Virtual Reality Books


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Virtual Reality Books sorted by Average customer review: high to low .

Virtual Reality
Essential XUL Programming
Published in Paperback by Wiley (2001-07-20)
Authors: Vaughn Bullard, Kevin T. Smith, and Michael C. Daconta
List price: $55.00
New price: $15.86
Used price: $15.86

Average review score:

Great book! Very little BS
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2001-10-23
Bought this book about a month ago, so I think I've had a pretty good chance to review it. It's very good, despite the fact that Mozilla hasn't got up off their keesters yet! I'm an XML developer with limited Java experience, but the JXUL project they put in there as their open source project is very, very cool! That I think was worth the price of the book.

I personally thought the RDF chapter was a monster (scary to me!) but very well covered! I'm sure when I progress as a programmer I'll be doing a lot of the RDF.

I think the book is very well written, especially considering I am still a beginner/intermediate web developer.

Great book!
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2001-10-28
In my line of work with SGML, the transition into XML comes pretty natural and with that the notion of "Hey, there is really a lot of cool stuff one can achieve with this!". Especially when you add XUL, XBL, RDF, and JavaScript/DOM to this.
Thats where this book comes in really handy. The chapters are laid out pretty well and don't require a lot of experience with XML, although some basic knowledge of how a markup language work helps. The only downside about the whole XUL at the moment (in my view) is that its currently only supported in Netscape 6.x. The XUL support in Mozilla got broken somewhere between milestone release 0.92 and 0.94. However, the jXUL project looks really promising and would certainly make up for the lack of browser support since this will run as stand-alone applications in a "Runner" application.

As others have mentioned, the chapter on RDF was pretty scary and daunting and should be revisited by the reader a couple of times. There are of course lots of RDF resources on the web that could provide more help and insight.

The chapter on Netscape Themes (including the appendix containing all the different images and buttons used) could probably be left out in the next edition, to give more room for RDF or DOM?

Grand total; A very good book on this topic that certainly will inspire the reader for further research in this area.

May-be wait for 2nd edition?
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2001-12-29
I bought this because of the JXUL project. To that end I found this book very handy to understand that basics, intermediate aspects and application of XUL, RDF, XBL, etc.

A lot of time is spent talking about Mozilla (obviously). The problem is that a lot of that content will be quickly out of date. Discussion of other projects like Luxor (like JXUL), Xavier (server side) and the enhancements made in Mozilla since being published would make a welcome second edition. May-be wait for Mozilla 1.0.

Quickly out of date - wait for 2nd edition?
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2001-12-29
I bought this because because of the JXUL project. To the end I found this book very handy to understand that basics of XUL programming and quickly got me up to speed.

A lot of time is spent talking about Mozilla (obviously). The problem is that a lot of that content will be quickly out of date. Discussion of other projects like Luxor, Xavier and the enhancements made in Mozilla since being published would make a welcome second edition. May-be wait for Mozilla 1.0.

weak, somewhat deprecated
Helpful Votes: 8 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 2007-03-06
xul appears to have changed a lot since this book was printed.
many of the xul tags discussed and used, the xul templates used,
have changed. thus, most of the xul examples in the book are
not going to work in firefox.

e.g. the xul css skin url is no longer the same. lots of tags
such as "titledbox" have been renamed.

i'd say this content is deprecated.

also, in my opinion, these chapters add no value
to the book and in general weakens the
existing content:

an xml primer
css
the jxul project

Virtual Reality
The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier
Published in Paperback by The MIT Press (2000-11-01)
Author: Howard Rheingold
List price: $32.00
New price: $15.00
Used price: $13.25
Collectible price: $32.00

Average review score:

Wrote the book on Virtual Communities
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2001-07-18
Howard Rheingold is the most important lens through which the entire culture of the Virtual Community and Virtual Environment dynamics should and can be seen. This book, in any of its print runs or versions, is essential for anyone who wants to understand contact between people who's only connection is online via computers.

New expanded edition is forthcoming
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2000-05-12
This is a classic work on the development of online communities immediately before the advent of the World Wide Web. A new expanded edition with a terrific follow up chapter and expanded bibliography is due this fall from The MIT Press. A must read!

Prophet of Electronic Power to the People
Helpful Votes: 10 out of 13 total.
Review Date: 2000-12-30

Everyone seems to miss what I think is the most important the point of Howard's book. First published in 1993 and now in the expanded edition, the bottom line on this book is that the Internet has finally made it possible for individuals to own the fruits of their own labor--the power has shifted from the industrial age aggregators of labor, capital, and hard resources to the individual knowledge workers. The virtual community is the social manifestation of this new access to one another, but the real revolution is manifested in the freedom that cyberspace makes possible--as John Perry Barlow has said, the Internet interprets censorship (including corporate attempts to "own" employee knowledge) as an outage, and *routes around it*. Not only are communities possible, but so also are short-term aggregations of interest, remote bartering, on the fly hiring of world-class experts at a fraction of their "physical presence price". If Howard's first big book, Tools for Thought, was the window on what is possible at the desktop, this book is the window on what is possible in cyberspace, transcending physical, legal, cultural, and financial barriers. This is not quite the watershed that The Communist Manifesto was, but in many ways this book foreshadowed all of the netgain, infinite wealth, and other electronic frontier books coming out of the fevered brains around Boston--a guy in Mill Valley wearing hand-painted cowboy boots was there long before those carpetbaggers (smile).

A seminal 1992 work with update tacked on
Helpful Votes: 12 out of 13 total.
Review Date: 2001-07-03
Rheingold provides a comprehensive, broad sweeping portrayal of the virtual communities landscape, particularly as it was in the early 1990s. In particular, the book provides a fascinating history of the development of virtual communities from back in the 1960s. The many stories of the development of virtual communities and of life in virtual communities provide a rich account.

The books' style is more journalistic that academic. It reads something like an extended newspaper article, with some fine writing. The book concentrates mostly on a kind of anecdotal and human accounting with a smattering of theory and stuff thrown in. Howard Rheingold eloquently lays out many of the salient issues and does an excellent job of arguing for the importance of recognizing the growth of online social groups. Also, he provides an intriguing treatment of cultural issues. The depth and breadth of his experience with the medium is clearly evident.

Generally, book is more historical than theoretical or practical. Howard admits to wanting to popularize the notion of virtual communities, which he does effectively. But, there is little that would help you set up a virtual community or really understand why they work that way. His basis is more in his experience than in theory or rigorous research.

The original book has been widely commented on, so perhaps just two comments on the 2000 version are in order. First, the book seems a little dated. The new material for this new version seems mostly added in the last two chapters, leaving the preceding 10 tinged with the state of affairs in 1992, which was pre-web and pre- a large bit of corporate development of e-business and virtual communities on the web. Of course, most of the issues are still relevant, but one has to keep the age of the material in mind. Second, the new material, although comprehensive and certainly based on Howard's considerable experience, seems a little rushed. Howard qualifies this by saying it would need another book, but this leaves the book feeling like an older book with a lengthy afterward tacked on later.

Not very honest
Helpful Votes: 30 out of 39 total.
Review Date: 2002-01-22
The virtual community is, in reality, at best a bunch of people disagreeing and regularly indulging in shark-like small group attacks. The WELL, of which Howard speaks so much, hounded one of its early members - Blair - to his death by suicide, a matter described, but not really examined with much thoroughness. Yes, he touches on flaming, but does not examine a deeper pattern of common harrasment, particularly of outliers. How Howard himself participated in this type of online gang harassment activity, not understanding the man, Blair, and discounting his claims out of hand is a quite interesting story. He touches on this, and gives an account, which would be acceptable in a personal autobiography. But to leave it where he does in a book purporting to be a seminal piece on virtual community is truly remarkably remiss. Since the record is all there, or was, it could have been given serious consideration.

The conflicting interests, and the commonly irresponsible behavior of people online - viciousness, gratuitous, undeserved nastiness, intellectual dishonesty - looking for targets to vent on is not explored as it should be. This is quite common outside of the world of flaming.

This book is a gloss piece, advertising for something that doesn't really exist as he claims. Howard, while a pleasant guy personally, does not show himself a deep thinker, and may not be much of an observer either. Nor is the author ready, willing or able to take on anything that is likely to upset the herd of which he has become something of a starring member. The story of virtual community is not such a very nice one in many ways.

The underside of the story of virtual community is a story of psychological denial, denial about a great deal. It is a story of in-groups and out-groups, and a good deal more, something which requires an anhtropologists eye, and someone with more nerve.

Go ahead and read this book. But understand that the book itself is evidence of the degree of denial which pervades the "virtual community".

Virtual Reality
User and Task Analysis for Interface Design
Published in Paperback by Wiley (1998-02-09)
Authors: JoAnn T., PhD Hackos and Janice C. Redish
List price: $90.00
New price: $40.00
Used price: $9.50

Average review score:

It's about communication not design
Helpful Votes: 12 out of 35 total.
Review Date: 2002-09-14
This book does not cover design of the interface well at all.
Not worth buying for design. Ok for how to talk to a user

Read it before you need it.
Helpful Votes: 22 out of 24 total.
Review Date: 2001-01-06
If there is one strong message in this book, it is: Go talk to the people who will use your product. It's an important message. Software designers and writers spend too much time with each other developing clever tricks, while the poor user, often left to self-train with a poorly written manual, gives up in frustration. The authors follow their own advice--in addition to telling you how to conduct a site visit to the end users, there are clear instructions (based on experience) on planning a visit, structuring questions, how to make the site visit useful for both the analyzers and the users, and figuring out what the user said and what it means about the product. There are reminders about release forms and examples of the forms themselves. Case studies help make the points clear and undestandable. A thoroughly readable book in clear and simple language that can be started anywhere for quick help, or read cover to cover for a complete course.

How to do it..
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 17 total.
Review Date: 2000-10-10
I like it a lot this book, because really can help you how to do a Good Design, The book show a lot techniques an examples than help you to understand and make it easy. This book has usability itself. I enjoyed a lot.

Excellent Practicle tips
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 9 total.
Review Date: 2001-06-19
This book was the best out of several others that I have read realted to usability engineering or UCD. It had several practical examples and stories attached to each topic. Its excellent for starter as well as proffesionals who are working at companies and have to justify several things. Several formates for reports and other resources are available for conducting a good Users and Task Analysis. More so its really easy and interesting to read with all the stories and the diagrams.

A handbook you will dog ear from use
Helpful Votes: 58 out of 62 total.
Review Date: 2000-12-16
First of all, I have not read this book cover to cover. I have used it as a manual for task analysis in bits and pieces. Eventually, I will read it cover to cover, as it deserves this attention and I need the information.

I was recommended this book by a colleague and since recommended it at least a dozen times myself to fellow human factors engineers and software/system designers. It had the answers to many of the practical questions I was asking and being asked.

This book gives practical advice on how to analyse a task based on the "things that need to be done" to the "people that need to do them". Based on the recommendations, these are not "pie in the sky" ideas but practical tips from the people that do this work day to day.

If you read through the table of contents that Amazon provides you will find most if not all of your questions on how to go about this type of work answered within the pages of this book.

Briefly the Chapters are broken up into main segments of this type of work:

1. Introducing User and Task Analysis for Interface Design

UNDERSTANDING THE CONTEXT OF USER AND TASK ANALYSIS

2. Thinking about Users

3. Thinking about Tasks

4. Thinking about the User's environment

5. Making the Business case for site visits

GETTING READY FOR SITE VISITS

6. Selecting techniques

7. Setting up site visits

8. Preparing for site visits

CONDUCTING THE SITE VISIT

9. Conducting the site visit-Honing your observational skills

10.Conducting the site visit-Honing your interview skills

MAKING THE TRANSITION FROM ANALYSIS TO DESIGN

11. Analysing and presenting the data you have collected

12. Working toward the interface design

13. Prototyping the interface design

14. User and task analysis for Documentation and training

Appendix A: Template for a site visit plan

Appendix B: Resources

Appendix C: Guidelines for User-Interface Design

The appendices are a collection of very useful information to jog your memory while doing a site visit as well as some general user interface guidelines. This makes for a nice checklist to check if you forgot anything.

Not only is this book chock full of good tips, advice and an idea of how to structure this type of work, but it was designed well visually. The fonts and typography are pleasant to look at and the examples, graphics and important points are well illustrated. I guess they did a good job of analyzing the task of the reader as well.

Virtual Reality
Bug Park
Published in Hardcover by Baen (1997-04-01)
Author: James P. Hogan
List price: $22.00
New price: $12.09
Used price: $0.54
Collectible price: $22.00

Average review score:

Welcome to the world of the very small
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2005-09-02
At first glance at the cover you might think, gee, this is a kid's book. A book about bugs and tiny robots and adventure. But this book is not for kids.
It has greed and murder and physics and explosions and tiny chainsaws. It has a complexe plot, interesting characters, great technology and even a feel good ending.
Oh, and don't forget guns, money and lawyers. A great book. But of course, this is JAMES P. HOGAN.

BUG PARK
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-09-11
BUG PARK

James Hogan delves into the world of micro robotics, corporate greed, and the realm of virtual gaming to create this extremely entertaining novel.

Let me sum the book up like this; teenage friendship, a cheating step mother, an easy going scientific father, the fathers military minded best friend and business partner, micro sized robots ran by DNC: Direct Neural Coupling, Ex-business partner wishing to steal the patent for DNC.

This book was much more entertaining than I had expected.The story starts with a bang and ends with an atomic blast.Bug Park is a light read and comes across a bit different than other works by Hogan.I was truly upset that I ran out of pages to read. James Hogan has been added to my must read authors list.

I highly recommend this book.

Spielberg, make this into a movie!
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2002-08-04
Bug Park was a really fun read. As usual, Hogan comes from a base of hard science, which helps makes the premise believable. The only thing I found that bothered me was the contrived bit with one of the kid's tie to organised crime. Still, loved the book and it would make a great family movie. Someone needs to give a copy to Steven.

Telepresence in an Insect Microcosm
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2003-10-30
In Charles Scheffield's excellent novel, THE NIMROD HUNT, micro-miniaturized man-shaped mechanoids battle live spiders and warrior ants. The human controllers become immersed in attacks on nests or anthills via telepresence. The electronic sensorium provided by the mechanoids' sophisticated sensors temporarilly replaces normal human senses.

In BUG PARK, James P. Hogan updates the same idea to create a futuristic amusement park game. People battle insects by putting their controlling 'consciousness' inside tiny bug-sized, man-shaped "mecs". When a mec is seriously damaged or rendered inoperable by an ant, the human operating that mec is unceremoniously thrown out of the game for "dying."

Hogan uses DNC, direct neural coupling, a technology yet to be invented, to pull this off. DNC shuts down our normal senses and replaces them with sensory input from the mecs. DNC allows Eric Heber, one of the teenage protagonists, to control the movements of the "Taki" mec as if its limbs were his own.

I have been an avid reader of James P. Hogan's works since his classic first novel, INHERIT THE STARS. Even though BUG PARK is a juvenile novel, the science and technology are as fully explained as anyone would ever want and most adults will also enjoy this book,

Readers will love the rapid, breath-taking pace of BUG PARK. Indeed, I can easily see how this novel could become a major blockbuster motion picture with its exciting mix of cutting-ege technology, kids in peril and corporate corruption.

(Are you listening DISNEY Corp.?)

No Bugs : Johnny Quest vs. The Evil Step-Mother
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2003-02-02
Mr. Hogan did a fantastic job with the physics in this book. That is the one thing that kept me reading more than anything else. What I was disappointed in, is that fact that with a title of "Bug Park", there are so few insects/arthropods of any kind in the story, it is like eating a McD's cherry pie, and finding only one cherry...very disappointing indeed. The story should be re-titled.

Also, one point to nit-pick, for scientific names of any organism, when spelling the binomial name out, the genus is capitalized and the species is *always* lower case. On page396, "Limenitis lorquini"is what I am referring too, and the editors should be ashamed of themselves, because this is not the author's fault.

The story was enjoyable, the plot moves well, but the family structure was almost a direct parallel to Johnny Quest, including Bandit, I mean Batcat. I kept becoming distracted from the story as I read "Hoggi" instead of Taki etc., and like any good J.Q. story, the villain perishes in their own nefarious trap, leaving the hero's hands clean.

Finally, I enjoyed the little "Microcosm" joke at the end, I'm sure you will too.

Virtual Reality
A Beginner's Guide to Second Life version 1.1
Published in Paperback by ArcheBooks Publishing (2007-03-20)
Author: v3image
List price: $24.99
New price: $18.21
Used price: $16.96

Average review score:

Pleasantly Surprised
Helpful Votes: 10 out of 11 total.
Review Date: 2007-06-16
I have been looking for awhile for a good instructional book on Second Life. Since I needed it to be a text book for an introductory college course on Second Life, I ended off looking at everything I could find in the market.

This is the ONLY book I found that actually gives you a full range of instruction. The official guide is pretty looking but doesn't provide instruction, Tourist guide is about locations and history, play money book is too esoteric, etc. etc.

I had to write this review....I was so blown away with the overwhelmingly positive feedback I got from my students about A Beginner's Guide to Second Life for course material. That's the first I ever got with a textbook.

A good practical guide
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2007-10-13
The book "A beginner's Guide to Second Life" gives a good introduction on basic topics,
such as objects texturing and building, Orientation Island, Help
Island, places where to find items of various kind, how to take
pictures and movies/snapshots, and so on. Moreover, the book faces
other interesting topics, such as avatar modification to change its
aesthetic, land management, and how to get free money -- a suggestion
that's always useful especially to the beginners.

A very good point is that this book seems to be more practical than
the official guide, therefore, it provides lot of useful details that
are extremely useful for the beginners. Unfortunately, the Linden
Scripting Language -- a very interesting topic -- is not faced at all.

For instance, among the topics faced in the book, Telereport is
explained with a good detail. Moreover, the author clarifies some
issues with respect to the Telereport itself. Sometimes, in fact, the
Telereport does not properly work. Therefore, once we have looked up
for a place P, we might be transported to a different place (useful
information to avoid unpleasant headache for the newbies). Likewise,
searching for a pattern does not always produce the desired effect -- looking for "sand box" is different than looking for "sandbox".

Textbook
Helpful Votes: 7 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2007-09-01
Second Life is a place where you can acgtually learn.
There are many real Universities who provide classroom hours,
lectures, conferences and simposiums.
It is a place where you can learn how to run business,
how to construct, design, and build super architectural structures.
It is a fun place also, to go skydiving or swim in the ocean,
and it is certainly a great place to make friends.

In order to be able to be an active happy participant of the Second Life world, you need to learn how to quit bumbing your avatar into corners, not step on each other's feet, not to fall into ocean while flying, and not to accidentally dress into a LAMPSHADE instead of the new clothes you've just gotten...

A Beginner's Guide to Second Life is a textbook for newbies, an absolute necessity, if you want to improve sooner and lear the basics of how to BE in this amazing environment full of wonders and great opportunities!

a solid, good beginner's guide
Helpful Votes: 8 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 2007-08-26
This book is not as pretty as some of the other books on Second Life, but it has plenty of useful information for the beginner. It's occasionally a little snarky about newbies, but that's my only complaint. I would have given it 5 stars if the illustrations had been better. I found it well worth the money and still refer to it while my 2 other books on SL are gathering dust.

Good illustrated intro to SL
Helpful Votes: 9 out of 9 total.
Review Date: 2008-02-18
The bad news - it's expensive for what you get.
The good news - it gives you clear and illustrated instructions to get you going. Plus some exercises so you have something to try once you get into the Second Life grid.

Virtual Reality
CYBERDROME
Published in Kindle Edition by CreateSpace (2008-01-10)
Authors: Joseph Rhea and David Rhea
List price: $7.99
New price: $6.39

Average review score:

From your family!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-06-14
I think its an awesome book. It has great technology info which I love! It will probably teach me a lot!

Great read
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-05
This was a great little discovery. Great plot, great characters, great pacing, great ending (leaving me wanting more.) What else can I say? 5-stars all the way!

Isaac Asimov Would Have Loved Cyberdrome
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2008-07-15
Imagine a computer capable of running hundreds of simulated worlds populated by digital humans allowed to evolve in ways divergent from Earth. These digital humans have no idea that they are only programs, living simulated lives and observed by scientists from Earth Zero. Of course, the scientists from Earth Zero don't realize that they are only programs, living in a simulated world and supervised by employees of a corporation monitoring the programs for revolutionary technology, which they then market to the real Earth. This is Cyberdrome.

Alek Grey is a programmer who specializes in preventing break-ins to secure systems. Unfortunately, Cyberdrome calls him in after their system has already been compromised by a rogue virus--inserted by technology developed by and stolen from Alek himself. An unlikely hero who doubts his own capabilities, Alek seems an odd choice to save Cyberdrome, but since his father and then his ex-fiancee are trapped in the simulation, unable to be removed from the interface without the danger of brain death, Alek has little choice if he hopes to save their lives.

Cyberdrome is a "techno" science fiction adventure, but I have no background in digital simulations or computer programming, and I thoroughly enjoyed the novel. It is true that the first few chapters immerse the reader right away in the technical lingo of the book, but every science fiction or fantasy novel must introduce a unique setting, and I prefer this type of "world-building" to tedious explanations. I don't want the authors to hold my hand, and it's not necessary. Cyberdrome drops the reader in, much like it does Alek Grey, and you learn along the way.

This novel reminded me of the earliest Foundation books by Isaac Asimov, with Alek's father using technology the way Harry Seldon used psychohistory to predict the course of human development, and the hundred simulated worlds of Cyberdrome replacing the galactic civilization of that SF classic. I highly recommend Cyberdrome for its fast paced plot, unique setting, varied characters, and original concept.

Reviewed by Dianne K. Salerni
For POD Book Reviews and More

New human dimensions - and a joy to read!
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-22
Cyberdrome is a joy to read. The plot stays close to its main thread, which is refreshing after other thriller writers have bored us and burned us out with yet another "seven subplots and locales that all come together on page 453 with two guys fighting each other" (snore...) One of the beauties of this thoroughly entertaining tale is that it emerges as intensely visual in every phase. David Rhea's graphic design concepts and Joseph Rhea's storytelling skills give Cyberdrome the clarity and momentum that so often escapes sci-fi writers. There's enough technical meat to make it solid, but at the same time, the characters and settings give it color and the realization of new human dimensions will allow you to wonder and speculate even as you're moving through the story. The characters are diverse and (rejoice!) behave with a sense of honor. You'll never hear the word "avatar" again without stretching your imagination a bit. Very cool and new stuff and worth your time and money!

couldn't put it down
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-03
This book is awesome, every turn has you wondering whats around the corner. I started reading it and can't put it down. I want more!!!!!

Virtual Reality
The Heretic
Published in Paperback by FirstPublish (2000-11)
Author: Jason K. Chapman
List price: $16.95

Average review score:

This is a MUST buy --- I mean MUST buy !
Helpful Votes: 10 out of 11 total.
Review Date: 2001-12-06
Probably one of the GREAT new authors of 2001, Jason K. Chapman has written a real scorcher of a novel - one that kept me reading half the night to get to the end. It's not often that a new author can fall into the habit of good dialog at the first attempt, but Chapman's is absolutely amazing. It's a strength he can play up to again and again in the future, because dialog SHOWS not TELLS, producing story pictures in the mind, just like the spells that his main character was weaving in cyberspace.

And here's something else that was totally refreshing about this book - you don't even get to find out the protagonist's name! Hey, and there's a thoroughly intelligent ending too. It caught me by surprise because, as the remaining pages grew less and less, I was waiting for a monotonous roll of drums as my own imagined scenario came true. No such bad luck. Fortunately, Jason Chapman is a novelist of style and originality and the ending was as bright and artful as any I could have imagined.

Chapman's story is of a cyberworld controlled by The Guild who, seemingly, are the good guys, protecting computer systems from black hat hackers. The Heretic, Chapman's protagonist, finds that things are not quite as they seem on the surface - and certainly not as they should be. What's worse, he's being hunted both in cyberspace and IRL (in the real world!). In short, declarative sentences that would make Mike Hammer proud, Jason Chapman has The Heretic fall in love, fight the bad guys and find true happiness. All in 201 action-packed pages WITH NOT A CLICHE IN SIGHT!

There were some wonderfully subtle brushstrokes too - the falcon in particular. Epitomizing The Heretic's freedom, while at the same time providing a metaphor for the watched and the watcher. Bravo Mr. Chapman. If that was your starter, your next book is going to be a real cracker. I'll be waiting for it.

Poor Read
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2006-03-20
"Lacking where it counts" is the best review I can provide. The writing itself is respectable, though nothing remarkable. Where the book fails to captivate is in its vague, mystic story. Though its only possible audience is that of computer savvy individuals, Chapman moves quickly to alienate them in an unrealistic future world of computing, where everything takes place in virtual reality. If you have nothing better to do, then read it on-line where it is publicly available, but don't waste your money on this one.

words can't describe it
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2003-06-24
i first heard about this book online (where it was first put up...and still is but i don't know if i can put the link, so i won't) i read it through to the end online...it was insane.....just iching for the next page to load...i have never read a book that got me so caught up in the story i forgot to eat.

it is a GREAT book for anyone interesting in computers, hacking, mystery, scifi, fantasy, you name it...this book has it

i can't even decribe the intense feeling i got from the first chapter.....it was like i had just discovered what reading really was....

get this book now...you won't regret it for a second...i've read it twice for free and now i'm paying for a hardcopy...THAT'S how good it is

Cyberpunk novel of top rate
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2002-04-05
All you 1337 h4x0r5 (or should i say script kiddies) out there really want to know what the world of hacking is about but dont want to be bored by the dry, put you to sleep, text that most hacking informational texts put out there. Pick up Jason's book. I highly recommend it to anyone that is interested in computers in the least. It puts into perspective what a hacker really is. Do take the text with a grain of salt though, cause there is no such thing as a sprite (well not as he discribes them anyways). all in all buy the book read the book and then read it again...

Great Book!
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2002-02-25
This book is a great read. One of the best books I have read in several years. If you buy this book don't start reading it until you have some time on your hands, it is Very hard to put down. The book has it all. I hope there will be a sequel to The Heretic and I am looking forward to other books by Jason K. Chapman.

Virtual Reality
Natural-Born Cyborgs: Minds, Technologies, and the Future of Human Intelligence
Published in Hardcover by Oxford University Press, USA (2003-04-01)
Author: Andy Clark
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Average review score:

Cyborgs in the Flesh
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2006-07-03
Clark presents an argument that we do not need to implant microchips or electronic prostheses in our body to become Cyborgs, - We are already Cyborgs. The argument is based in our natural ability to use tools and technics to enhance our capabilities for movement, cognition and perception.

The book is easy to read and draws upon research from the fields of robotics, cognitive science, neuroscience, cybernetics, dynamic systems theory, feminist theory, cognitive anthropology and english litterature studies.

The fact that he draws upon such diverse fields of research does not reduce the logic or persuasiveness of his arguments, but rather show the interdisciplinary basis for the book. The breadth of the arguments' basis is a major plus with this book, showing that the interplay between humans and technology are not merely technical but also something which changes who we are and how we understand our selves.

Superb Analysis of the Human/Machine Symbiosis
Helpful Votes: 15 out of 15 total.
Review Date: 2004-11-07
What is the future of humanity? Is the next phase of human evolution the merging of humans and machines? Or perhaps, are we humans already merged with machines and have we been for centuries? These and other questions are ones that occupy Andy Clark, director of the Cognitive Science Program at Indiana University and author of this thought-provoking book written for an informed but lay audience. Clark makes the case that long before cyborgs became the villains of so many popular films--the "Terminator" and "Matrix" series, "Blade Runner," and "2001: A Space Odyssey" come immediately to mind--humans had become inextricably linked to machines in a way that ensured that they could not survive without them. Accordingly, even without electronic implants Homo Sapiens are cyborgs, and have been as far back as the first time one of our ancestors picked up a tree limb and used it as club. Clark argues that the human-technology symbiosis is totally natural and has been for millennia. The speed with which the merging of human and machine is advancing expanded greatly in the twentieth century as such technologies as pacemakers, artificial hips and knees, prosthetics, and other electronic implants have enhanced and sometimes prolonged the lives of millions of people.

Andy Clark explores this increasingly close relationship of humans and machines--the "cyborg-ization" of humanity--in eight chapters. Beginning with the argument that we are already cyborgs dependent for our lifestyle on all manner of technologies, he moves through a succession of possible steps into the future that will find us more and more closely tied to the technologies we have created. Eventually, we will reach a post-human state. Rather than invoking fear that we will become non-human, Clark celebrates this possibility and the wondrous potentialities it offers. He urges caution in this transition, for not all possibilities are desirable, but generally Clark is optimistic. He asks: "if it is our basic human nature to annex, exploit, and incorporate nonbiological stuff deep into our mental profiles [and he firmly believes that it is]--then the question is not whether we go that route, but in what ways we actively sculpt and shape it. By seeing ourselves as we truly are, we increase the chances that our future biotechnological unions will be good ones" (p. 198).

In my own research concerning the past, present, and possible future of spaceflight, I find much in Andy Clark's study that is useful. One of the truly fascinating developments associated with the rise of robotic capabilities is the possibility of post-human migration. In fulfilling the spacefaring dream, the intelligent life to leave Earth and colonize the galaxy may not be entirely human in form. Extensive discussions have taken place in recent years on the relationship between artificial computer intelligence, biotechnology, and human evolution. In spite of its obvious relevance to space travel, little of this has been extended to outer space. The early space pioneer Robert H. Goddard suspected that humans might be obliged to transport genetic material to distant stars rather than go themselves. The rigors of galactic flight that will likely confine humans to the inner solar system might not confine our machines. Given the great difficulties of interstellar flight, these would have to be machines with human-like intelligence or even possibly humans reengineered to withstand long-duration space travel. The possibilities are truly amazing and somewhat weird, and as remote today from common experience as were the early images of space travel to the people who first envisioned them centuries ago. Nonetheless, they are not wholly impossible. Given current directions in technology as envisioned by such authors as Andy Clark, a post-biological galaxy teeming with enhanced human intelligence is not beyond the realm of possibility. In one such vision, biological species become so technologically proficient that they cease to exist in purely biological form. The possibilities for post-human evolution has the potential to radically alter the dominant paradigm of human spaceflight.

"Natural-Born Cyborgs" is a challenging and useful book. Highly recommended.

Yes, we certainly are cyborgs!
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-05-12
Normally, we think about 'cyborgs' in terms of 'Star Trek'-like creatures, such as the Borg: a mixture of organic and inorganic stuff, quite unpleasant to look at and even more unpleasant if you encounter one. And here we have a cognitive scientist and philosopher who writes a book with an incredibly odd-sounding title: natural-born cyborg - isn't that a contradiction in terms?

No, it isn't. Read Andy Clark's book and be amazed. When I read it, I was completely converted. What Clark does is not simply write a book describing how modern cognitive science (especially the science of embodied and distributed cognition) is dealing with human action (that too!), but what Clark does here is rewrite a lot of Western anthropology: the way we think about human nature.

Clark's idea of humans as natural-born cyborgs is not that we are all in some sense Borg, but simply that humans have remarkable capabilities of dealing with the things that surround them. Especially, in using things that are around us as tools (in the widest sense of the word; hammers, computers, libraries are all tools), we are able to blur the boundaries between our bodies and technology - as in the practice of hammering the difference between the hand and the hammer disappears, as both are now one in the activity of hammering - but with informational tools such as computers, encyclopedias or simply pen and paper, we are also able to blur the distinction between our mind and the world. We are cyborgs because we are able to relate to and interact with our surroundings in a myriad of different ways. And we're doing that quite naturally. Clark brilliantly describes what philosophers and cognitive scientists are nowadays discovering about our ancient technological skills.

For me, this book was an eye-opener in the best possible way. That may seem strange, given the fact that I am a philosopher of religion and theologian. But for me Clark's approach makes sense. I will not go into details, but if you're interested, read Clark's book first and afterwards Philip Hefner's "The Human Factor" and his "Technology and Human Becoming" (both available through Amazon.com) and hopefully you'll know what I'm getting at...

I can't wait for Andy Clark to write a follow-up on this one!

Predictable
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 19 total.
Review Date: 2006-01-26
Irritatingly predictable, I might add. One might sum up the entire book by flipping to just one of the expected photographs of some idiot with gizmos attached to every limb. This is technology out of control. We should not be serving technology, it should be serving us. Just because it's a gizmo and hooked up to a computer doesn't mean any sane person will prefer a digital life over a biological life. I may just be biased because I found Portman's TECHNOPOLY before I found this book. If you think technology and gizmos attached to the human body are cool, go ahead and reinforce your geekhood by reading this book, but don't expect to be surprised by any of the cliche's found herein.

A recommended read but has some weaknesses...
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2006-03-25
In this accessible, provocative, and thought provoking text Andy Clark argues nothing less than what the title suggests: Human nature is predisposed and especially adapted to create and interact with technologies in a way which advances human cognition. Thus, "human-machine symbiosis" is not only a fact of our future; it is that of our present and our past. We are, in a phrase, "natural-born cyborgs". The arguments that Clark presents to establish this are in fact persuasive, and I encourage anyone interested in the relationship between human beings and technology to read this book. For, whether the reader has at anytime in the past considered this complicated relationship or not, they are not likely to look at it the same way after coming away from the text.

That is not to say that all is well in Professor Clark's analysis, for he tends to take what has been referred to as a techno-enthusiast approach to technology, blatantly negating any undesirable consequences that may arise from such an intimate acceptance of technology into our everyday lives. This despite the fact that he devotes an entire chapter to supposedly addressing some of the potential negative impacts that technology poses. Yet, these are so minimized that it is obvious that for Andy Clark no price is too high for what he sees as the inevitable evolutionary advance of the human species. In addition, Clark tends to overlook the political aspects of technology involving the decisions over what sorts of technologies will be developed and how they will be implemented. Without going in to too much detail it is suffice to say that Clark's analysis is in no way comprehensive and tends to overlook the ethical dimensions of the question of technology. Still, his book is a worthwhile read (and an easy one at that) and I think as long as the reader keeps these things in mind can take much away from the text. No matter what it's lacking I do not want to minimize Clark's insight into human nature and the human-technology relationship for which he makes the strongest argument. I am convinced after reading this book that we are "natural-born cyborgs" and I suspect others will feel the same. It's when Clark starts delving into the implications of the "human-machine symbiosis" that he becomes a little shortsighted and unconvincing.

Virtual Reality
Burning Bright
Published in Hardcover by Tor Books (1993-05)
Author: Melissa Scott
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Average review score:

Sometimes, political intrigue is just another game
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2006-12-17
Sometimes, political intrigue is just an extension of a standard RPG. In the world of Burning Bright, two games absorb the interest of the populace. The first is an immersive form of role-play, enhanced by realistic images pulled from a universal network. The second is political, in many ways similar, but much more deadly. Quinn Lioe is a pilot taking a few days gaming leave on Burning Bright while the ship she works on is being repaired. Running a new scenario she has developed leads her into a larger game she had not expected to be drawn into. This fast paced novel is clever, and easily enjoyed by the long-term sci-fi reader and newcomers to the genre.

Fun book & great gaming system
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2002-05-25
In this book instead of pro sports everyone takes part in a great inter stellar virtual reality game that is awesome. U can tell that the author is really into gaming and she describes the whole gaming system so that you feel like your playing in it yourself. Very highly recommended.

Not Free SF Reader
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-09-02
The planet Burning Bright has a nice, central location for trade. It is also home to a lot of virtual gaming. A young gamemaster debuts one of her new scenarios here, and becomes an overnight sensation.

She attracts the attention of the glitterati and some of the more dangerous higher ups in society, and is embroiled in some dodgy situations because of this.


Wonderful
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2000-02-22
This is quite a wonderful book. Intriguing characters, a good plot, an unusual world-view (yes, there are some sci-fi cliches but they do not interfere much with the story, i think) and good details to keep this futuristic world real for you. I read it with great interest, and would like to keep on reading any new books from Melissa Scott.

Melissa Scott's Best Book
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2006-05-08
Most of Scott's writing can be described as competent but uninspired. _Burning Bright_ rises above that level.

Quinn Lioe is a starship pilot on leave while her ship is being repaired. She's also an avid role-playing gamer with a budding reputation for writing good scenarios. The city and planet Burning Bright (there's only one city on the planet, both share the same name) is one of the centers for the Game and Lioe gets the chance to use her new scenario at a prestigious Gaming club.

Burning Bright is important as the trading link between the human Republic and the alien Hsai Empire. Damian Chrestil, a partner in a large trading firm, is trying to smuggle drugs into the Hsai Empire. The drugs are on Burning Bright, brought, not coincidentally, by Lioe's ship. They can't be shipped further on until certain codes are provided by a Hsai official, ji-Imbaoa. For reasons which are not explained, ji-Imbaoa is extremely slow in getting these codes and passing them to Chrestil. Complicating matters is the fact that Burning Bright has periodic, massive hurricanes, and the first storm of the season is rapidly approaching the city.

There's also the Hsai ambassador, Chauvelin, a human who's been adopted into a major Hsai clan. This clan is a rival to ji-Imbaoa's clan. Chauvelin has a protege named Ransome who served time in a Hsai jail for a lese majeste offense against a member of ji-Imbaoa's clan. While imprisoned, Ransome was infected with an incurable lung disease which is slowly killing him. Ransome is a data-miner on Burning Bright's computer nets. Ji-Imbaoa and Chrestil are both concerned that Ransome might find out about the smuggling while wandering through the nets. Since Ransome was a notable Game player who's dropped out because the Game was getting stale, ji-Imbaoa orders Chauvlin to get Ransome back into the Game and off the nets.

Scott uses this to weave a political thriller set in a well-described society. The Game is shown in some detail, but doesn't overwhelm the rest of the story. Lioe and Ransom are three dimensional characters who interact with others in believable ways. As is usual with Scott's novels, the characters are either gay or bisexual, except for Chrestil's mistress, who seems to be the only straight person in the book.

I recommend this book. Of all Scott's novels, it's the only one I would give five stars to.

Virtual Reality
A Practical Guide to Usability Testing
Published in Paperback by Intellect Ltd (1999-01-01)
Authors: Joseph S. Dumas and Janice C. Redish
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Average review score:

Great First Book or Referesher for any Usability Engineer
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-09-11
These folks know usability testing; they have a lot of experience with a wide variety of systems. Their backgrounds in linguistics and in psychology inform their process making it a highly effective and very user-centered process. This book is easy to follow and comprehensive. A great first read or refresher for any usability engineer.

Dumas was a lousy usability professor in my MS program
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2007-12-27
I had Dumas (one of the authors) for a Testing & Analysis master level class at Bentley College (the semester before he retired; I wish I could have waited, so I actually would have gotten something for my 3000+). He was a horrible teacher, the worst in the program. Reminded me of Ferris Bueller's "Anyone, anyone?". I thought this book was redundant and not very helpful. If you already have QA experience, you'll probably find this book a waste of money. It's out of respect for Hackos' work that I'm not rating the book lower.

A Practical Guide to Usability Testing
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-07-03
This book is real thorough, right up to the point of listing suitable topics for small talk with your test subjects :-) If you are doing guerrilla usability testing, most of the forms and checklists in this book may be overkill, but there is still a lot of useful information... I appreciated a lot that statements are in general backed up with literature, not just common sense reasoning. The only drawback of this book is that it feels a bit dated (i.e. pre-Web). It does seem to have been revised and puts emphasis on iterative testing etc, but doesn't mention more recent techniques such as eye-tracking, or using the Web for recruiting test subjects or identifying potential usability problems via request logs.

necessary reading
Helpful Votes: 17 out of 17 total.
Review Date: 2001-07-06
This is required reading for usability professionals. It's a detailed look at testing, covering everything from test plans and lab construction to data analysis and how to handle unqualified testers who slip through the screening process. It covers lower-budget tests in addition to full-scale ones. It's clear that Dumas and Redish have loads of experience, and they're not shy about sharing it.

The most useful idea I came away with is that testing needs a specific purpose. You can't just test a system's usability; you test, for example, the navigation system or a membership form.

The only flaws here are a couple of omissions. There's no mention of testing web applications, though the principles covered here can be extrapolated to other purposes. And there is no mention of the ultra-cheap guerilla testing tactics. I doubt Dumas and Redish would approve of them, but it would have been very helpful to read about where these alternative methods were effective and not.

This book is a keeper. While my organization will not likely be doing full-blown usability testing for awhile, I'm now more able to evaluate and communicate with third-party testing facilities. And this book will influence all of our other evaluation and assessment testing methods.

A classic
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2002-01-27
This is a classic in the field, written by two highly-respected usability specialists. I was fortunate to read it as one of the textbooks in a class on usability testing taught by Dr. Dumas. It is a very practical book, covering planning, testing, and reporting the results. The strengths and weaknesses of usability testing are discussed, and there is some information about other usability evaluation methods and basic design principles.

This is a republication, with only slight changes, of the 1993 edition, so the technology and costs are not up to date. But it's not hard to think in terms of digital cameras instead of videotape.

Highly recommended.


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