Online Books

I read this book after picking it up at an ISNA convention and was simply blown away by the amount of force the ideas he puts forth held, my favorite reflections were upon nationalism and the conflicts between a faith maintaining a political goal of attaining a nation-state and fulfilling its commandments of moral ethics and beliefs, the argument of the dangers of zionist ideals permeating other faiths, not just judaism, was, in my opinion, profound and provided a unique perspective of how any religion can fall vulnerable to the lure of nationalism.

An excellent true story of an African-American mother who endures her American life to rear a most unusually strong, and righteous son. It was hard to put this down even though I knew how it ends. It's a moral tale and a good read.

Scattered Pictures, a compilation of Imam Zaid Shakir's articles, is a welcome contribution to the emerging discourse on the American Muslim experience. While the essays selected for this volume are tailored toward an audience that shares Imam Zaid's religion, they can also benefit readers from other perspectives who hope to listen in on the internal Muslim conversation. Imam Zaid Shakir is one of the leading voices in contemporary American Islam.

Imam Zaid Shakir is one of the most brilliant thinkers of our time. His writings prove to be a source of clarity in a time of confusion for both Muslims and non-Muslims alike. It is quite rare to find an individual who is well versed in both the Islamic and the Western traditions. In Scattered Pictures he has compiled some of his most thought provoking essays from the past few years. He has dealt with both traditional issues such as the true meaning of Jihad to the more contemporary issues such as the challenges faced by American Muslims after September 11th. This book will give you a glimpse into Islam, which is rarely seen in today's world. I highly recommend this book.

In his book Scattered Pictures: Reflections of An American Muslim, Imam Zaid Shakir confronts a myriad of provocative issues facing the contemporary muslim. His elegant style in writing his essays convey the insight and clarity sought by muslims confused on how to define Jihad, or how to define Human Rights within the Islamic tradition. In short, this is a great book that provides the inspiration for religious minded individuals in America and abroad.

David Riklan is one of the on-line world's top experts on self-improvement. You may know him from www.SelfGrowth.com or from any of his several other Web sites and newsletters.

For The Top 101 Experts Who Help Us Improve Our Lives, he looked into which self-help experts are most often searched for on the Web. Having identified who they are, he devised an ingenious format for briefly describing how each one got their start, what their key message is, how to find out more about them on-line and where to start in investigating their work.

It's that last point that makes this book special. Many of these experts have written lots of books, created many audio and video products and deliver many seminars and courses. Without someone to guide you where to enter that maze of material, you would quickly become confused by starting with something that's too advanced for you.

The experts include classic self-help gurus like Tony Robbins, Dale Carnegie and Stephen Covey; business improvement experts like Ken Blanchard, Brian Tracy and Jim Collins; psychologists like Dr. Phil McGraw; spiritual healers like Deepak Chopra and Caroline Myss; personal finance teachers like Robert Allen, Robert Kiyosaki and Bruce Wilkinson; and relationship counselors like John Gray and Barbara De Angelis. There's no attempt to separate out the "serious" from the "popular". You find Sylvia Browne ahead of the Dalai Lama.

Unless you are a committed self-help junkie, chances are that you haven't read anything by more than a few dozen of these people. With this reference, you can decide which of the others is most worthy of your attention. That will save you countless hours and lots of money.

If there's a better guide to the top self-help experts, I don't know what it is. Get this book today!

Excellent collection of writings by some of the most amazing self help experts in the world. Well written compilation of imformation and wisdom that will help you to live a life you only imagined.

Recommended.

101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2
by David Riklan

Self-Improvement: The Top 101 Experts Who Help Us Improve Our Lives
by David Riklan

I have deliberately bought these two books to be used as an intellectual resource on optimum performance technologies. Combined them with my earlier acquisition of Tom Butler-Brown's trilogy of books (which I have already reviewed), namely:

- 50 Self Help Classics;
- 50 Success Classics;
- 50 Spiritual Classics;

& my impending requisition of the author's latest '50 Psychology Classics', I now have, in my hands, more than 2,000 pages of well-researched & systematically organised information nuggets. What a formidable intellectual resource!

I have browsed the foregoing two books very quickly & I generally concur with most of the positive reviews by other reviewers, especially Donald Mitchell.

For readers who are still scouting for peak performance technologies, please go no further. Just follow my personal example.

I love this book! David spent a lifetime reading and reviewing self-help literature. Now he presents to you his summary of what the top 101 self help experts have to say.

As a motivational author, host of EmpoweringMessages.com and an avid reader of self help books--I wish I had read such a book 10 years ago. David sifted through the rough to find you the diamonds. This is a super great self-help reference that is a must for anyone who has even a slight interest in self-growth. Highly recommended!

Zev Saftlas, Author of Motivation That Works

David Riklan's Top 101 Experts is an absolute masterpiece! The enormous amount of valuable content in this book simply astounded me.

Invest in this book and you've made one of the smartest investments in your life. If you have an interest in self improvement, this book will save you more time and more money than you can possibly imagine. This is decades of research. David has done the work for you. Once you get your copy you won't want to part with it. You'll want to get copies for all of your friends and colleagues too. I know I did!

Peggy McColl, author of On Being a Dog with a Bone

This is an excellent book for helping technical authors accustomed to writing printed documentation in understanding how and why the structure should be different for online readers. Too often authors simply move the information online without any clear understanding of the context in which the reader is using it. I recommend this book to anyone developing software Help files or planning single sourcing documentation.

I have a shelf full of books on technical writing. Ever on the lookout for something new or better, I picked this up. As usual, Joann delivers only the best.

If you are serious about becoming a successful technical writer, I highly recommend purchasing this book.

Of all the books I have purchased, I refer to this one the most often. The CD is great because it has the entire text of the book categorized for easy access right from your computer!

Many technical writing books are outdated and were written BI (before the internet). This book focuses on technical writing using newer technology such as the Internet, WWW, and corporate intranets.

I can't count the number of times this book has come in handy. It is a great reference that you should keep close at hand. Great job Joann!

The approach outlined in this book has completely changed the way I tackle developing on-line documents. I have extensive experience in a technique called Information Mapping that is an analysis and document design methodology for paper documents. In many ways the authors' methods are similar to Information Mapping - at least at a macro level. After reading this book I've gained an appreciation for the vast differences between paper and on-line documentation. My "paper-based" thinking before this book resulted in a waste of the underlying capabilities of an on-line document. The authors show how to use technology to vastly improve your reader's efficiency and overall experience when seeking and reading the information you create. If you are used to writing for paper-based publications, or have deveopled on-line pages using nothing but intuition and judegement, this book will completely change your way of thinking.

Recently, I worked on an online help project and found various parts of the online communication process mystifying, which our online help writers take for granted. Examples that come to mind are:

- Standard length of each help file

- The need for popups

- Using the imperative form as opposed to gerunds

These are some of the things I was looking to have explained to me when I bought the book. The book turned out to be perfect for this. Not only does it cover the mechanics, reasons, and standards of online communication, it also contains many nuggets of wisdom regarding the various methods of writing that we apply as technical writers. It's helps me decide when weighing different ways of presenting the same information. So even if you are an experienced online help writer there is no doubt that this book would enlighten your approach to the everyday tasks of creating online/context-sensitive help.

Also, the book comes with a CD that has all the information in the book in a help file that is indexed and can be searched. This is excellent for quick reference.

Trust me, this book is a keeper if you create any kind of online help.

The content of this book covers key areas of course conversion and management to help prepare for online instruction and to update one's knowledge base in regards to the latest concepts in online learning. The faculty that I have trained while using this book have benefited from the rich chapters covering all aspects of online learning and teaching. I wish there had been such a book available when I began teaching online.

This book is well organized and contains many practical tips. It is a must read for those new to online education and would be helpful to those who've been teaching for several years as well.

Ko and Rossen do an excellent job of laying out a lot of basic concepts if you are involved in any kind of project that involves teaching online.

I have a read a few books dealing with this topic and this one does a better job than any of the others that I have come across in helping the reader to understand the big picture- from getting to know your institutions resources to managing student behavior online. There are a lot of great tips to help the online teacher deal with any number of potential problem areas.

My only complaint would be that some of the technology discussedd is a little bit dated, but it is still useful and I'm sure that will be updated in the next edition.

One other resource for which this book in invaluable is the collection of Web Resources at the end of every chapter that often provide real world examples of the concepts being discussed.

Ko and Rossen's paperback on TEACHING ONLINE is small in size and simple to read, but it contains all essential information needed by a teacher or professor who has suddenly found himself or herself thrust into the mushrooming world of online learning. More and more professors are being told that they must produce a computer-based class, and that they must manage that class themselves, but fewer and fewer universities are providing comprehensive training for this totally new technique. TEACHING ONLINE is the book that will save the day for these pressured professors. It will also guide the enthusiastic cybersleuth through teacherly tips about preparing a class, accessing online libraries, controlling unrurely cyberstudents, encouraging coversation, taking tests, and all sorts of other nitty gritty. And it does this in plain, simple conversational English that is peppered with interesting anecdotes supplied by seasoned cyberprofessors. No one needs to feel intimated by this play-it-straight-and-simple approach to this state-art-technique, and no one need worry that he or she will loose a long-time teaching slot, because they hadn't read every issue of WIRED ever issued. TEACHING ONLINE will get you up-to-date, and it will do it fast, and you'll love every minute of it. Even cybersaavy junior faculty will benefit from this book, because it includes generic information that will make or break any teacher, in class or in ether. Reading this book, chapter by chapter, in conjunction with your standard university training program, or as a stand-alone text, will make sure that you stay in the tenuous university teaching game for good. If you follow this book, you will gain skills, confidence, and panache you never knew you had, that you can translate into the classroom, and into the rest of your life as well. If you are just entering the job market, and fear that your unfamiliarity with computer-based classes will hurt any opportunities that await you, then read this book before you enter your interview, and you will sound so so so computer saavy, that no one will ever suspect you of inexperience. But don't loan this book to a friend when you finish it; be sure to keep it on hand, throughout your first semester, because it contains several quick-reference chapters that will troubleshoot you through the toughest times...and straight on to tenure.

So I've been tasked with teaching online, but I didn't know where to begin. Sure, I can teach decently in the classroom, but I wanted a book that would show me how to transition my existing pedagogy into a successful online course. If you are in a similar situation, THIS IS THE BOOK FOR YOU!

A quick look at the table of contents (available via Amazon's "look inside" feature) will reveal that this is more than a simple primer. This is a book written by people who have online teaching experience and can give you practical advice (as the title suggests). You can take a face-to-face course and get quite far in converting it into an online course.

The only caveat I have is that many of the web links included with the book are now defunct. Though irritating, this is not a major problem, because searching for the article or site via Google (or another search engine) you can easily find its new home.

This is a well written book, code is easy to download, and a number of topics. All in all though, the writing is clear and easily understood so it's well worth the money...

I am a Java web/search programmer who wanted to "get into" text mining. I found this book an excellent resource for this. Text Mining is a field in which active research is still going on, and other Text Mining books I have looked at reflect this - the authors expect you to have a certain degree of mathematical background to understand what they are saying. This book explains briefly the math behind each of the approaches, but it focuses more on the algorithms that result from the math, so it is easier to read.

Of course, a side effect of this is that the approaches described are not necessarily the state of the art for solving any given problem, but once you get the basic approach to solving a problem, it is relatively easy to find and understand the documentation on the web for the more advanced approaches, since you now know what you are looking for and how it differs from your basic solution.

The book does have a (fairly long) chapter where it covers the math background necessary to get started with Text Mining. If you understand the stuff in there, you will actually be able to think up solutions to text mining problems that are unique to your own situation.

The algorithms in the book are in pseudo-code, but the book comes with a CD (or download from the author's sourceforge project textmine.sf.net) where you can see working Perl code.

Overall, I think this is one of the most useful books that I have purchased in a while. It should appeal most to programmer types who have programmed in their language(s) of choice for a while in areas other than text mining, wants to get into text mining, and doesn't want to spend a lot of time relearning high school and college math before starting off.

Text mining is one of the most exciting subjects of the web, and too few books are dealing with it. This one is one of them, and it gives quite a few examples of text mining applications, like spam filters or search engine ranking algorithms. The style is easy to follow, and the concepts easy to understand given some maths background.

However, I expected more details, and a richer content overall, thus the four stars. This is still a good book.

Software developers learn how to mine information on the Web and turn it into valuable data; but developers need to understand how data mining works. For a programmer's application-oriented review, Text Mining Application Programming is the item of choice: it reviews text data, how it's found, and how search engines locate and gather it. Next, it teaches how to build spiders to crawl the Web, how to use the information, and how to monitoring it. Perl developers will find its Perl-based code useful, but it's not necessary to know Perl to run the software herein. An excellent guide to mining the Net.

There is an old expression that half of knowing anything is knowing where to find it. And there is little more frustrating to be looking at 'My Computer' trying to find what you know you have stored in a file somewhere. Well, perhaps just as frustrating is to go to one of the search engines and try to find something that you know is there but just don't know the proper words to find it.

In this book Dr. Konchady talks about how to go find data that is in text form on your system, on your network or out on the web somewhere. It talks about search engines, but also about other techniques that can be used only by programming.

The CD that comes with the book contains several Perl software snippets that help to find named entities, parts of speech, phrases and gives a summary of text documents. This area includes developing web crawlers that can be adapted by individual users to go out and find specialized information. It further contains an Open Source software package called Text Mine that is designed for mining operations. In addition it has utilities to build and enhance Text Mine and utilities to build and manage MySQL database tables. This is an excellent book on everything from the basic hints and types through some of the mathematics that underlies text mining.

His section on the nature of an English language Question and Answer system is the best I've ever seen.

For those who know nothing about the web but would like to take their business online, this is a good book to read before hiring a professional. It will help you to determine if the person or firm knows what they're doing.

For anyone who has launched a website and is struggling to understand what's not working, this would be a good book.

All of the information is available on the web for free, but the author's done a nice job of packaging it and making it understandable for the novice. He's also addresses issues that are not tied to particular platforms (e.g. blogs), so the book won't be completely out of date as trends and technology continue to change.

If you have a few years of experience working with websites, the book may not be as helpful. Generally, though, it's always nice to read other people's take on what works and what doesn't. We are reminded of the solid basics and we always learn something new.

This book is well written and is packed with useful and practical information. It will get you well ahead of "the curve" on becoming successful online.

Well written,insightful and definitely worth the investment !
You can tell the Author has more hands-on experience than the average
Professor/Teacher who dwell on abstractions and vague concepts.
I just wish I had found this book first to save time and money...

I have gone through a host of books on the topic of web presence. This one, by far, made the most sense... It does not overburden the reader with a lot of technical mambo-jumbo; it focuses on what it truly means for the business. During the last two weeks, I have already gained more exposure; traffic increased threefold; and sales are up... Can you spell ROI?

This is an easy to read book with great information. There are lots of great tips. Anybody who reads this will get great value.

Good, hot, steamy sex with gorgeous divas and sexy studs! If you like your stories with a good story and full of hot passion like I like my stories you will love this one.

Just picture ALL of your fantasies coming true to life. This up and coming fantasy online dating service you can get just that. Natasha is a lawyer in her family own business who is ready for a change from her job. Natasha has recently broken up with her cheating boyfriend so she is not ready to jump into another relationship but she is willing to bring her fantasies to life. With her friend online service she get her chance and in walk Logan who is more than ready to bring to life Natasha fantasies as well as some of his on. This book jump off at you with the first page and it doesn't stop until the end. You will not be able to put this book down once you begin reading. I know it has being a while since Delilah's books but girlfriend come back with a BANG.....................This book is HOT HOT HOT.

I recommend his book.

Louise

I have read all of Deliah Dawson's book and I love every single one of them! This one though had a different twist on it and I still ENJOYED it. The intimate seems were veryyyyyyyyyyy HOT and if you have read any more of her books you will know what I mean by HOT!!! Great book Ms. Dawson and I can't wait untill another comes out!

Orchid Soul is an up-and-coming online dating service. What makes this dating service unique from all the others is that this site matches couples by their sexual fantasies. The site will be one of the hottest sites on the internet...once the owner works out all of the glitches. The owner of the site is Eileen and she calls upon her closest friends to become "silent partners" of this adventure since she needs money to get it off the ground. One of her friends has some serious doubts about this and voices her opinion. Natasha Madison is not even considering investing her money in her friend's crazy scheme. That was until her fantasies were revealed and she goes on the ride of her life.

Fellow tester Logan Taylor decides to take a chance on the wild side and soon finds the one that can satisfy his fantasies....Natasha. Taylor doesn't mind seizing the moment when the time is right, even though it's evident that Logan is completely the wrong person for Natasha. Once they share their most intimate fantasies, he becomes "Mr. Right Now."

Up All Night has an excessive amount of erotic scenes that keep you intrigued and wanting more. It proved to be a pleasantly sultry read. Delilah Dawson serves up a colorful variety of characters that are very realistic and a storyline that makes you want more.

Reviewed by Jackie
for Urban Reviews

Up All Night by Delilah Dawson is an erotic, playful novel about online dating. Natasha Madison is an attorney who has suffered a bad breakup. She is also an attorney working at a firm with her overachieving parents and is not as fired up about the law as they are. Natasha is not personally interested in online dating. However, she is going to hook up her friend with Orchid Soul, a service that matches up dates by sexual fantasy. What happens is her information is revealed and so is her identity and from there all bets are off and her life will change forever.

Handsome Logan Taylor was not looking for Natasha as a date, but when he gets her information he has no problem taking advantage of the situation. Logan is a mysterious man who wants to be in love but until love comes along, hot sex will work just fine. The two of them meet and get off to a rocky start, vowing not to make a connection but for some reason they decide to meet again. At that point, the story takes off on a fast, hot, erotic ride.

Natasha and Logan play a cat and mouse game, pretending that it is all about the fantasy, however, the reader can feel the connection building as the story rolls along. There are enough back-stories to keep the story well rounded, but Up All Night is all about Natasha and Taylor. I recommend this novel to anyone interested in a rollicking, fantasy filled read with elements of romance.

Angelia Menchan
APOOO BookClub

Susan Shankle and Barbara Melton have written a book that all parents, teachers, and other persons working with children should read! What sets this book apart from the rest is its ability to inform parents as to the "evil" and the good of the internet. As therapists who have worked with children affected by the internet, the authors are able to give powerful insight into the negative and positive impacts of our new cyber world. The list of meanings of internet slang is quite useful! This is a must read...

As a social worker, this book has been an excellent resource to assist foster parents and parents with the many mysteries of the electronic world. We must keep our kids safe and healthy - great book to help in this journey.

This is a fantastic guide to help parents and educators alike. When it comes to technology, parents are often a giant step behind their kids, and this book helps bridge that gap. It's a must have to help keep kids safe, savvy and connected!

This book is easy to read and is a great guide for parents. I highly recommed it for parents and teachers who are interested in making sure their children know how to navigate technology in a healthy way.

This book is a real parenting guide which gives you lots of tips for parenting kids of different ages and abilities. Includes a section on special needs kids, cyberbullying, and more. What in the World Are Your Kids Doing Online?: How to Understand the Electronic World Your Children Live In

A new publishing medium comes around only once every five centuries or so, and it's no wonder people are confused by the Internet. Gary Gach investigates the new world of publishing on the Net and provides great literary finds and useful information for established writers, beginners, and all lovers of words

Writers.net ups the ante in printed guides to the Net. Neophyte writers in cyberspace will find it as valuable as magellan found his compass. Experienced voyagers can use it to find whole continents they never knew existed

Finally, all the information in one easily-accessible place! Gach has delivered an invaluable resource for writers, whether you're a Net newbie or an e-zine publisher. Any writer considering publishing on-line needs to read this.

Writers.net is probably the most "reader-friendly" of all the specialized Internet guides on the market; each of the nineteen chapters of Writers.net is devoted to a particular genre of writing. Writers of mysteries, romances, science fiction, screenplays, and other styles need not burrow through endless pages to get to the sections that interest them most--each chapter is well-structured and organized to give the writer the resources s/he needs before logging onto the Internet and searching blindly for a paying e-publication or research database.

Gach catalogs URLs by the gigabyte, offering links to poetry and fiction mega-link lists, authors' and agents' homepages, research resources, and more. Most URLs listed are followed by a brief description of the site, while some chapters have the look of a printed "bookmark" file from a writer's web browser.

All writers will especially want to study the book's final chapter, which is devoted to Internet censorship and copyright issues, a sticky subject for writers on and off the computer. URLs and descriptions of the more affluent writers' unions and leagues are profiled here, as is information essential to any writer confused about her/his rights.

As with any printed directory of Websites, there is no guarantee that every URL listed in Gach's book will still be valid once you bring Writers.net home from the bookstore (this book is three years old, mind you). To combat the ever-changing climate of the Internet, Gach maintains a Webpage of book updates on his personal homepage, where one may find additions, URL changes, and even a sample chapter from the book.

Gary Gach has written the essential guide for using the World Wide Web to further a writing career. Because anyone can publish on the Web, writers can use the Internet to promote and publish their work as well as for research. Gach's book tells how to use your computer connections to get published online or in print in any of several genres, and there are dozen of ideas that will enrich a writers soul, mind, and pocketbook. It is an essential tool for computer-literate writers. --Mason West

This book is the only one I came across that explains major internet job sites and what type of information they can provide. If one is a high school student, college student, or career changer, there is a list of the sites that offer free personality tests that can determine the best jobs out there for the individual. For people who know what jobs they are seeking there is a comprehensive list of web sites offering job openings as well as networking organizations and headhunters. Once you find the job you are interested in there ia a list of web site that will help you determine reputation of the company you are applying to and how well financially they are doing. In addition, you will find tips on interview techniques and writing cover letters as well as references on salary negotiation. Quick read, well worth anyone's time.

WOW! This book organizes your job search the same way a headhunter or career counselor would--for a small fraction of the cost! I was able to find the answer to every job search question I had, and then some, (from how to write a resume and cover letter to the best place to post your resume to learning what salaries and benefits you should ask for) by using the sites listed. I also liked learning how to find "insider's information" about the company you're applying to. Would highly recommend this book to anyone.

100 Top Internet Job Sites offers more than a simple listing of Internet job site resources, it shows the reader how to turn the Internet into a personalized career counselor, developing key job search skills along the way. Kristina Ackley shows how to prepare for success, demonstrate online netiquette, search and find "dream job" information, write effective resumes and cover letters, research potential employers, interview successfully, and negotiate salary and benefits. 100 Top Internet Job Sites is an invaluable, essential guide for those new to the advantages the Internet has to offer the dedicated job seeker and career developer.

Kristina Ackley's 100 Top Internet Job Sites tells how to prepare for employment via the Internet; from locating information about a dream job to locating resume-posting web sites and researching employers. A valuable book on career explorations via the Net.