Computers and Internet Books

The book provides good overview on the ebXML architecture, and gives lots of business case examples. I highly recommend this book for business manager looking into implementing ebXML and web services in their company.

I was looking for an executive level summary on B2B services, and this book help me to understand the issues without overwhelming me with the technology.

The book provides good overview on the ebXML architecture, and gives lots of business case examples. I highly recommend this book for business manager looking into implementing ebXML and web services in their company.

My company is just starting to look at ebXML for handling b2b transactions. I'm familiar with XML but really needed a quick primer to get me up-to-speed on the essentials of ebXML. This book is very clearly written to guys like me--it covers the basics very clearly, with good examples. Now I am ready to get my company rolling with ebXML.

This book really helped me build on what I already knew in order to get a handle on ebXML. The author does a great job of showing how ebXML builds on XML standards, and also how ebXML relates to Web Services, which I'm just starting to get a handle on. It provides good technical detail on the ebXML architecture, and gives lots of business case examples and reasonable guidelines for developing a strategy for staging implementation of ebXML. Coverage of security and the other major specs is very complete and readable--I highly recommend this book!

Due to the advanced technology, marketers should also think about market products and services through electronic methods. This includes Internet, Web, Email, FAX back systems, CD-ROM and other media. This book gives out some ideas if hands-on experts and industry leaders. It is valuable to read.

We are a small child care center, but Margo Komenar's book and website helped us do big things on the web. We keep it in our office library as as source of ideas for us and our parents.

If you could read only one book before launching a product in the online marketplace, Margo Komenar's "Electronic Marketing" should top the list. This thorough, engaging and well-researched guide will help you navigate the tangled web that is the global electronic marketplace. Komenar wrote several of the sections chapters and had experts contribute chapters pertaining to their specialties. The book covers basic marketing principles, promotional strategies, and advertising concepts as they apply to the electronic realm. Legal issues are explored in-depth in a chapter written by two multimedia lawyers. In the chapter "Interactive Advertising," Komenar provides case studies and interviews with leaders in the field. The highly actionable chapter discusses the transformation in the way business is conducted in light of technological advances. Other useful chapters cover fax-on-demand, smart cards, and interactive kiosks. Each of these products and services are described in great detail and rationales for their implementation are described. In the chapter "Marketing Opportunities on the Commercial Online Services," Komenar reviews the past, present and future possibilities open to the intrepid online entrepreneur. The succeeding chapter explores business and marketing opportunities on the Internet. Here, customer service and support, reseller relationships, multimedia delivery, interactivity, database-driven information, and many other topics are discussed. Komenar ties up the wealth of information with two final chapters on how businesses use electronic marketing and what lies ahead for today's industry leaders. These case studies are fascinating reading: informative and inspiring. I would highly recommend this book to anyone entering the electronic marketing arena.

With the vast majority of Web sites providing "Internet Brochure Marketing" the new millennium has new rules for marketing success. This book takes a comprehensive look at all of the currently available "electronic media" available to market, sell and service products and services. Subjects include the Internet, Web, Email, FAX back systems, CD-ROM and other media. This book has a synergistic approach to evaluating marketing methods in general and guides the reader through the process of understanding the roll of "electronic marketing" within the larger context of an overall marketing plan. The book contains a compilation of interviews and writings from many hands-on experts and industry leaders. Easy to read and very engrossing if you are confronted with making decisions on where to spend on the different marketing vehicles available today.

Very thorough and well rounded guide to electronic marketing. I like the way it treats the internet as just one of the tools to utilize and should be a required read for anyone who thinks that building a company through the internet is a simple step by step process of plug - in systems and methods. The internet is only one tool and she shows that to grow a company using electronic marketing is usually a very detailed process. I like that she has so many experts giving their first - hand knowledge. The tone is professional and thorough. Required reading if you are getting into this field for business reasons and understand that knowing your field is essential to starting a new business

I am definitley a novice and your book is totally awesome!!!! Thank you

This is a great way to get into using the Net. I passed it along to the Librarian and Teachers at my kids' school. They said it was a fabulous resource for developing net-based curricula. Sites are grouped by subject in easy-to-use articles and the articles are grouped by general category. Pick a topic, hit the index and GO! You'll have a great trip.

Kitty Williams and Robin Lind have put together an excellent resource for net novice and expert alike. "Essential Net Novice Websites" includes nearly twenty catagories for websites to explore along with thoughtful backround material and explanations.

The book covers a wide range of topics and interests. There is something that will appeal to everyone. The business and government sites listed can get you to just about any professional site you can imagine. The information is summerized for the reader and is extremely helpful. Throughout the book the reader is consistently equipped with the means to further explore any topic as far as the imagination can take them. And there are also lots of places to go just for fun and entertainment.

My favorite aspect of this book is that it is a one volume reference that led me to all sorts of web pages that I would never have found on my own. My personal favorites border on the zany (Clifford Pickover's Web Page, America Unhenged) but there are certainly many practical websites covered as well (online shopping and travel arrangementa, etc.) At the very least, each article give the reader a springboard to endless net exploration. And don't forget to download the electronic companion which comes as a freebie with the book. It gives you the hyperlinks to every website mentioned.

Williams and Lind have done it all for you. Check out a copy of "Essential Net Novice Websites" and start you own personal exploration of the World Wide Web.

I handed this book to a colleague who had always actively maintained the internet was irrelevant to him. He reads voraciously, but wouldn't go on line. As he leafed through this book, he began to look like a kid in a candy shop! He wouldn't give me the book back. Give this book to your friends - whether or not they are on the net. It captures a sense (like no other book I've seen) of the ever expanding wealth of information and resources that surrounds us! Great Job!!

I'd been crashing around on the Internet and largely finding good sites by accident. Reading Essential Net Novice Websites was a real eye-opener. It was as if I'd been lost and authors Kitty Williams and Robin Lind had handed me a map. Suddenly the Internet had a shape and a form. And because of the authors' eclectic taste, I not only had the big picture but I could sample the many zany sites they had alerted me to. Internet tourists would do well to use this book as their travel guide.

I have obtained a new Acer PC with CD & DVD capabilities and basically no little about computers and the intetrnet. Through Amazon I was able to obtainn Internet for Dummies book at a reasonable price and find the book quite helpful. I highly recommend "Dummies" and dealing with Amazon. Good service and prices.
Sy R

I've first checked this book out from the Chicago Public Library three times and once kept it two months after the book check out expired. The I purchased the book myself. I can not offer enough praise for this well researched and written book on the Internet. This is definitely the "Book" for pros and "dummies" alike.

I have been working in technology for eighteen years with the U.S. Navy and using the Internet for nine years now and admittedly I only possessed about less 10% of the available resources that was presented in this book. Just visiting and bookmarking all those interesting link to various useful Web sites was good enough for me (100+ useful bookmarks from this book alone).

My college textbooks and other "big computer books" weren't as valuable as this one. With this new gained knowledge, I've referred this book to my instructor for the "Basic Internet Class" that I took at the one of the City Colleges of Chicago (Truman College) and my fellow classmates agreed that this book "The Everyday Internet All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies" was more informative than our classroom resources and textbook. Buy this book if you want to REALLY learn something about this subject.

One final thought, read Mr. Peter Weverka's "The Internet Giga Book for Dummies". You won't be disappointed in my recommendation on this wonderful read. Peace out and take care.

You'll learn more practical information about "everything internet" within the pages of this book than 7 years of online meandering. Seriously, just buy this sucker cause it provides clear answers to questions you don't even know you have yet, or should have. Excellent book. Truly a horizon broadener.

Pardon me for being immodest and giving this book a 5-star rating, since I'm the author, but I believe this is the best book going about the latest incarnation of the Internet.

These are exciting times for the Internet. Peer-to-peer file sharing, news aggregators, and other advances in technology have inspired a new generation of Web sites and services. Never before has the Internet offered so many ways to conduct research, entertain yourself, or learn new things.

The motive behind this book is to present everything on the Internet that's worth doing because it's useful, it's a lot of fun, or it's innovative and therefore worth checking out. Close to a thousand different Web sites are described in this book, but this book isn't a directory of Web sites. The focus is on doing things -- researching, online banking, communicating, making new friends, playing games, talking over the Internet telephone, online shopping, online selling, and blogging.

In the course of describing these and other activities -- everyday activities that can be part of your Internet repertoire -- I introduce you to the best and brightest of the Internet.

For those who are interested, this book looks at the technical aspects of the Internet. It tells you how to select an ISP and gives you instructions for connecting your computer to the Internet. The book explains how to protect your privacy and security, and keep viruses and spyware at bay, as well as how to use the different plug-ins (Flash, Acrobat Reader, and others). You will find advice for making the Internet a safe and rewarding experience for children, many Web sites for children and parents, and instructions for using America Online.

Find out how to use a Web browser and how to be an Internet researcher, or better yet, an Internet detective from this book. It explains search techniques for reaching into all corners of the Internet to quickly find the information you need. You discover how to get the latest news and how to stay on top of late-breaking news with aggregators, as well as how to use different e-mail programs (some free and some not). You get definitive instructions in this book for preventing your inbox from being inundated with spam.

Look to this book to refine instant messenger programs, create a blog, and find mailing lists and message boards where you can exercise your obsessions. You find out how to conduct research in newsgroups and subscribe to newsgroups, as well as how to join or create your own Yahoo! group and chat on the IRC.

For budding Web site developers, this book demonstrates how to create a Web site on the cheap and how to submit a Web site to search engines so the site gets more hits. You also explore the social networking phenomenon and learn about Web sites and services where you can make new friends and reunite with old ones. The book has detailed instructions for setting up your computer so you can make free long-distance telephone calls over the Internet.

I devote part of the book to online finances -- how to research investments and get the latest financial news, maintain an online investment portfolio, and do your banking chores online.

You will find many shopping search engines and Web sites that specialize in comparison-shopping, as well as online catalogs, stores for bargain hunters, consumer-report Web sites, and an "online shopping bazaar" with hundreds of off-beat online shops worth visiting. I take you to a number of online auction houses, including eBay, and you discover how to search for, bid on, and buy items at bargain prices, as well as how to pay for items with the excellent PayPal service.

You find out how to be the first on your block to be an online seller and how you can make money by selling or conducting a business over the Internet.

Finally, the book looks into different Internet pastimes and pursuits. I'm warning you: Some of these activities are addictive. You discover the many excellent genealogical research Web sites and how to conduct genealogical research for free over the Internet. The book also looks at games sites, including novel games such as Geocaching. For travelers and armchair-adventurers, I direct you to Web sites where you can get travel advice, plan vacations, purchase tickets, and book hotel rooms and rental cars. You discover how to turn your lowly computer into an entertainment console by purchasing music online or sharing music files.

I am intrigued by the idea that a Web site is a creative endeavor in and of itself -- that a Web site is a clickable piece of artwork. For this book, I chose not only Web sites that are useful for finding information or buying things but also Web sites that I consider intriguing, wonderful, astonishing, bizarre, or entertaining.

Some people are calling this latest incarnation of the Internet "the Web 2.0." This book is your guide to the next incarnation of the Internet. It was written to show you how to make the Internet fun and useful again.

I turn to this book all the time for information on how to build and maintain my blog (phatmike.motime.com). The best, most informative book that I've ever read on the subject.

Thanks, Mister Weverka!!!

JimBob Joe
Master Blogger

I'm a little leery of taking the title "Missing Manual" literally. Other books in this series have discussed the Macintosh and other Apple offerings, where indeed typically Apple provided only a paucity of information in its manuals. But for Excel, Microsoft does offer comprehensive hardcopy documentation. This book is really one of a numerous set of third party offerings that try to improve on Microsoft.

The strongest argument for this book is that it appears to combine a comprehensive description of Excel with a conciseness of that explanation. In other words, it really doesn't belong in the Missing Manual series, but rather in O'Reilly's regular and long running series of texts, that share these properties. You know, the books with the purple covers.

Granted, the book is bulky. But that reflects over a decade of Excel being continually refined and added to. The conciseness of the explanations means typically some prior exposure to spreadsheets in general, and Excel in particular, would greatly aid your understanding.

This is the ideal Excel walkthrough. It's a balanced blend of basic and advanced information that has a gentle learning curve that will take you all the way from creating your first spreadsheet through the basics of macro development. The book is organized into eight parts, though the first four make up the majority of the book. Part one covers the basics of editing, files, printing, saving. Part two is all about formula creation. Part three is about templates and lists. Part four is about charting and graphics. After that it's into networking, macros, and more advanced topics.

The writing is excellent and the use of screenshots is effective and not overwhelming as with other books. A superb walkthrough of the fundamentals of Excel.

When I start to look at a book on Excel I first turn to the index and look up Pivot Tables. Pivot tables are an amazingly powerful tool that allows you to turn the data around (pivot even) and look at it from another point of view. It's also amazing that a high percentage of books on Excel simply ignore pivot tables altogether, or perhaps give them half a page. This book has an entire chapter on pivot tables. Furthermore, if you read the Microsoft help screens on pivot tables you get 113 topics to read. In this book the description of pivot tables explains what they are, shows you some examples to illustrate what can be done, and then leads you through using them. This is truly what the manual should have shown, if of course there was a manual that came with Excel.

The next thing I look for is XML. This is really the big thing that makes Excel 2003 a new edition of Excel. Sure enough, a chapter on XML as well. (Except for this section and a few very minor points, you can use the manual for earlier versions of Excel.)

But suppose you are not up to guru level and wanting to know about pivot tables and XML. Well, the book starts off with Creating a Basic Worksheet and goes on from there.

In summary, here is everything you need to know about Excel from the very basic steps to just as far as you want to go.

Becoming good using Excel is like learning how to ski/snowboard. Riding up the lift looking down on the experienced skiers/snowboarders ride down the mountain having fun and making it look so easy and graceful, and you think to yourself, if only I could do that, I would be happy. Will I ever be able to ride like that, maybe, but how long? That is what it is like learning/using Excel out of the box. After flipping through many a Excel book, I finally through the dart and picked The Missing Manual. The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald is a wonderful instructional piece. Written in a manner that does not put a person to sleep nor so techy that tears just fill your eyes trying to hold back the pain whilst reading it, because you tell yourself this is good for you. I find myself going to the Missing Manual all the time, for things that I never knew how to do, and to remind me of things I did once a long time ago and cannot recall. This book is a great resource for the newbie to intermediate.... which if you are looking for a book on this subject, I bet you most likely fit into that category.

This manual has help me to master pivot tables, macros and lookup functions, which has made me a much more productive user of Excel. I strongly recommend this book to people who want to get the most out of Excel.

A must for anyone who is interested in learning about this subject

This a book which enables a group of people to have fun following a sport. It teaches you what to look for and how to prepare yourself. It is a book that will help not only the so-so sport fans but also the very hard core sport fans. The one thing that I would have added to it would have been Chapter 23 How to go from 9th place in your league to 1st in the last five weeks of the season, but then again that's me. If you have a group of friends who like sports and don't know how to set up a league this is a great book to buy.

it allows for the whole family to come to the table as one and play the game the way it should be played. the team of gus and jim is outstanding!!!!!! i can't wait for the next version!!!!!

This book covers all the beginner aspects of the fantasy sports game. It offers the necessary steps to beginning your own league and if your a seasoned veteran helpful hints to get the winning edge. I can attest to the George Griefs and the Jermane Allensworths from my own experiences.

The book is an excellent tool that allows all to enter and enjoy the wonderful world of Fantasy Baseball!!!!!

When the news got out here in Australia that Fierce.com had finally landed in the "real" world, I raced out and bought a copy of "The Exclusive Book for Web Elitists" faster than you can say "Happy Hour at Sizzlers". Being a Fierce fan for longer than I care to remember, these guys have made me laugh over and over. And continue to do so now offline as well as on.

Tor and David are two of the craziest, abrasive, outspoken and out-of-control guys (with no particular quality attributed exclusively to either one) it's ever been my pleasure to come in contact with. And Matt is just plain unhinged. But all are hilariously funny and do the best "baffling with bulls**t" routine I've ever come across.

Just buy the book - it'll make you laugh, it'll probably make you cry and it will certainly make you look at the Web as it should be viewed - with one eye on the screen and the other on just how crazy and unreal (in the true sense of the word) this virtual reality world called the "WWW" really is. In other words - cross-eyed. (Well, it's worked for them!)

An excellent resource for "The best of the best", websites on the Internet. I will be visiting all of these websites and utilizing this book for quite some time to come. It was this book that brought me to Badpuppy.com, which I find to be the biggest best Gay & Lesbian Portal on the Internet. At the very least I now have a home on Badpuppy where I'm with many others who go through the trials and tribulations and the lifestyle questions the Gay & Lesbian community have come to expect.

Thank you Fierce.com for bringing all of these fine sites to the surface. I will be purchasing your book for years to come.

The Fierce-sters have been there, done that, and are eminently qualified to direct us to the ultimate best of the Web. Follow their advice without hesitation. You'll waste less time and find more quality in your Internet surfing. Not to mention enjoying their fascinating reviews.

These guys are incredible. They write about websites, but you hardly have to go on the web to enjoy this thing. It's really about the twisted lives and relationships the author's lead. That's what makes it funny.

I actually got the book as a gift from my mother because she knows I use the internet. She saw the book in the store and decided to buy it for me. I was nonplussed at first when I saw it. I mean, after all, who wants a book about the web for a present. I put it in my bathroom and took a gander one fine day and I could not stop laughing. These guys are so funny. And there're these fake parody type articles in each chapter of the book that are really bizaare and didn't really know what to make of but they're pretty damn funny, too. Anyway, it might be a shameful thing to say, but I know about a lot more sites now so, really, they make surfing fun. Thanks, Fierce.

I put this book on my "must have, don't loan it out," shelf right away.

I really like the approach and the presentation. The teaching style is casual and encouraging with a welcome absence of jargon. Don't get me wrong, if you follow the chapters you will get a FP site up and running, you just won't have to suffer a barrage of technical details to do it. Why utilize FrontPage in the first place if you are excited about the all the nuts and bolts of how web site programing works?

The included CD helps tremendously ... the combination of reading it and seeing the author go through the steps just further demystifies the process. Between the two presentations, you're bound to "get it." I watched some of the how to's, that I didn't even want to do yet. It got me interested and curious and gives you a sense of all the things you can do with FP2002.

I already had the FP Bible 2002 by this author. Did I "needed" the Virtual Classroom? ... Yes! The Bible is great for digging deep into the FP world, but the Virtual Classroom is clearly the right way to get yourself up to speed and in the running as a web site designer, painlessly. My advice, if you asked me, would be to get yourself a copy.

I found everything I needed in this book and the cd that comes with it. Having known nothing about FrontPage before owning this book now in just a couple of days I know a lot of things to create my perfect web site. Thanks David Karlins. You are one of a kind. I am looking forward to your other books to be published with the same format.

If you want to have an instant website without wasting a lot of time, this is the book for you. The CD takes you step by step to creat a fairly sophisticated website with input forms, scrolling/fly in text, differing themes, inserting pictures and video. etc. Using the CD, I really did not need the book all that much. Well worth it!!!

Text and multimedia combine in David Karlins' 384 page instructional reference guide, Frontpage 2002 Virtual Classroom to create an effective and "user friendly" learning experience. Readers will learn how to create large or small Web sites that are sophisticated and attractive, and effectively manage the organization, content, and style of their site. Readers can follow along on the CD-ROM as the on-screen guru explains and demonstrates the techniques discussed in the text. Frontpage 2002 Virtual Classroom is a confidently recommended "how to" introduction for all Frontpage 2002 users.

I am so glad I bought this book! It is truly a lifesaver! I learn better visually, so the CD Rom Virtual Classroom that's included helped me tremendously. Thanks to David Karlins' for sharing his knowledge of FrontPage. I hope to have my website up & running very soon!

This book addresses an incredibly important topic - and is well written to boot. The danger of reputations ruined by carelessness, or by deliberate ill will, should be understood. In fact, this book should be mandatory for human resources personnel and any search committee that uses the Internet to check on a potential employee.

Hopefully Solove will follow up soon with another book. Sites such as Topix, provide a frightening forum for people who are less than ethical. Although Topix provides an alternative format for news, there is no oversight for accuracy or even truth. If Orson Welles had had access to the Internet, perhaps we would all have learned a valuable lesson about questioning and independent thinking. Since Welles is no longer with us, at least we have Daniel Solove to encourage us to question timely issues.

Solove's book doesn't provide answers, rather it provides situations that help you ask the right questions.

As an extra bonus it is extremely well written and an enjoyable read.

Prof. Solove's latest book is a great follow up to The Digital Person (which I also recommend). What I have enjoyed about his writings is his ability to communicate not only to attorneys like myself, but also to a non-lawyer audience. His focus on Internet privacy impacts all of us, and as anyone who follows the news knows, the explosive growth of Cyberspace places a greater burden on the individual and on the legal community to bolster protections and to guard against invasions of privacy. Solove's work explains the terrain of this new digital era in a way that is informative, engrossing, and relevant. I'm looking forward to his future scholarship in this field.

The author, Daniel J. Solove, was kind enough to send me an advance copy of this book; it scored a KnowProSE.com 10/10:

"With actual real world examples gleaned from the internet and put in the limelight, the author seems to leave no stone unturned in a quest for answers. Many people will have heard of some of the examples but few will have looked at them in such a circumspect a manner - and even fewer will have done so with a legal background.

Most of my time spent reading this book was spent nodding - I knew about 70% of the stories, but then I've been around a while and have been following the Internet closely- more so than most people on the internet. Still, in most instances the author was able to show me at least one new side to it. This seemed a job which makes the Herculean quest of cleaning the stables seem simple - there is no river to divert here, but there is most certainly a lot of manure. Perhaps the book is the start of the river's diversion. Cyber-bullying, Internet Vigilantism, libel, defamation... mountains are easily grown from molehills in cyberspace.

The book is very easy to read, it flows and takes on a life of its own. I could not put it down; even knowing some of the stories did not deter my interest. After much contemplation, I have decided to give the book a KnowProSE.com 10/10 score. Only one other book has been given that status, and both books have received this status because they were interesting books that were well written and important, and do one other thing in particular: they will stand the test of time. Daniel J. Solove is rapidly becoming to privacy what Lawrence Lessig is to copyright and the public domain.

If you are reading this review, you need to read this book. Who knows? My next blog entry might be about you. Of all the people who need to read this book, I think bloggers are the ones who need to read it the most: being aware of the consequences of what one writes is important in an age when everyone can write, but not everyone considers the consequences to others. Would that we all understood this better."

Once I started The Future of Reputation, I could not put it down. The book brings alive how online gossip, social networking sites, and blogs increasingly define who we are and how were are perceived in today's Information Age. The stories it tells are, at once, laugh-out-loud funny and terrifying. We see the lives of others distorted by vengeful ex-lovers and mocked by teachers. Online commentators shine light on bad behavior to shame people. Our reputations are out of our control.

What I loved about this book is that it asks us to rethink assumptions about how we define ourselves in an age where search engines tell our story to future employers and old high-school classmates. The book helped me appreciate that online shaming plays a new and perhaps important role in shaping behavior but also has serious costs. It offers thoughtful suggestions for what we can do about these problems without sacrificing so much of what is liberating about our online interactions. This is a must read for anyone who is interested in living a full and informed life in the Internet age.

I like this book so much, I've purchased it 3 times! (My first copy was "borrowed" by one of my designer/producers, my second copy was left at Ubisoft SF, and this is my 3rd copy for myself.)

Great mixture of theories, old-school practices, and new-school techniques.

Although I personally disagree with some parts of what this book teaches, it this game design book is one of the most comprehensive I've seen. Well-recommended.

This might be a good book for teachers looking for material in their classes gamedesign or gamedevelopment. It may also be a good book for selfstudy, if you have the discipline to do the exercises. You need to have played a lot of the classic videogames though, otherwise you might not be able to do the exercises, which are mostly about thinking about gamedesigns and making little designs or design alterations on existing games.

Few people realize just how big a business digital gaming has become. Think of it this way: It's bigger than the domestic box office of the film industry. The amount of time spent playing games by young people now exceeds everything but television in time spent on entertainment. The main factor driving the development of the new extremely powerful computers is gaming, slower machines are capable of handling almost all office tasks.

The authors of this book have a great deal of experience in both designing games and teaching how to design games. This has given them an understanding of how beginning designers grasp the structured elements of games, common traps they fall into, and certain developmental exercises that help the student learn to make better games.

Note that this is not a programming manual, nor is it a graphics design manual. It is on game design. What are the characteristics that make a game, how can you prototype and play test the game without a horrendous programming expense, and finally some input on the game industry and how to decide on how you might like to be employeed in that industry.

I consider this an excellent book on game design. As an amatuer board game and basic computer game designer, I found a lot of the material extremely useful in the *process* of coming up with a game from start to finish.

The chapter on prototyping did a great job in showing how to go ahead and create a prototype from a game idea, while keeping it simple and concentrating on the "core gameplay mechanism."

The chapter on "Playtesting" and "Functionality, Completeness, and Balance" builds on the prototype chapter by emphasizing the iterative nature of design where one go aheads and evaluates, tries new things, identify problems and keep evolving.

The next chapter following is maybe the most important chapter that discusses whether you game is fun, goes in to some theory of what makes a game fun, and relates various techniques of improving player's choices so as to make the game fun.

This is a great book that gives you the necessary tools to go ahead and be able to at the very least create a viable prototype of a game that is possibly fun and playable.