does. In module 8, where she suggests organizing information from the user's point of view, I thought of how economic innovations depend on the needs of customers, not of despotic rulers. Where she speaks of the Internet as a web, I thought of the world economy as a web.

Having been surprised to find a book on web design that had so much interconnection with economic history, my mind wandered into other areas of interconnection among human beings in our vast worldwide web.

Finally, the author's conversational writing makes this book extremely easy to read.

John P. Powelson
Professor of Economics, Emeritus
University of Colorado

Many high profile commercial sites, let alone those not informed by "professional" designers, would benefit from the clarity of purpose and practical methods presented in this book. In fact, the fundamentals of user-centered design put forward so clearly here are pertinent in many other fields, too. To top it off I found the writing style clear, informative and enjoyable.
I recommend it for individual designers as well as for schools, libraries and design shops.

Finally! Someone has translated the tangled World Wide Web into something even I can understand!

Ms. Holmes has created a book that is useful, well organized, pertinent, well written, and even pleasurable to read! So many of the internet books on the market today -- even those allegedly designed for beginners -- are of little use to anyone
but the seasoned professional. The Internet is a tool everyone can use and Web Usability & Navigation gives its readers the background they need to make the most of the Web.

I loved all of the examples -- I'm the type of person who learns best by seeing others' experiences. A good story will go a lot further with me than a bunch of technical jargon and Ms. Holmes has mastered the art of telling a good story with a purpose.

When I started reading Web Usability & Navigation, I had several
preconceived ideas about what I wanted in a web page. Ms. Holmes gently guided me through a variety of other options. This book is really useful for beginners and more advanced Web site creators as well.

Caroline Thomas-Jenson, CFRE
President / CEO
United Charity Services

I think this book is "required reading" for anyone serious about designing usable websites.

I am the lead web developer for my department in an academic/scientific institution. Our scientists here have embraced the value of the Internet to market themselves and their research. Consequently, there is an effort to publish more and more of their scientific research material in an online environment as "web publications" instead of traditional hardcopy publications. But the scientists taking an active role in developing their own web pages realize that it is more to it than just knowing HTML. They have asked for books/resources to instruct them.

This book will be such a VALUABLE addition to our library!

Information is presented in a clear and straightforward manner with good writing style that does not overwhelm the beginner with technical jargon. This is a particularly poignant topic for me... I think any web developer can appreciate Holmes' observations on the "information anxiety" of website (and software) users.

I am impressed with Holmes' ability to present the "hot topics" (such as frames, plug-ins, etc.) and remain neutral. (It's so hard to find someone WITHOUT an opinion these days.) She offers a spectrum of examples with their pros and cons - allowing the reader to determine what would work best in his/her environment.

Some great features of the book:

Numerous examples!! A lot of people are visual learners (myself included) - it is easier for them to process new material if they can see the content "in action." The examples provided in the book are a refreshing break from the endless dry reading found in the typical web development book.

I really liked the Ask the Expert sidebars - I think the novice would find these sections extremely valuable. "Ask the Expert" exposes the reader to the ins and outs of professional website design: Practical solutions are offered for common and vexing usability issues by web professionals. (Why reinvent the wheel?)

I also recommend that readers spend the time doing the exercises provided in the book: the exercises will arm him/her with a good set of skills to develop usable websites.

More great features of the book:

Web Usability and Navigation: A Beginner's Guide is not just for beginners. Experienced website designers can benefit from the knowledge presented in this book as well.

Holmes has done her homework researching and collecting website usability facts and tips. Web professionals who lack the time or resources to research website usability in-depth (like me), will appreciate Web Usability and Navigation: A Beginner's Guide as a "usability cookbook."

For example: A usability checklist is provided to help novice and experienced web designers alike in making sure the most fundamental usability and navigation features are built in, or at least considered, during the design of a website.

The best thing I liked about this book: THOROUGHNESS!

Web Usability and Navigation: A Beginner's Guide is as comprehensive as it gets. Holmes takes the time to address important, yet often overlooked usability issues other web development books and guides fail to mention.

For instance, the affect different fonts (I.e., sans serif vs. serif) can make on the presentation/readability of a webpage. (Believe it or not, this has been a "hot topic" in my department for quite some time - right up there with frames and flash: that controversial!)

I think this book is "required reading" for anyone serious about designing usable websites. I am buying a copy of this book for my department.

I'll admit it, I didn't expect to learn too many new ideas from reading this book, but I was pleasantly surprised. Unlike other books I've read on web usability, Web Usability & Navigation: A Beginner's Guide actively encourages you to develop an eye for usability through the use of various projects designed to give you the opportunity to practice what you've just learnt.

As you might expect, the usual topic of web site navigation and usability are covered... but before reading, I never really considered the problems surrounding the actual use of the web. I knew about the problems of browser compatibility and I am always curious as to how my site looks on other operating systems. Until now however, the difficulties and information overload experienced by the novice Internet user were long forgotten, and I'd never even considered how I could build my site to accommodate for different learning styles.

Like other usability books, Web Usability & Navigation: A Beginner's Guide does not go into the detail of exactly how you should implement what you've just learnt, rather it gives ideas on what to look for. So if you are expecting examples of code, there aren't any. One nice addition to the book is the case studies. Sure, other books have case studies, but rather than tell you from the outset what problems there are, you are encouraged to list any usability problems for yourself.

I particularly enjoyed the module on getting traffic to a site, it provided me with some fresh insight into just how closely linked web site usability and promotion usually are. After all, part of the experience of using a site is getting to it as quickly as possible, whether you type a name in the browser or search for it in the search engines.

Overall, this is a good introduction to web usability that is very easy to read, but as with other usability books, the nature of the information makes it difficult to use as a quick reference. For those who aren't new to the topic, there are quite a few things you could learn from reading this book, although perhaps the only way you'll find gaps in your knowledge is to read the book from cover to cover.

I loved this book. It is rare to have a computer book that you can read cover to cover but this is one. It is meticulously researched and written, with good questions and exercises at the end to test what you learned. The only thing I didn't understand was why there were only answers to odd questions, but it didn't really matter. Finally there were excellent online references for future learning. This is a classic.

As a Flash beginner, I found this book to be the perfect starting point: concise, clearly written, and full of practical advice for creating basic Flash animations.

Kay writes in an accessible and engaging style, walking readers through basic Flash concepts like vector graphics, the stage and timeline metaphors, up through more advanced topics like coding interactive behaviors and working with sound. Finally, he introduces readers to the basics of Actionscript, the advanced Flash programming language used to create more complex applications.

I would wholeheartedly recommend this book for beginners like me who are interested in getting started with Flash.

The Web Wizard's Guide explains not only how to use Flash, but how to design with Flash. Tech-manual writers are notorious for leaving out context when describing a software interface, which makes learning most programs difficult. Kay's down-to-earth writing style simplifies the process. He uses practical, realistic examples to explain the concepts behind each menu command. He teaches you to know when to use Flash, and when not to use it. Read this book to learn good Flash design and keep the product manual around simply for reference.

I am a busy Art Director/Designer who, at last, is making the necessary transition from print to the web. The Web Wizard's Guide to Flash by Michael Kay has just become my most recent bible. I just love this book and can't put it down . . . it's like having your own web wizard always at your fingertips.

Michael Kay has done a great job in presenting a lot of intimidating technical information in an accessible way. The instructions are direct and clear and the language of the text is simple and friendly--not loaded with dull or confusing tech speak. The format of the book relies on well honed step-by-step technical objectives which, when applied, give fantastic results.

Best of all, I have been able to use these lessons directly in my day to day layout and design process. After working through this book, my web pages are now alive with animated motion and pizzazz, finally breaking me out of the amateur design crowd!

I highly recommend this text as a must read for any web designer or student or teacher who wants to learn and apply Flash - fast - in a painless, easy-to-read-and-use format. It should also be made more available on book store shelves in general.

as a web design instructor, i've read many books on flash and i am always looking for new reference/learning material to recommend to students. this one covers all the important topics very well. from the basic screen tour up through the nitty-gritty of actionscript, this book does a fantastic job of breaking down a difficult set of topics for a beginning flash animator. i would suggest this book to someone just starting out with the program, or for a person who's self-taught and is looking for the 'correct' way to do something. definitely a good investment.

I stumbled on this book and gave it a read. I was surprised that to find it a great intro to HTML. It's balanced between discussion and examples.

The book is a little dated. The HTML tag section references 3.2 Some of the software links no longer work, but that happens with time.

However, the examples are simple and easy to understand.

The chapters are: Introduction, tools of the trade, HTML Standard, the Next plane, Frames and forms, advanced webbing, upload, wrap-up.

The appendixes give you a Tag Compendium, Color names and Hex equivalents and the ever present Glossary.

Some of the stuff can be "glanced" as there is a small discussion about CGI, DHTML, XML, and java.

Probably the only concern is there are a few references to Matt's script archive and I have heard many people say "it's good to find out who not to do things."

Overall, this is a decent introduction for people how haven't done HTML before. The book doesn't patronize and it doesn't bury with detail as with the dummies HTML book.

Mr. Howard outdid himself with this one. I cant say that I've ever read a better text on the subject of HTML. THe approach is subtle yet engaging on the most intellectual levels.

This book is a conversation between two users (one novice, one expert) and this gives us a great perspective. Howard proves that programmers shouldn't be writing books anymore than mechanics should be selling cars. There's only room for one more HTML book and this is it.

Mr. Howard and his sidekick Kate provide an introduction to HTML unlike any I've seen. Through common sense examples and real world techniques that will have the reader coding pages in hours instead of days, they use the Teacher/Student metaphor to guide the reader through the lessons. Mr. Howard never talks down to the reader or assumes too much, and the casual, conversational banter between he and Kate fosters a comfortable environment for learning about HTML. Highly recommended!

...second only to Catcher In The Rye is Todd M. Howard's funny yet poignant book about life and love in the world of HTML. This book moved me in ways I can only attempt to describe, it's protagonist was familiar yet distant, a recluse iconoclast, a stranger in a strange land, always pursued by the wolves in his own mind, whilst wrangling with the predators in his own, very real existence. As the book progressed, and I learned better how to spell URL and FTP, I immersed myself deeper into the mind of this terrifyingly sublime character. Would he ever tear his gaze away from Windows 98 to the windows right behind him, would he ever be free of those shackles of conformity that held him captive? Would the tender succubus of his own youth and naivate consume him whole? Would I ever figure out how to plug in a table to my homepage? Link up to this classic, folks, our boy Howard has talent, charm, charisma... he is a credit to our race. He is a force to be reckoned with in a galaxy of wolves and sheep. He weaves the written word with the skill of a surgeon and implements lines of code like a crazed Kabuki chef on New Year's Eve at BeniHana's. I only pray that, unlike Salinger, Howard lives to put pen to paper once again. They say lightning only strikes once, but baby, I'm praying for rain. Until then, I remain his loyal subject, like a master to an apprentice.

Passed NT Server with score of 899--first certification class I have taken. This book is not only an excellent study guide but a great introduction to NT Server. I have been maintaining Server for over a year and learned things I needed to know 12 months ago! I hope Alan Carter keeps writing technical guides.

Passed easily in conjunction with Transcenders. Excellent reference guide - perfectly explains core issues regarding NT Server 4.0 and the exam.

Studying does not get much easier than this!

Highly Recommeded!

I used this book, combined with Transcenders and my real-world experience with WinNT Server 4.0 and passed with a 900. Even with the new MCSE W2K Track (which I am pursuing) I feel the right way to do is to do the upgrade path especially if you have experience with NT 4.0. Good luck to all.

Best written book of any MCSE study guide series! It is the easiest to read, comes with great software, and does a great job of hitting each objective. I bought this book instead of the NT 4.0 guide that covers WKS, Server, and ENT because I had already taken WKS--and it is enough to get you through ENT too. Alan Carter deserves a raise or something--because he outdid himself with this series.

This book is a must have if you want to become a MCSE. It covers everything you need to pass all three NT exams with a very clear approach.

I stumbled on this book over fifteen years ago while substitue teaching, and have been quoting from it, and looking for a copy, ever since. Like all good 'children's' books, WINNERS AND LOSERS is written as much for the parent as for the child. A wonderful introduction to ethical decision making, WINNERS AND LOSERS would be my choice as the primer for a course in the works of Confucius and Philip Paul Hallie.

The first time I encountered this book was in high school (1983) and a friend's father loaned it to me. A MILLION THANKS TO YOU MR. MESTON! I was so moved by this book that I have committed many of its words to memory, and have recommended it to probably hundreds of other people. Many times since then I have asked myself in certain situations, "Am I a winner, or a loser?" So, are YOU a "Winner" or a "Loser"? Read the book and find out.

I obtained my copy of Winner's and Losers when I went off to college. Years later, and after several moves and job changes, I have held on to my copy. This well-worn book is chock full of useful and quotable messages that apply in many personal and business settings.

This is one of the valuable little books that you or a friend will treasure.

I planned to purchase a couple of copies of Winners and Losers today. Please reprint as soon as possible.

The book illustrates with clear phrases and illustrations the differences between winners and losers. Some of my favorite quotations come from this book and I morn the fact that my last copy was lent and never returned. Some illustrations of favorite quotes: "Winners focus, losers spray" "A winner speaks until he makes his point, a loser keeps talking until he blunts his point." (caviat: quoted from a possibly defective memory) -bz- P.S. PLEASE reprint!

This book effectively identifies the attitudes attributable to winners and losers in very, very simple and straightforward phrases. It makes you self-introspect to improving your outlook in life all the more. I got mine many years ago and never got it back when lent to a friend. Am eagerly awaiting reprint of the book and will order quite a number as fitting gifts to friends and loved ones.

This book is excellent for the beginner, who will get many good advices, and there are also tips for the intermediate-level user. However, for higher-level things, this book would not answer your questions.

My biggest deception was that it doesn't cover (at all!) Word macros. For every topic you would like to know deeper (like macros), the author ask you to read another book: Special Edition Using MO 2000. I care if I should have bought that one instead.

The feature I liked the most is the introduction of Office's bugs or "weak points" (to give it a name), that is, for example, settings that are just supposed to be but you need to do indeed.

Just starting with Office? You'd love this book. Looking for solutions to big troubles (being not a beginner)? Continue searching, please.

This book is probably the best, most comprehensive teaching aid to a software program that I have ever read. This book has made transferring from WordPerfect suite to Office 2000 as easy as it can get.

Microsoft Office is clearly a passion for Woody Leonhard. He loves the suite for what it can do, but minces no words when it comes to taking Microsoft to task for what he considers [poor or useless] design decisions. He writes in a first person style that is refreshing, and dosn't talk down to the reader.

Most importantly, he starts with the premise that readers (and users of the program) are smart. He has little patience for design or settings that he sees as "dumbing down" the program for the masses. He makes specific and for the most part intelligent suggestions for changing the program interface and defaults to make it useful. In particular he recommends toolbar changes that mirror what actual users need as opposed to "gee wiz features"

Leonhard is highly opinionated in his choices, but he is not autocratic. He explains the reasoning behind a suggestion so a reader can say, "That's good" or "I think that won't work for me".

This book is probably *not* for the user who routinely buy "______ for dummies"

I think the strongest feature of the book for me is the unevenness of his topic coverage compared to the many other books on the market. It is not easy to categorize it as a beginner's book or an advanced book because the depth of coverage on any particular topic varies tremendously. If Woody Leonhard thinks a feature is extremely useful, or something that will be used repeatedly, his treatment may be exhaustive-going beyond even the typical coverage in an advanced book. He may thus skim features he considers of marginal utility. He is also excellent in explaining important features that are made unnecessarily difficult by poor design decisions by Microsoft.

Woody has little patience with cute feature names chosen by Microsoft--like "my computer" or my documents"--and he is free with his displeasure. Having worked with many of Mr. Leonhard's books, I recognize that his choices about what to lambaste are not always correct. While he is pretty good about seeing the diamond in the lump of coal, sometimes his annoyance can make him slow to see a useful paradigm shift buried in seemingly unuseful changes. Paradoxically, he sometimes he jumps on something new and is overtaken by his gee-wiz enthusiasm and don't see real problems with the concept or implementation.

If you have no patience to ready any book or manual, and you just want a encyclopedia stlyle reference this may not be the best book for you.

This book is perfect if you are already familiar with your computer and you need to quickly come up to speed on Microsoft Office 2000. I was already pretty expert with Word but used Excel like it was Lotus 1-2-3 with a different interface. I went through the Excel portion of Woody Leonhard Teaches Microsoft Office 2000 and it turned me into an Excel enthusiast and an almost expert user.

Specifically, he introduced the auditing toolbar right off the bat as a beginner's feature. Other books treat this as a very advanced feature. But Mr. Leonhard was absolutely correct. I now can trust my spreadsheets and especially know very quickly what I have done wrong when they don't work. This one insight that no one else provided was, for me, worth the price of the book.

If you are going to only buy one book on Office 2000, you may want to spend some time in the book store reading through a few topics to get a feel for Leonhard's style--nd decide whether it is compatible with yours. I imagine that some could consider his lack of bland objectivity to be an impediment. Others may find his idiosyncratic writing style tiresome and sophomoric. It's also true that unless you are a total computer novice, "you can't go wrong" with Woody Leonhard's book. It gets the teaching job done.

I don't always buy one of Woody Leonhard's books as my first book on a subject, but if I have two on that subject, inevitably one will be his.

I wasted two nights trying to get E-Mail to operate under Office 2000 Outlook program - all to no avail. I was in E-Mail contact with MSN support and got no help; they actually gave me incorrect instructions. I was then ping-ponged around between two Microsoft support numbers. Finally, this book arrived via UPS from Amazon. With the book's clear directions, and a little patience, I was able to get E-mail going. I had other texts but they were useless in solving a "simple problem" like E-mail installation under Microsoft Office's Outlook 2000 program. My hat's off to this guy. It's an exceptional book.

I have bought previous books by this author, but this one is just his greatest piece of work. Every one should own this book . It simple OUTSTANDING

I agree ... this book covers all aspects of SQL. Code examples work and are meaningful.

A must have book for database programmers and administrators. Covers all aspects in detail. A very good reference.

I wasn't expecting two people from UPS to have carry this book into my office--the book is huge.

I have been using MYSQL for a year and I am moving to MS SQL Server. The book's tips (over 600) have been invaluable.

I used the code the book provides to convert many of applications to support transactions. Got to eliminate tons of code.

Very well done! Recommend.

This book has a lot of tips about SQL Server, although it doesn't say that on the cover. This was actually good for me since I was going on a job interview and I needed something like a comprehensive tips reference book on SQL (and SQL Server). I could have easily chosen a worse book. It's a bit wordy for me, and I'm not used to seeing so many typos, but considering that I have seen some terrible SQL books out there (including my college text), this book is actually well thought out.