Software Books

An excellent introduction to Word Perfect. Clear, concise and good range of topics.

I found this book after I got a bought computer with WP and Quattro Pro on it. I love it! It's perfect for a newbie like me who wasn't even sure how to start the program. I was surprised to see how much information the book had about working with tables and graphics and setting up a mail merge. I even learned how to keep all my names and addresses in address books and then use them in a mail merge. I plan to create my own cards and holiday greeting letters and send them out to my friends and family with a mail merge.

I don't know much about spreadsheets, but since I got Quattro Pro for free, I thought I might learn how to use it for my family's budget. The book has three bonus chapters that got me up and running in no time. There is a great section in the book that explains where to go for more help. I found the newsgroups and a great place called WordPerfect Universe where I can go to ask questions when I get stuck.

The book is easy to read and there are lots of illustrations to help you follow along. I've gained a lot of confidence in just a few weeks. I highly recommend this book to new users who want to get up and running quickly, but who also want to learn how to use some of the "advanced" features.

This is a very simplistic way to learn this program, if you can read and follow directions, you will love this!

I just came back to Word Perfect after my iMac died suddenly, and was intrigued with all the advances I'd missed. The WP tutorials and tips are very helpful, but still I had questions and needed more. Sometimes you just want to study the information from a good book, and this is that book. The author treats the reader with respect, knowing that some are just turning on the computer and others are more knowledgeable. The instructions are clear, logical and address "real life" uses. As a special bonus, the author writes well and has a good sense of humor. I feel as if I'm taking a kind of class with this book, and, believe it or not, it's fun!

When I bought a new computer recently, I was glad to see WordPerfect and Quattro Pro offered by the manufacturer for a change, but I hadn't used the programs since early versions for Windows. So, I picked up this book to get up to speed and I couldn't be more pleased.

Laura Acklen is a gifted teacher and writer. The book is well-organized, taking you through the process of getting things done, while introducing you to the incredible depth of WordPerfect - what a great word processor! Although geared to those new to WordPerfect, the book doesn't shy away from covering more advanced features, such as using graphics or templates, and goes beyond the "point here, click that" of many software books. The book is also fun without being silly.

I particularly appreciated the chapters covering Quattro Pro. They were just what I needed to get me going again with this great spreadsheet program. In two days, I was impressing our neighborhood group with tables and charts of neighborhood statistics.

I highly recommend this book to anyone new to WordPerfect and Quattro Pro or anyone, who like me, has come home to these programs with which I used to love to work. Cheers for Reveal Codes!

Many years ago I needed to learn ASP/ADO. I saw a lot of learning in front of me. But I was thrilled to find this book. It gave me the simple, clear explanations I needed to get rolling with ADO in short order. It's still one I keep handy, even thought I now use this technology to make my living. I have several big/thick ADO books, but this one is a quick reference that I still turn to often, as well as highly recommend to ADO (database connectivity) newbies for both web and Microsoft Office linking.

An excellent reference for the novise to advanced programmer. If you need a good overview of how to connect to a SQL Server or Access DB using VB, then you have got to get this book!

This was a very good book but it was not perfect. The code contained some coding errors, but what was worst was that I could not establish an internet connection to Rob's SQL server. Due to the connection problem I could not run those examples, which comprised about a third of the book. I e-mailed Rob, but Rob apparently is too good for his readers to reply back to. I would have given the book 5 stars if it weren't for these problems. The book certainly was not for beginners as it rightly claims. I actually had to read it twice. Any coding errors I was able to solve with some work. The book does offer a lot to learn though.

I bought this book looking for an introduction to ADO and DB programming in general with no prior ADO experience. I read the first 4 chapters for an introduction, and I have used the rest of the book for information on how to complete specific tasks. I have successfully created ADO applications using VB, Access, and ASP, using this book and online help as references. This is probably not the most complete book available for ADO programming, but if you have not used ADO in the past, you will not find a better introduction than this book!

This book is genuinely about ADO Programming without self promotion. Rob starts his book with the basic elements that lead up to ADO technology and steps up to very sophisticated programming procedures/techniques using ADO with Sql Server, MS Access 2000, Excel 2000, ASP and the Web in a very efficient and easy to understand manner. Of the features which set this book apart from others are the numerous runtime examples on Rob's website of procedures using ADO within VB/ASP scripts, and also the companion cd which includes all the of the programming code for each of the ADO examples on the website and all of the examples in the book. The information contained in this book has significantly enhanced my understanding of and coding abilities with ADO in a very short period of time, particularly in the web environment. I would highly recommend this book to any serious developer of data processing applications using ADO technology; especially for web applications.

"100 Essential Techniques" solved at least a half dozen situations right off the bat. George's writing style is clear and concise and his selection of techniques are those that you need to be aware of. Having flipped through the book several times reading what was intriguing, I am reading from front to back. I found that I could read this book on my comute and remember the simple steps on how to impliment the techniques when I was in front of the computer. Real sweet, what's next George?

Clear but concise explanations of many of the features and functions you may already be marginally aware of, but may not understand how to use. These features are generally only mentioned in other books, but are more clearly explained here. I teach the Adobe suite, and feel pretty comfortable using these applications, but most of what I know has come from books because I live in an isolated area. Whenever a book comes along that helps me to understand features I haven't been using, I really appreciate it. Short on glamour, it is just black text on white pages; the techniques are most often presented in two page layouts with screen captures as needed. The book is small enough to hold on your lap or have next to the computer as you work. Reading and using one technique a day might be a great way to go through the book as opposed to just reading. Some tips will be of interest to new users, while others are aimed at the intermediate or advanced level, which is exactly how it's noted on the back cover. Easy reading, chapter headings make it simple to find what you need, but there's also a good index. I find the organization very helpful. There are general tips presented first, regarding the use of Bridge, and setting up preferences to work with the suite more interactively. Then techniques for individual application components are presented and I appreciate the inclusion of GoLive here since I use it. I know everyone else uses DW, but our school chose to go with the Adobe Suite way back when. I have been responsible for the extensive dept. web site and I found GoLive up to the task. And last, tips having to do with the use of Acrobat and Version Cue. I've been using Acrobat for years, but on a fairly rudimentary level and I didn't understand Version Cue at all, so this book has provided some terrific information there. All in all, I think this book is a bargain, excellent, much needed information presented in a simple format. Some tips may be over your head if you're just beginning, but later on you'll be glad they're here. Especially useful: tips on using Bridge more fully, the most useful and least understood aspects of Photoshop and Illustrator, using Master Pages and Frames in InDesign as well as creating books (something I need to do right now), CSS in GoLive (a special thank you for that), time-saving batch processing techniques, and Acrobat and Version Cue techniques that wrap up the final needed tips. This book is definitely not a rehash of anything you've seen elsewhere. It's all the information I was hoping to find in other books and didn't. This book is an excellent resource and I'll keep it handy. There isn't one thing in here I would consider filler. The subtitle is 100 essential techniques and that seems to fit the content perfectly.

This book was super helpful getting me up to speed when I did an upgrade from the pre-CS product line. It covers the basics, but also gets you into some of the more advanced time savers. There's a website for it too, which has been updated with a couple of new tips.

An excellent book, particularly helpful in discovering the new nooks and crannies of the CS line. It's definitely a book I wish I had sooner. It shed a lot of light on the Bridge as well as Version Cue that I just wasn't getting before.

I am familiar with George's style of writing and this book is no exception, to his casual yet informative tone.

Thank goodness! Finally, a resource that's quick access, a quick fix to my problems and helpful, succinct answers to my questions. A must-have for anyone using the new CS2.

This book was exactly what I needed to get quickly up to speed on web design and construction. I last built a site in 1997. For my new site I had designed an easy to use, but complicated to build site. I had no real idea how to build it. This book taught me how. It was easy to read and had hands on (my favorite) exercises. The best part was that it focuses on the preparation stage as well as the site production stage. I needed to learn all I could about slicing images and rollovers. This book covers them very well. It shows you how to shave off download seconds. I didn't really know what to do with ImageReady before. Now I am using it to its full potential! Unfortunately, I'll have to learn Flash to really speed up my site.

I found this book extremely easy to use and very helpful. The lessons were quick and easy to understand. I wish they would have gone into more complicated applications. For getting a handle on how to use Photoshop and ImageReady it was wonderful.

I received this book about 1 1/2 weeks ago and I just tore thru it! Linda Weinman and Tanya Staples did an outstanding job in covering and teaching me what I needed to know about Photoshop CS. It beat out Photoshop class room in a book by a mile!

To bad I can't take it back!{

This has revolutionized the way I design websites for my realtor clients at realtors-image com

Thank you Lynda, Tanya and special thanks to Garo Green....what an amazing trainer he is. I made the move from Frontpage to Dreamweaver MX with his training manual.

The field of Graphic/ Web Design is wide open if you just follow these manuals from Lynda Weinmans HOT Manuals,

Thank you all and god bless!

This is the first time that I've tried learning through the Hands on Training (H.O.T) books and after reading & practicing with the CD that comes along with the book, I think this is a great training book! The book was very well written and the having the CD with the practice files to train with really helps you learn. I am in no way new to Photoshop, but I'd never used ImageReady before. With this book, I literally was able to understand and learn ImageReady CS in one day, and I also learned a lot of useful tips in Photoshop CS that I had never used before. Plus, with the way the book is written, anytime you have a question or problem, you can skip to a certain page or chapter that should help you. I am very satisfied with this purchase and plan on using H.O.T exclusively to train on any other softwere that I need to learn.

The book description refers to the book as "this full-color volume" in error. The update from Photoshop/Imageready 7 to CS has added 220 pages of content, but to hold the same price point, it was necessary to produce the book in black and white. I really miss the color. I occasionally purchase a Photoshop book that is not in color, but with one exception (Deke McClelland's Look and Learn Photoshop 6), they always end up being returned.

Don't let me discourage you from buying the book -- it's still a great resource, even more so since Ben Willmore's Photoshop CS Studio Techniques no longer discusses web/Imageready topics -- but please be aware that it's not "in full color."

This book meets the needs of many people who are happy with the best-selling Adobe Classroom-in-a- book series, but found their content to be more appropriate to novices. Using the same tutorial approach with concise, well-illustrated and clear explanations, this book is a must for web designers and any digital-era artist.

Ok, this is a good book. A very good book. It is well written, clear and easy to follow. And the projects are, for the most part, more useful in real-world than the basic classroom in a book series.

I just think the title is misleading. This is NOT a book of ADVANCED techniques. It is NOT "Bert Monroy" advanced techniques or "Photoshop channel chops" advanced techniques.

What this book actually is, is the NEXT STEP UP from PS & Illustrator basic classrooms in a book. And if that is where you are in your level of knowledge of PS & Illustrator, then put your money on the table and get this book because you will learn A LOT.

Maybe my problem is that I expect more from the people at Adobe. Every week they post these "showcases" at Adobe.com showing these amazing images that were created using their software. I for one wish they would start showing us HOW to create them instead of WHO is creating them. Anyway, I digress.

Here's some usefull information on this book.

Chapter 1; PREPARING IMAGES FOR PRINT OR THE WEB. (yawn) You got this in the basic CIAB.

Chapter 2; SHADING & BLENDING. Been there, done that. Nothing new.

Chapter 3; ACQUIRING DIGITAL IMAGES. Scanning, Photo CD, etc. (I kid you not).

Chapter 4; ADVANCED MASKING. O.K., now you're starting to learn something. A nice chapter on some neat masking tricks in both PS & Illustrator.

Chapter 5; ADVANCED COMPOSITING. Nice chapter on blending with layer masks, layer modes, etc.

Chapter 6; COLOR MANAGEMENT & DISTRIBUTION. Hey, you at Adobe... quite with the chapters on "optimizing web-art". WE GET THE POINT, already...Low resolution & Primary colors. Jeez.

Chapter 7; ADVANCED TYPOGRAPHY AND LAYOUT. Always useful, always overlooked. Great stuff.

Chapter 8; MASTERING THE PEN TOOL. If you didn't get the hang of it in the basic CIAB, this info isn't going to help.

Chapter 9; TWO COLOR PRINT PROJECTS. Art on a budget. Actually, this chapter does have some nice info on getting good results with spot color.

Chapters 10 & 11; Throw away stuff used to fill pages (animated Web Ad Banner, etc).

Well, thats it. It's your call. If you need to bone up on some of the techniques listed above, they are well presented and you WILL learn from this book. It IS very well done.

If you are looking for REAL ACTUAL EARTH SHATTERING GURU advanced stuff on PS & Illustrator, save your money. You should buy "Photoshop Channel Chops" & Bert Monroy's "Photorealistic Techniques with PhotoShop & Illustrator". Now THAT book will put hair on your chest.

The Adobe staff's training workbook Photoshop 5.5 And Illustrator 8.0 provides advanced users with a series of training lessons developed by experts and tested in classes and computer labs. Projects use both applications and include plenty of tips for preparing and editing Web graphics, animation, and skills already learned by the user. Ownership of these programs is a 'must' for users, with some prior background lending to these books' easy instructions.

Adobe Press finally gets it right with this in-depth look at Photoshop and Illustrator. If you use both of these products (and who doesn't?), you'll find this book the perfect blend of the two, contrasting and comparing the products and providing numerous workflow examples.

If you like this book, be sure to pick up Wendy Crumpler's Photoshop, Painter, and Illustrator book.

As with the rest of the "Classroom in a Book" series, this is probably the best way to learn Adobe Products. This is a great tutorial for intermediate-advanced users of Illustrator and Photoshop to fill in the gaps of their knowledge especially for anyone who doesn't understand the synergy that exists when these two products are combined.

I really hope more tutorial books using multiple software packages to complete projects are released.

Hey they are right; it covers Oracle 7 perfectly but there is Oracle 8 and now Oracle 8i. But for the basics, well this is a great starter. It will explain how to tune Oracle and why; after that get another and explore

When I used to work at Oracle, these books were our bibles. I had to learn a great deal about Oracle in a very short time (I knew extremely little about technology, and didn't know a database from a ring ding). These books are remarkably thorough, and go into a lot of detail. The added benefit is that they are extremely widely read by Oracle developers (both working for Oracle and not), that they get TONS of feedback, so any inaccuracies, development or new ideas/tricks get back to the publisher and often get incorporated in new editions. The Oracle series is general is a great foundation to start with for Oracle knowledge. The thick white Oracle PL/SQL guide is also extremely good, and comes with the server software. I believe that it is more easily available in soft copy, as Oracle is trying to limit the documentation that they distribute with their software.

This book offered a complete look at high performance computing for an Oracle7 database. It covers everything about Oracle7 server and hardware tuning. It the best high performance Oracle database book I've ever seen. I've used this book quite frequently when dealing and planning for performance issues. If an Oracle8 version of this book comes out - I will be one of the first to buy it.

No DBA's bookshelf is complete without this book. The authors covered some of the most important topics in oracle tuning and administration. This book gives the most complete and up to date information about underlying concepts and practical ways of using those theoritical concepts in day to day operations in oracle database tuning and administration.

The book is aimed at those interested in DBA issues however I recommend developers to shell out for the book just for the chapters on EXPLAIN PLAN and SQL Tuning Tips. My investment quickly paid back when I put the info to use recently for a major client.

It's simple, really: If you're programming with Rails you should buy this book. Let's face it, one recipe that shows you how to do something is all that it takes for this book to pay for itself.

Some of the recipes are meant to be looked at on an as-needed basis, e.g. searching using Solr, Sphinx, or Ferret, and sending email via Gmail. But most of the book can be simply read as a way to learn more about Rails, e.g. customizing error messages, testing with RSpec and Shoulda, and caching strategies and tools.

I just got my copy yesterday and am having trouble putting it down! This book reads better than a novel/story if you have even a remote interest in Ruby on Rails. Mike Clark has done an outstanding job of putting together really interesting recipes contributed by Ruby on Rails enthusiasts from all over the world and an equally good job of quality assurance. I really hope that he works on producing a sequel as soon as possible.

This book is a must have resource for anyone developing Rails applications. Mike Clark, the Ruby community and the Pragmatic Programmers have once again delivered a set of recipies you'll find immediately usable. I'm already using four in an application I'm working on, all of which have helped me reduce code, increase readability and reduce maintenance.

The book is thoughtfully organized with each recipie being both well written and concise.

No matter what type of Rails application you are writing, or your level of experience, I think you'll find something in this book to make you say "Thats a great idea" and rush to the keyboard to try it out.

This is not only a phenomenal reference, but it is great for whetting your appetite when embarking into new Rails territory -- the book is full of ideas, that Rails devs of all levels can benefit from. Reading this book gave me an additional perspective on items I practice and those I am learning -- specifically enjoyed the parts on REST, CC payment processing, scalability, testing. Highly recommend.

I've been reading through this book since my copy arrived a week or so ago, and have already "baked" five of the recipes into my Rails applications. I expect that there will be many more solutions found as I progress through the book.

The recipes in the book are clear and concise, and have been easy to implement in my own applications. A broad range of topics are covered, so there will certainly be something for everyone. I've also found that while the recipes are directly applicable, a number of them also teach "patterns" that you can use in a variety of contexts, not just to achieve exactly what's described in the recipe.

Many recipes are related thematically, or build upon each other, making for great teaching. For example, there are four recipes covering how to search for text in fields stored in the database, from extremely simple (a nice way to implement LIKE searches across a couple fields) to three progressively more robust solutions using external full-text search engines (Ferret, Sphinx, and Solr). This sequence really illustrated the trade-offs you can make, in terms of complexity vs. flexibility and power, when implementing search, and was instrumental in my selection of the Sphinx engine and the Ultrasphinx plug-in for doing searches in my projects. Without the clear sequence of recipes, which illustrated implementations of similar searches, I would have had to spend hours on the Internet, searching tutorials and blog posts for details, and the results wouldn't have been as directly comparable. The time savings here alone justifies the cost of the book.

If I was going to write about a limitation of the book, it would have to be the length. At ~450 pages, it's not a slim volume. But with the range of material covered (reflecting the growing complexity of the Rails ecosystem), it's hard to cover any specific topic area in depth. Even with the nicely-covered search topic, I could envision even more recipes. (Advanced search and savable searches come to mind.)

But wanting more is just quibbling. It's not a reason to not buy this book, it's a reason to start asking for Volume 2!

Kyle Preston brought joy to numerous kids' lives during the Christmas season. He loved the job of Santa but he definitely wasn't prepared for a precocious little girl to ask him for a daddy and a present for her mother in the form of a husband to help around the house. Yet luck had it's way when Kristen's mom forgot to turn off the headlights before going Christmas shopping. And who better to come to the rescue? Why Santa, of course. Kristen's mom, Lauren Alexander, was a single parent who had survived years on her own caring for the two of them without the help of her parents. Although she wanted contact, it was out of the question. So when a man decided he wanted to make them a part of his life, Lauren did the only thing acceptable. She pushed him away. Would she see reason when her parents enter the picture? Or will their relationship be totally destroyed? Christmas is a special time of year. One of renewing old friendships and finding some new. Ms. Mondello has created a moving tale destined to brighten the Christmas spirit in everyone who reads All I Want For Christmas Is You.

This book is a warm and tender Christmas story. The lives and struggles of Lauren and Kyle touched my heart and had me cheering for them. A must read for anyone who is looking for a good holiday story.

All I Want for Christmas Is You is a gem of a book. Kristen wants a daddy for christmas and she's picked Kyle. While Kyle struggles to convince Lauren that he is the answer to her hearts dreams, he must also come to terms with ghosts of his own. Lauren can't give into to anything less than true love, it wouldn't be fair to her daughter or her heart. Can Kristen's Santa Claus come through with the daddy she wants, the man her mother wants and the family Kyle wants? From the moment Kristen sits on Santa's lap until she gets her Christmas wish, theis book is one page after another of emotion, love, and good clean fun. Lisa Mondello has made her debut a sparkling one. All I Wnat For Christmas Is You is not to be missed, no matter what time of year it is.

Lisa Mondello has written a warm and wonderful story that's full of Christmas charm. Rich characters and a great romance make this perfect reading for those blustery winter days. Excellent!

When she waddled across the stage to receive her diploma, Lauren Alexander's family was mortified by her pregnancy. Arranging for an adoption, her family hopes Lauren can attend college and survive the family scandal. However, the young mother could not bring herself to sign those adoption papers, leaving town with only her savings and her daughter cradled in her arms. Now Kristen is six, and Lauren struggles to provide all the things her daughter needs. Unfortunately, there's not much left for things like Christmas.

Kyle Preston remembers standing in court at the age of twelve when his father gave him to the state. Foster homes didn't seem to want the boy as much as the check, until his adoptive parents gave him the love he needed. Now Kyle is an affluent real estate developer playing Santa Claus in his own mall. When little Kristen gives her a letter, his heart can't help being touched. Rather than doll houses or easy-bake ovens, little Kristen only wants a daddy to help her momma. With Christmas three weeks away, Kyle finds himself sidestepping the promise.

But Christmas is the time of magic, touching hearts and bringing them together. Perhaps a dead battery can be a blessing if two hearts can be led to find one another. And author Lisa Mondello certainly knows how to bring magic together with love. ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS proves a charming novel whether the time be Christmas or summer. With warm characters, a enduring child, and house full of wonderful secondary characters, ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS comes highly recommended.

If you are planning a trip to northern Tuscany (Florence, Pisa, etc.) and want to do some hiking, you must check out this book! It is a goldmine of information on hikes in the Tuscan Alps -- all carefully described and ranked by difficulty, scenic beauty, elevation gain and duration, etc.-- as well as recommendations for places to eat and sleep at the end of your tiring day. I will update this review after putting the book to the test in May 2000.

The level of detail in this guidebook is astonishing. I have walked and climbed this area for 23 years but still found new ideas. I can confirm the accuracy of the descriptions from my experience of many of the routes followed in whole or in part. In this area it is essential to use detailed maps to supplement the route description if only to find starting and finishing points. The maps recommended within this guide are not wholly adequate for the purpose, and maps of the series "Edizioni Multigraphic, 1:25 000" are really indispensable.

I just returned from a trip to the Apuan Alps, where I put this book to the test, and it was quite useful. The hikes are very well described and are very accurate in terms of the terrain and the time and distance. I also agree with their rankings of the various hikes in terms of difficulty and the overall experience. However, this book should be used as a "starting point" coupled with detailed road maps and trail maps, as the directions to the trailheads (and on the trails themselves) can be a bit vague at points. Still, it was an excellent tool that made for a great hiking experience.

This book, which I received as a present in anticipation of a trek to Italy, is fantastic. It is very interesting and well written with lots of good information. I agree with the above reviews; I especially love the menu recommendations for various spots and the guide to Italian behavoir. My one complaint is that it does not have much information for extended (multi-day) hikes, and while it has useful information on trains, the book as a whole is geared towards those traveling by car. All in all a delightful book, that is a fun read even if you aren't actually going hiking.

This guide gives detailed information about 31 hikes in Italy's Liguria region and the Apuane Alps of Tuscany. As an example of its useful detail, it rates the difficulty of each hike as Easy (up to 8 km, up to 500 m elevation gain) Moderate (up to 10 km, up to 800 m elevation gain) Strenuous (up to 14 km, up to 1200 m elevation gain) and Very Strenuous (over 14 km, over 1200 m elevation gain).

Five of the hikes are more strenuous than the climb from Phantom Ranch, at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, to Grand Canyon Village, at the South Rim. And there are just two easy hikes.

It contains a huge amount of interesting information and the CD-ROM that comes with it is just fascinating. This is a great book for learning about Microprocesser architecture.

Being an ASIC designer, I bought this book to improve my understanding of the architecture and techniques used in high performance design. Looking at the book alone, I have a mixed feeling: the chapters that are dedicated inner workings of a processor completely satisfied my expectations. They include an in-depth description of all the main blocks that make a high-end processor or memory system work: register renaming, instruction decoding and scheduling, cache operation etc. This is really very excellent material! On the other hand, I consider the chapters dedicated to the system perspective to be of much lower quality and not in line with the title of the book. In a bit more than 100 pages, the author describes almost all other aspects of a modern PC, including Total-Cost-of-Ownership, Windows Qualification, Ethernet principles, Internet connectivity and even VESA Local Bus standard. Obviously, it is impossible to discuss such a wide range of topics in such a limited space. This flaw is compensated by a fantastic CD-ROM that contains an overwhelming library with a selection of research papers, articles from magazines, interviews and even a VHDL and Verilog simulator! Conclusion: I strongly recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand the secrets of a modern microprocessor. The removal of chapters about system aspects would have resulted in a 5 star rating.

I work in Retail computer Sales, and I have been searching for a book that allowed me to not just sell the computers but also to give me the technical edge above other competitors. Well this is the book that does it. Warning however, do not buy it if you are not a Engineer or have a craving interest in computer Science. I happend to have the craving interest in computer science. The CD Rom that comes with it is facinating. It's like haveing a PhD in CS 24/7. So far he (the Author) has been my best in-direct computer Science professor.

This book is indeed an anatomy of high-performance processor design. In classic computer architecture books like Hennesey and Patterson's, it covers topics like out-of-order execution and speculative execution mechanisms, but only in abstract and algorithmic levels. This book uses an actual K6 microarchitecture as a foundation and explains these difficult concepts in RTL with pseudo code illustration. This can really help someone with purely ASIC background (knowledge of HDL) to fully understand the implementation of a RISC core with out-of-order and speculative execution capabilities

This is a very well made book and CD-ROM. The book is both clear and detailed. The title can be read to narrowly though. In addition to going through the K6 3D microprocessor, the book has a wealth of information on related issues. Among other things, I found it very interesting to read the perspectives provided by six of the IEEE/ACM Eckert-Mauchly award winners on significant past and present books/papers/lectures/events. The book has many pointers to the CD-ROM, and let me tell you, the CD-ROM is dynamite. It includes the hypertext version of the book, technical presentations, audio and video clips of the people behind the K6 3D, three demo simulators, and many technical research papers. The CD-ROM has provided me with many hours of browsing. I browse and check things using the CD-ROM, but I try to understand them with the book in front of me. The good integration between book and CD-ROM makes this natural. By the way, I even found the classic 1946 Princeton paper "Preliminary Discussion of the Logical Design of an Electronic Computing Instrument" by Burks, Goldstine, and von Neumann on the CD-ROM. It still makes for great reading.