Software Books

I started buying this series for my 6 year old one year ago. She received "Mr Bach comes to Call" for her seventh birthday. She has spent hours listening to it and then to other Bach CDs. The music is well selected and the historical content is described quite well. Her imagination has really been excited. As we live in Germany for the moment she has expressed a wish to visit Liepzig to see Bach's grave. We have four in this series now and think they are brilliant. All of us enjoy listening especially on long car journeys. Great entertainment with educational value.

my children are 6 and 7. they love this touching story of beethoven. we have taken many a long car ride and this cd is always our companion. it would be a good idea to also get a background book of beethoven for your children as they may become so intested, as mine did, that they simply had to know more about him. i bought the teachers notes that go with this. i would have done better to get a more thorough book, but it has served us well. this cd is highly recommended

Beethoven Lives Upstairs CD is an intriguing imaginary story told by a child who lives in the apartment below the elderly, deaf Beethoven, whom the child believes to be a mad man. The story of Beethoven's life and his greatness as a musician, even after becoming deaf, is woven through a series of letters the child writes to a relative who teaches the appreciation of Beethoven and his music. It is a beautifully written story of the great and tragic composer's life, interwoven with marvelous renditions of his most beloved music. This is one of the Symphony of Stories for all ages collection of Classical Kids CD's from Children's Group. You and your children will want to own all of them and listen to them again and again!

Excellent story for the entire family to enjoy. Music and information is blended together to make the audio version of this story enjoyable for a wide range of ages. Great way to introduce kids to famous composers in a format that is interesting and fun. And, the listeners don't Have to sit still while the story is being read.

I bought this book knowing a good bit about regular ASP and how to communicate with databases, hoping to learn how to do the same thing with ASP.NET. I was not disappointed. The book walks you through step-by-step in creating database connections, command objects, stored procedures, etc... It doesn't dwell too long on topics that it shouldn't be covering (like database design, and web site design). The instructions within the book identify software that is free, so there are no unpleasant surprises. This book will be a great reference and has really helped me make the jump from ASP to ASP.NET.

This book does a good job explaining how to work with databases. The one thing I didn't realize is the only language used for examples is C#. It would be nice if VB examples were also included.

I really liked this book because it shows step-by-step how to do things and then has a "How does it work?" section. Great book! Well written and seems quite comprehensive.

Almost every book with ASP.NET 2.0 in the title will tell you something about the Grid View, Detail View, Form View, SQLDatasource and the SQL 'Select' statement; this one will too. While the other books provide a rudimentary overview of these topics then move on, "Begining ASP.NET 2.0 Databases: From Novice to Professional" takes you way beyond the SQLDatasource and the 'Select' statement, delving deep into ADO.NET.

Just as bread & butter go together ASP.NET and databases go together; and there is a lot more to the database side of the equation than is brought out in most ASP.NET books, which tend to limit themselves to the use of the controls, getting into databases only enough to have something to show in the controls. with this book it is the other way around; the reason for the controls is to display and maninpulate data in a database, and there are several ways to access and manipulate databases with ADO.NET besides the SQLDatasource. Along the way you will learn to use the controls with all the different data access formats and how to use the controls and their events to manipulate the data, which is what it's really all about.

If DataReader, Command Object, DataSet, OLEDBDatasource and ODBCDatasource are not familiar terms to you, and you want to develop ASP.NET web sites you need this book. If you don't know when not to use the SQLDatasource (there are some definite situations when it won't work), or don't know how to create a server side data cache and why you would want to, you need this book.

The book is easy to read and has numerous small exercises titled "Try It Out", after each exercise is a "How It Works" section where the code in the previous exercise is explained, line by line in most cases. Not only does Damien take you through DataReader, Datasets and Commands he also covers stored procedures, which you will want to use rather than queries in code shown in most of the other books.

While the book primarily uses SQL Server 2005, MYSQL 5.0 is also covered at the same time, everything from installing and configuring to using with stored procedures, parameters and transactions.

If you want to build ASP.NET web sites you will work with databases, if you are not intimately familiar with ADO.NET this book should be on your bookshelf readily available.

From the beginning you get a strong sense of being directly in touch with the subject. The authors ideas and his writing style are easy to understand and make for interesting reading if you want to know more about GNOME programming methods. The welcome at the front of the book says it all and it gives a clear explanation of any introductory topics that may be helpful before progressing into the later chapters. Even the Free Software Foundation and Richard Stallman are mentioned in order to help you to understand some basic ideas. The rest of the book goes into some detail about libraries, widgets and other parts of the sophisticated programming language that GNOME really is. Chapter two starts out with thirty pages of introduction to Glib. All of the introductory subjects that you won't see anywhere else are here and can be easily understood. Next is introducing GTK+. This is enormously useful and gives some simple ideas about code and how to use it properly. The next part of the book goes into the subject of controlling the user interface layout. It was at about this point that I was beginning to think something like "I wonder why you can't get visual basic books that are as good as this ?" Also, "It would have cost me thousands of dollars to have done this with MS Windows programming tools". I thought that the last two chapters which are about gIDE and Glade were the best part of the book. There's also the advantage of being able to subscribe to a GNOME internet list to ask the sort of questions that you wouldn't have been able to ask before you read the book. If you haven't done much with GTK+ then do go ahead and buy this book. Your world will change!

This book is very easy to read thanks mainly to the author but also to a nice font and layout. The examples are very helpful and cover a broad range of areas within GTK and GNOME programming. Bottom line would be the quality of writing and the diverse coverage. I have 5 GTK/GNOME books, and I like this one the best.

This book is well written and on a whole well executed. The two sample projects that he walks you through I thought were excellent additions to the book. The author also gives you a brief background of the GNOME project and how it is different from KDE which uses QT.

One thing I did not like about this book was the fact he does not give any mention to GTK-- which is the C++ kit or any of the many other languages that can take advantage of GTK beyond acknowledging it's existance. It would have been really nice for this book to have had a chapter on other languages and GTK.

Also the chapter on the rapid application development (AKA RAD) tool GLADE was rather skimpy.

However if you are a C programmer looking for a good GTK book, look no further.

I like Peter Wright's style of writing for this book. Other big books like this can be boring to read, which can really slow down the learning process in my experience. Wright speaks to the reader in a language that is suitable for beginners. Some C knowledge is expected, but is marginal really. I liked the introduction to glade, as well as the two big examples in the final two chapters. One thing that would have been kind of nice is more material on automake and autoconf. Otherwise I enjoyed this book a lot because he keeps things very simple.

As an Oracle developer for over 10 years, I have read many Oracle books on a variety of topics, and this book is definitely one of those that stands heads above the others. As the title suggests, Beginning PL/SQL: From Novice to Professional covers a range of PL/SQL topics, both foundational and advanced. From the fundamentals such as triggers, procedures, packages, the book moves into the more advanced operations of Bulk Collection, Objects and even one of the more neglected but no less important areas in PL/SQL, unit testing. The topics in this book are delivered to the reader from a professional point of view in that all examples of the PL/SQL in the book are approached and designed as quality, production ready code. Topics such as design patterns, best practices and even some of the more insidious Oracle "gotchas" are discussed in this book, making it a wealth of information available to both the new as well as seasoned developer looking to update their PL/SQL knowledge. As a final bonus, this book packs all of this pertinent information in an refreshingly compact size with a breezy, fresh writing style. As one who has many a weighty computer tome where maybe 50% of the book has pertinent information and the rest is fluff, finding books where the fluff is removed are books to be treasured. If you are a PL/SQL developer of any level, beginner or veteran, this book is definitely one that should be turned to for information.

A friendly and well-written book recommended for anyone ready to learn PL/SQL. This Beggining PL/SQL well-written and well-organized introduction to the PL/SQL programming language. It uses a careful, example-based, easy to understand approach.
Thank you

The author did an excellent job covering novice PL/SQL concepts and building those concepts into more advanced topics such as information modeling and object orientation. Each chapter is filled with easy to follow, step-by-step coding examples. Each chapters also contains exercises where you create and execute code. I found this most useful. There is no better way to learn than actually doing it yourself.

One thing that impressed me is how the author stressed the importance of testing code during the application development process. An entire chapter is dedicated to application code testing and documentation and rightfully so. Every PL/SQL programmer should own a copy of this book!

As a Information Technology professional with little expertise in PL/SQL I bought this book as a replacement for a PL/SQL training course. It has taught me much and is a very good reference. I feel confident about attending the future Oracle training courses without having attended the pre-requisite PL/SQL training course after reading the contents in this book. I can see that the information in this book will still be useful for years to come as it covers fundamental information. I recommended ut as it lays a good foundation. It is not one of those books that states the obvious or is so simple that you to wonder why you purchased it (and we have all done that before, haven't we).

Having taken several classes from Dan Wood I appreciate the years of practical experience these guys bring to the table. It is a very good, readable, and thorough introduction to MS SQL Server 2005. SQL 2005 is a big product with lots of intricacies. This is one of the best introductions to to it that I've read.

This is an awesome book for someone that is new to SQL Server and needs to learn basic administration. The authors did a really good job of explaining the fundamentals in clear simple language.

I especially enjoyed the explanation of the storage engine. It made things clear to me that I didn't understand previously.

I had not touched a DB box in quite a while, and I was recently handed a SQL 2005 box to manage. This book pretty much covered everything I needed. The writing style is laid back and readable, and they get right to the point, without going off on all sorts tangents. The chapter on Automating Administrative Tasks (Chapter 8) was pure gold.

Good stuff.

I found this book offers exactly what I needed. I learned how to best manage my SQL 2005 Database Server. I found the information to be accurate and well written, an excellent reference that I've used many times. I really appreciated how the authors used real world experience to relay hard to understand concepts.

Sub-Title: Approaches and Technologies to Enhance Organizational Knowledge, Learning, and Performance

This book is the second edition or followup to the authors original book on E-Learning. It is perhaps the most complete analysis on the subject.

Education is in an interesting time. The basic structure of the ecucational system of a teacher and a group of students gathered around him dates from the time of the Greeks. Computer aided instruction where essentially a computer uses some of these same techniques to pass the knowledge of an expert on to students using a computer.

There are, a lot of little steps between the idea and the actuality. Of course there are the mechanics of how to do it. And there is the problem of finding the right teachers. [One military training course, set up by people who have 'been there, done that' teaches things like selecting a candy bar that won't melt in the desert (M&M's?) and how to armor a truck.] There's also playing on the skill that today's game playing kids have learned playing video games. What a way to teach someone how to drive a tank!

This is a book I'd recommend to anyone interested in or in charge of setting up a computer based training program. Dr. Rosenberg has 'been there, done that' in so far as e-learning is concerned.

Marc has taken the time to explain through examples what we need to know to make wise decisions about E-Learning. I walked away with ideas and guidelines I can use immediately.

I have been using this book for grad course at Roosevelt U. Most books used for the classroom are dry and outdated, but I found "Beyond E-learning" informative and innovative. I would highly recommend this book to all Learning and Development professionals. If this wasn't a very good book, I would take the time to write this blurb.

Once again, Marc Rosenberg shows us the way to really transform our organizations into efficient, effective knowledge-centered enterprises. He warns that e-Learning, like training in general, is often done the wrong way, for the wrong reasons. He busts myths right and left (the section on "the myths of e-Learning" alone is worth the purchase price!), and steadfastly refuses to be swept along by fads, technologies -- or even traditions of training.

What Rosenberg does is to lay out a vision of the Smart Enterprise, in which the focus is on performers rather than learners. He argues persuasively that technologies such as e-Learning, classroom learning, knowledge management, communications and collaboration technologies are best viewed not as individual technologies (or fads), but rather as complementary parts of a balanced strategy for performance improvement in enterprises which effectively translate data to knowledge to information to performance. Detailed chapters then discuss each of the key components of this strategy for performance improvement, including practical advice on how to implement them and where the pitfalls are. Examples and issue sidebars featuring luminaries in the field and corporate success stories add weight to the argument.

This is not just another "business book of the month" full of quick-fix half-truths. It is a mature, broad and comprehensive view of what it really takes to make any knowledge-intensive organization get what it needs to reach its goals. Senior line organization managers will find it essential; training managers will find it liberating and exhilerating -- or threatening. It's required reading for everyone responsible for making their enterprises smart.

This little book is a wonder! I would highly recommend it to anyone who has a Mac-I would actually say it is essential. Easy to read-it's a scream. Full of what-to-do-if's and how to keep everything running ship-shape. Explains mind-boggling concepts in easy to understand terms. Great step by step instruction. Everything from RAM and ROM to System Folder conflicts to fonts and software to how to keep a lean mean machine and handling "problems-Yikes!" I actually took a class entitled "Understanding Your Mac"at a local Jr. College that used it as the textbook. I keep my copy right beside the computer. Get this book for yourself or a friend now!

Everything I know about computing I learned from this book or from its predecessor, "The Little Mac Book" (or from Williams's "Tabs and Indents on the Macintosh," evidently no longer available). All books about Macs by Robin Williams are funny, imaginative, and easy to understand. If you have a Mac and you have this book, you don't need anything else (except, of course, whatever Mac book Williams comes up with next).

I've been a Mac user for over a decade and I still loved this book! It's packed with good tips and helpful suggestions to find your way out of a Mac jam. I highly recommend it (and I love the cover!)

Broback and Williams manage to proivde you with plenty of solid information without boring you with details. Excellent for the Mac user who needs to get the most out of his/her machine and know what to do when something goes wrong. I followed a lot of their advice and my Mac runs more stable than it has in a long time.

This book really goes a long way and covers every aspect of the matter.

I bought two books when I got this one: The other was Rebecca Blood's "the Weblog Handbook." It's a two-star, at best, while this one is four and 3/4. I only withhold the 1/4 because some terminology wasn't clear. I had read the MacWorld reviews of all the systems Todd covered, and I knew I wanted to use only one of them, because it offered the features I need. The terminology, though, was contained in the chapters on the other systems, so I had to go into the index and look them up. (The term I'm thinking of is "bookmarklet," but there were others.) A separate chapter on terminology would have been helpful. Still, it's the best book out there on getting it up (your Blog, that is). Immediately following finishing the book, I emailed Rick Ellis, the Technical Consultant (and creator of pMachine), got immediate answers, and have signed up to start my blog on Rick's service. The website blogonbook.com is good, too, though it doesn't show correctly in Netscape 4.7. I read the book in two days. Entertaining, informative. (Bill ...)

This is a well-structured, practical and fairly comprehensive look at blogging. It covers everything from the basic question of whether you need a weblog, through how to set up and use some of the popular software offerings, to writing, tweaking, and publicizing your blog. There's also a small section on using blogs in business. The author comes over as someone who knows his stuff; I like the clear line drawn between using a hosted service, and running your blog on your own machine, for example.

As with any book which gives such precise installation and operation details, this one is likely to date quickly when the available software changes. It also has only thin coverage of more lasting social and community aspects, so if you find a copy that's several years old, make sure the bulk of the book still makes sense before buying. It's not a secret, but the book has a strong affiliation with the pMachine blogging software, and in places this seems to crowd out alternative approaches a bit.

In general, a solid and worthwhile book for a beginner to blogging. This book gives you all the tools and knowledge to get started, but once you decide that blogging is for you and want to take it further, make sure to check out a wider range of software and deeper, more theoretical, books such as Powazek's "Design for Community" and Blood's "The Weblog Handbook".

This is a truly remarkable book. It is both a detailed primer for weblog novice and serves well as a reference for the experienced blogger or one desiring to attain that level.
Stauffer's organization of his material is unusually well structured. He begins at the very beginning: what is a blog, why you might want one and so one. Then there's a walk-through of four different blogging platforms, which is surprisingly detailed, yet easy to comprehend. This section not only cleared up a lot of mysteries for me, but also introduced me to the remarkable pMachine.
He then moves on to writing, designing and tweaking your blog - with information I didn't find in the other three books I first read. Finally, he concludes with sections on publicizing yourt blog and how to use it in business environments.
Overall, a remarkable tour de fource and in my estimation, the best book on blogging currently available. As noted I've read three of them and looked at all the others. This is the only one I would unreservedly endorse -- and I am not easy to please.

Jerry

Born and raised a city girl, I was clearly cheated out of some experiences in my life. Rolland Love gives a view of life that I have never seen in works by other authors. The phraseology used in this book is colorful and paints the scenes and experiences by these boys as only Love can do.

Strange happenings are taking place in the Ozarks. Doc Barnes and his hound Lucky are missing, The Conner Brothers are strange beyond belief and frightening as heck to kids in the area, and Buzzard Thompson has sure enough killed his whole family with a shotgun. Fifteen year old Tommy Benson is determined to face down his fears ...... by going camping with younger brother Dub down at Blue Hole. Blue Hole is where Tommy got bitten last year, 1949, by two cottonmouths when he and Pa and Uncle Ira were camping there. Dub is a real pain in the neck of a 12 year old brother. Tommy and Dub run into the Conner Brothers, manage to locate both Buzzard and Doc Barnes and find Lucky tied to belt of the drowned body of the corpse stuck down in Blue Hole before their frightening campout comes to an end.

Think Mark Twain and a whole lot of Southern humor a la Lewis Grizzard and you have The Blue Hole. Rolland Love has really captured the flavor of 'two not quite adult' brothers out for a campout and the scare of their lives. Reminds me of my own two kids at this age. The Blue Hole is a fast paced, page flipper of a read. Writer Love captures the interest of the reader right from the start, and while this book is listed as Young Adult, it is a 'not to be missed' by those who savored and continue to savor every moment with Tom and Huck and Grizzard's Catfish!

Writer Love fills his pages with engaging characters, absorbing situations and enough mystery and inexplicable to keep the reader engaged. Tommy's worry about finding family friend Doc Barnes is touching. Dub's stumble foot behavior is something every parent who has housed a twelve year old knows and loves. Writer Love has really captured the essence of both striplings as he weaves his tale of two youngsters who know they must rely upon themselves when they are confronted with fearful situations and frightening people. The boys' behavior, reactions and ultimate decisions are so very typical of kids this age.

Excellent Read! Happy to recommend

Reviewed by: molly martin

"To understand Overland Park writer Rolland Love, think Mark Twain." Nick Kowalczyk,
The Kansas City Star.

The Blue Hole is a great book and will make a great movie. Mike Daniel, Director, Burt Reynolds Museum.

The Hannibal Courier Post, the oldest newspaper in Missouri where Mark Twain worked as a printer's devil, published a serialized version of the Blue Hole in it's entirety and the story . received excellent reader response.

Glad to hear a sequel is in the works. I read the Blue Hole to my boys this summer on a gravel bar on Current River, really spooked them for a while! Jim McCarty, Editor - Rural Missouri Magazine http://ruralmissouri.coop/

"Mark Twain would have loved this excellent adventure of two brothers. Doc has disappeared and it's up to Tommy (15) and Dub (12) to go to the Blue Hole and see if they can find him. This is a story about growing up. About facing your fears and standing up to them and about doing the right thing even when everything inside you wants to turn and run. This story has everything. The dreaded Conner brothers, Buzzard Thompson, ghost, snakes, caves, bats and dead bodies everywhere. I thoroughly enjoyed every page of this masterfully constructed story." Jonathan David Masters, Freelance Reviewer

"Rolland, our daughter borrowed her nephew's copy of the Blue Hole last week. She said she read it in one setting, because she couldn't put it down. She said, "Mom, it is so scary. At first I thought this is just too scary for kids to be reading. Then I thought no, it's exactly what kid's love. That scary, makes the hair on your arms stand on end kind of scared. And I saw those boys, Tommy and Dub setting by the fire at night talking. It was so real. I felt I was there."
Didn't I tell you, it's a great book? Must be, since even our daughter agrees with me. "
Take care. Keep writing. Priscilla Maine, author

Rolland Love's tale will appeal to young and old readers alike. The setting is perfect for a mystery story and may seem unreal to some but believe me, it really exists. I have spent much time along the clear rivers, high bluffs and ancient paths that lead to hidden caves in the Ozarks. 'The Blue Hole' brings this area to life as we follow the adventures of two brothers who find danger lurking along the river bank.

This is perhaps Tracy's best audio program. It contains 9 hours on 8 CD's. Listen to it as you commute. Listen often--repeat listening anchors the messages in the mind.
I've been reading, listening, and watching Tracy for 10+ years. He's simply the best in his field. You may find that some of the CD's in the set are more applicable to your situation than others--listen to them, find your niche. If you were to purchase a set of audio CD's through Nightingale Conant, you would spend $70+. This is a fantastic deal! If there is a drawback to this program, it would be that Tracy pushes more expensive programs on track 24 of each CD. If that bothers you, just skip that track.
Over all, Awesome!

I've been listening to Brian Tracy for a number of years. I've purchased many of his audio programs and read several of his books. In my opinion, Brian gives you the most information for your money over any other business / motivation speaker out there. There are other good speakers, of course. I also like Tony Robbins, Zig Ziglar, Harvey Mackay, Stephen Covey, and Mark Victor Hansen, as well as classics like Dale Carnegie and Napoleon Hill. But all-in-all, I keep going back and listening to Brian's stuff over-and-over again and find it to be the most practical.

This particular set of "21 Secrets to Success" is kind of a compilation of a number of programs he previously released that you had to buy separately for $20 each. Now you can get them all for pretty much the price of previously buying one. It's a good deal. In fact, I've recommended this program to almost all of the people I work with. The most useful programs in this set are the ones on Productivity, Personal Success and Becoming a Good Manager. Many people might think this is a program just for business people. But really I think this is a great program for helping you get the most out of your life in general. There are some excellent life management skills to be learned here.

The other program of Brian's that I recommend is called "Master Strategies for Higher Achievement". It's available on Amazon also. This program is similar to the "21 Secrets of Success" series but has some different and very useful information. I think they are both worth owning and listening to frequently. I have loaded both programs into my iPod so I can listen to them while jogging. Good stuff. And if you're used to buying Brain's material in other audio formats you know this is a good deal for the amount of information you get.

I recommend this program for anyone who wants to improve their personal and work habits.

The audio of this book is the way to go: For some reason it's not a book that is nearly as interesting to read as to hear. It's valuable material, although much of it you may already know. Still, his good reminders, plus his interesting twists on how to live life each day make this is good purchase.

The information in this series is well founded and easy to understand. For the money, you cannot beat having this available for listening while driving to work, or at home during workouts, etc. As far as I'm concerned, these 8 CD's are worth twice as much (or more) and still worth the price. Just keep listening to them over and over and let the message continually be beaten into your head... especially if your skull is as thick as mine. I've read dozens of positive thinking books in my life, and this is one of the better ones to have around.

The production is excellant, the sound is very clear, and Brian Tracy's voice, while a little "Mr. Rogersish", is smooth and articulate, but not distracting, or annoying. Well done.

I consider this a "must have" for anyone with a car and a CD player that's interested in improving their life, or performance at work.