Internet Books

Although I am a certified Power Point Professional I don't use Power Point anymore. Let me explain. Since Apple came out with Keynote it is far better so I left Power Point in the dust and has never been easier. For Power Point I will agree with the other commenters this book is one of the best I have seen even better than the "Dummy" books I used to recommend to my Community College classes. I would love to have seem a CD with some sample complete presentations.
The main thing I disliked about the book is the fact the illustrations are in Black & white. The only color is on the covers. I believe the book would be better if they were color and what is there would have better resolution.
I am a full time Minister and would love to see something from the stand point of when you have a lot of material you need to give the audience. I speak to the same audience 52 weeks a year and roughly do 110 presentations. I do pickup some points out of every book and this one is no exception.
I am waiting for a book, probably by a preacher who does as many presentations as a do to the same audience, dealing with how to deal with a lot of text putting full Scripture passages in the presentations.
This one is ok but I find it written more to the fellow that does business presentations. There is another audience unless I am the only Preacher that uses Power Point or Keynote.
Great job though Rick.

Why Most PowerPoint Presentations Suck
Altman's writing sets a new standard for "computer" books. I use the quotation marks because this book doesn't just cover PowerPoint, but also provides solid teachings on delivering more effective presentations, making it more of a "professional" book than one just on computing subjects. That aside, this is the best-written computer-oriented book I've read. Altman has an entertaining style while also clearly demonstrating his expertise on the subject through genuine tips and techniques that are easy to understand and use. If the title doesn't grab you the content certainly will.

I did not like this book as much as the other five-star reviewers on this page seemed to have liked it. And since someone else has already said something similar, I found my voice too.

This book tries to do too much in a series of unrelated chapters and is not too suitable for simple PowerPoint users. It also assumes too much from the reader and gets into technical PowerPoint jargon without considering if the readers knows what it means.

One of my friends on the PowerPoint newsgroup was not too happy with this book, but I disregarded her opinion and got this one based on the opinions from all the other reviewers here. I wonder why these reviews don't say more.

The author is more interested about his own life, events, and contacts than about PowerPoint. Almost everything is unoriginal and the author says that he learned this trick from this friend, and that friend. No wonder all the info comes up as half the info and although the writing style is good, the content is not deep enough. I'm sorry but that's my opinion.

In his introduction, Rick Altman opines that his book attempts to reduce his billble hours by half, because of all the advice he has packed into its 271 pages. In fact, Altman's billings will probably explode because in this book he firmly establishes himself as the leading expert on every aspect of PowerPoint.

It is a remarkable acheivement. The book is packed with tips on the mechanics of creating PowerPoint presentaions. It is also packed with advice on how to make your PowerPoint presentations interesting. I have a number of books on PowerPoint and none are anywhere near as complete as this one.

While Altman covers PowerPoint 2007, his hints and tips are mostly applicable to earlier versions as well.

This is a book that every PowerPoint user, no matter what level of expertise they think they possess, should buy and read every page of. It is truly that good.

Jerry

I'll admit I was tempted think "why do you need a manual for Wikipedia?". I mean, you go in, you edit an article, you save it, and you're done, right? Not so fast... Wikipedia: The Missing Manual by John Broughton goes into great depth about how Wikipedia works, how to get the most out of it, and (in my opinion) how best to become part of the trusted Wikipedia contributors group. There's a lot more to Wikipedia than you might expect...

Contents:
Part 1 - Editing, Creating, and Maintaining Articles: Editing for the First Time; Documenting Your Sources; Setting Up Your Account and Personal Workspace; Creating a New Article; Who Did What - Page Histories and Reverting; Monitoring Changes; Dealing with Vandalism and Spam
Part 2 - Collaborating with Other Editors: Communicating with your Fellow Editors; WikiProjects and Other Group Efforts; Resolving Content Disputes; Handling Incivility and Personal Attacks; Lending Other Editors a Hand
Part 3 - Formatting and Illustrating Articles: Article Sections and Tables of Contents; Creating Lists and Tables; Adding Images
Part 4 - Building A Stronger Encyclopedia: Getting Readers to the Right Article - Naming, Redirects, and Disambiguation; Categorizing Articles; Better Articles - A Systematic Approach; Deleting Existing Articles
Part 5 - Customizing Wikipedia: Customizing with Preferences; Easier Editing with JavaScript
Part 6 - Appendixes: A Tour of the Wikipedia Page; Reader's Guide to Wikipedia; Learning More; Index

Broughton doesn't spend much time with a fluffy introduction to Wikipedia and all the benefits and drawbacks of the site. He just dives right in to how to use it. You learn the markup language, as well as the formal way a Wikipedia article is laid out in terms of headers, footnotes, etc. Meanwhile, he's also introducing you to the "rules" of Wikipedia that you'll need to know in order to be an effective contributor. Concepts such as "neutral point of view", "conflict of interest", "notability", and many others are essential to understand so that you don't end up getting locked out of the site before you even get started. One thing I didn't know about were all the shortcut paths to get to certain topics. For instance, typing WP:COI takes you automatically to the Conflict of Interest page so that you can find out how to handle that situation. Couple all his technical "how to" information with his knowledge of the Wikipedia culture, and you have a book that is an essential read for someone planning on adding content.

Another element you get out of this book is the understanding of how wikis work (or how they *should* work). If you're starting a wiki of your own, it's best to learn from someone who has been there and done that. Since Wikipedia is the best known example of a large-scale wiki implementation, you can use this book to understand what features you'll need as well as what controls you'll have to have in place to make it all work properly. After I finish this review, I'm mailing my copy off to someone who is in charge of a community wiki effort for a software firm. I have no doubt that this will help them gain a better understanding of what and where things are going...

If you are at all involved in the world of wikis, this book should be on your short list of titles to get.

This is a very clear and mostly-complete guide to creating and editing articles on Wikipedia, "the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit." It is not intended for people who look up things on Wikipedia, although there is a brief description of this process in an appendix.

It's surprisingly difficult to find things on Wikipedia. Even though all the how-to information is available free on their site, it's often difficult to find the thing you need, and everything is reference material--there's no tutorial for beginners. There are an amazing number of rules and practices to follow when editing Wikipedia (you don't just start typing), and this book does a good job of explaining and organizing them. This book is valuable because it is easy to find things in it and because it gives you a path to learning to edit Wikipedia. (Wikipedia uses the term "editor" for anyone who writes or modifies material.)

The most important thing I learned from this book is the importance of footnotes. An encyclopedia like the Encyclopedia Brittanica recruits experts to produce signed articles in their specialty. The selection process and the author's credentials give you some confidence in the material presented. Wikipedia lets anyone write or modify articles, and all articles are unsigned, so it must be approached more cautiously. Credibility depends on having all the statements referenced to reliable sources. I had not paid much attention to the footnoting in Wikipedia before, but after reading this book I notice how many articles are inadequately footnoted or have no footnotes at all. The Wikipedia leaders are very aware of this problem and continually urge editors to supply references. The high standard of sourcing every statement is met in many articles, especially those on very controversial subjects.

Any idiot can change an article on Wikipedia, and many idiots do. The most surprising thing I learned was how prevalent vandalism is. Estimates are that 10% of all edits are vandalism (p. 123). Most vandalism is obvious, for example, on March 20, 2008 the entire text of the article "Passive smoking" was changed to "ice cream icecream". Sometimes it is obvious when looked at, for example, a caption "San Diego Zoo" was changed to "San Hannah Montana". There are more subtle cases, such as adding bogus information or changing statistics. Each page has a complete history of changes, and there are human editors and robots who patrol the recent changes looking for vandalism. Most vandalism is detected and reverted within a few minutes or hours, so the average user will probably never see any.

The book has a few gaps in coverage. For example, there's half a page on p. 244 about the evils of having a single subsection, but there's no discussion of subsections in general and it doesn't even tell you the markup to create a subsection! After some rummaging around I discovered that the markup is described in Figure 1-4 on p. 8. This required "rummaging" because this page is not in the index under subsection.

For another example, capitalization of article titles is significant in Wikipedia, and there are several rules about how pages get looked up if there's not an exact match for the sought-for capitalization. Even worse, the rules are different when you type something in the search box and when you make a cross-reference from one article to another. The book does not explain any of this.

The index was disappointingly incomplete, especially since the Missing Manual indexes are normally excellent. One example: The technique of piped wikilinks (making the displayed text different from the linked article name) has many uses, and these are covered at several spots in the book where they naturally come up. But the index entry for "piped links" lists only p. 15. There's also an index entry for "vertical lines, wikilinks and", which is the same subject, but it does not cross-reference piped links and lists only p. 149. Another example: There are several entries under "wikilinks" and many entries under "links", although nearly all of the latter are wikilinks. The latter even has a subentry for "wikilinks", which has a different list of pages than the main "wikilinks" entry does.

Despite these weaknesses, the book is still extremely valuable to anyone who edits Wikipedia. It collects much useful information in an easy-to-use format.

If you have ever thought about contributing to Wikipedia, or have done so in the past, this is the definitive book on how to contribute and become a successful Wikipedia editor.

The book is broken down into 5 major sections which cover:

Editing, Creating, and Maintaining Articles
Collaborating with Other Editors
Formatting and Illustrating Articles
Building a Stronger Encyclopedia
Customizing Wikipedia

Each section is very well written and presents the material in a well organized and easy to understand manner. There is information for everyone from the novice to the experienced editor.

This book is not intended for the casual Wikipedia user, although reading it will certainly provide a lot more insight in to the scale of the entire Wikipedia project. It assumes a certain base level of understanding about what Wikipedia is and why it has become one of the world's largest group writing project. Instead it provides a very complete and concise set of guidance on how to contribute and get it right from the start.

My earliest contributions to Wikipedia date back to 2005 but that means little when you consider I have created or edited an article on Wikipedia less than 50 times. So, by their standards that definitely makes me a rookie editor. That is why his Missing Manual came in so handy!

I confess to have made most of the mistakes this book warns you about: if I only had read it before, I would have saved myself (and some editors) a headache or two. "Wikipedia: The Missing Manual" is an absolute must for anyone considering taking the plunge in the waters of this fascinating online encyclopaedia as well as for those who have been doing it (a little bit like myself or those who claim to know it all, even) for a while.

This book crowns the list of Missing Manuals I have read in the past year or so and convinces me of the niche this series fills so perfectly: above the "For Dummies" series and below the "Bibles".

Are you an editor that has an inquiring mind that needs to know? If you are, then this book is for you. Author John Broughton, has done an outstanding job of writing a book that is about the English edition of Wikipedia.

Broughton, begins by showing you the right way to edit, why you want to be a registered editor, how to become one, and everything you need to know about figuring out, tracking, and reversing changes to articles when appropriate. Then, the author discusses the rules of engagement, how normal conversations occur, the standard Wikipedia processes for disagreements over content, and dealing with incivility and personal attacks. Next, he introduces you to some parts of articles that aren't text or links: The table of contents, lists and tables, and images and other media. The author also shows you that an article isn't locked in stone--you can rename it, split it up, merge it with other articles, or even ask for it to be deleted. Finally, the author discusses every option that you have to customize Wikipedia to suit yourself, using choices you find when you click My Preferences.

This most excellent book provides structured guidance for people who want to learn the core curriculum, the information you absolutely need to avoid running afoul of the rules.. But, more importantly, the book will show you the structured process for learning all about editing, including all of the tips and tools that can make editing easier.

The problem of this book is it doesn't give detailed information on how to implement X-Query on your computer. When you have Windows Vista, eXist doesn't work. Neither does WAMP. And unless you have heavy duty experience with SQL Server, this book is useless. The author of this book needs to include many more simple examples so that people like me can use the language. I might figure out how to use this someday, but it will be a long time before I do. That is so disappointing.

XQuery has its logical side, but it's pretty easy to forget all the syntax rules and nuances associated with it. Without this book, I'd easily be cursing XQuery and everything associated with it.

It was a great read to get started, but it's become an indispensable reference for day-to-day work and play. With the 30 or so sticky-notes poking out the top, I find myself constantly in this book looking for not just answers, but ways to better use XQuery efficiently in a maintenance-friendly manner.

This is a nice, comprehensive book written by someone highly qualified to talk about XQuery. The author, Priscilla Walmsley, was a member of the W3C XML Schema Working Group.

Now that XML is being added to database management systems, DBAs and database developers will need to know how to query that data. And they'll more than likely be using XQuery to do it. As such, this book would be a good way for database professionals to gain expertise on XQuery.

Walmsley's book offers a concise, yet in-depth tutorial on the XQuery language specification. After digesting these 25 chapters you'll have the knowledge required to program using XQuery to read your XML data. Whether you're coming from a relational and SQL background or you're an XML and XSLT coder, this well-written text will help you understand and write queries using XQuery.

I needed to come up to speed with an XML database server (Mark Logic) and I found this book very useful for learning how to use XQuery. It was concise and provided many good examples. The presentation of chapters was somewhat episodic--you had to read the later chapters to find out how some of the topics turned out. This was probably due to the newness and complexity of the topic. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a chapter reorg for the 2nd edition.

In my case, the book covers only XQuery and does not cover the XQuery extensions and specifics of the XML database system I was using. Walmsley's book makes a great companion to the vendor documentation.

XML programmers and database users will find Priscilla Walmsley's XQUERY a specific, valuable reference which is based on the Xquery 1.0 standards and which offers a basic tutorial on specifications and programming with the query language base. Query writers should have some knowledge of XML basics to use this, and can quickly progress into the 'advanced' category using an overview and tour of Xquery which includes guidelines for working with different types of data and an A-Z reference to the program's functions.

I believe this is a good tool for non-lawyers, who need to know about the legal aspects of internet. This is an excellent reference for common doubts, like being impersonated on the internet, internet auctions and its legal binding, privacy,digital signature, etc.

I find this book a short but substancial answer to the problems mentioned before, in a simple language that may be understood by everyone interested in the subject.

Laws governing the 'Net seem to change as often as the 'Net itself changes. For every technological breakthrough, there are also seemingly endless legal questions that eventually come up. This book attempts to address the major legal issues regarding the Internet. As such, it's a great guide to the most common legal questions to be asked.

While the book sticks to 101 specific legal topics concerning the 'Net, most of them apply to such areas as "legal contracts," "digital signatures," "liability," medical transactions, privacy, advertising, and online banking. While some of the material covered here might seem to be "common-sense," as with any other form of law, it always pays to be totally informed.

If you do any web surfing, e-commerce or any other Internet activity that might be "governed" by laws, this is an excellent book to keep handy, not just as a learning tool, but also as a quick reference.

Bick applies traditional law to new media and new technology. His explanations are clear and intelligent. This book is a valuable asset for leaders of new media and technology companies as it provides a legal framework that is accessible and intuitive.

Save yourself and your firm from trouble down the road by knowing the law and how it applies to your business.

If you're an avid web surfer, this book is great. You can find out what is and isn't legal and what rights you have online.

Although the book isn't organized very well, it is still a good read and something that every high-tech junkie or old-fashioned newbie should read.

Author Jonathan Bick gives general readers a short introduction to the ways that various laws apply to the Internet. He focuses on existing laws about contracts, defamation, privacy, copyright, trademark and other areas, and explains their application to the Internet environment, since few laws specific to the Internet have been drafted. He covers a variety of topics, including Internet-related taxes, rights, options, obligations, liabilities, debt collection, advertising, billing refunds, intellectual property protections and more, all organized into one- or two-page discussions. Each section is followed by a summary of the law or recommendations on how it applies to business. We [...] recommend this clear and easy-to-understand guide to anyone who uses the Internet for work, business or entertainment. And if you hit a section that doesn't apply to you, skip ahead - one advantage of the book's organization is that you can jump to the sections that interest you.

Un brillante esordio per un nuovo genere : "hybrid cd-books" cd-rom con interfaccia web - bellissime foto - grande grafica - ottimo storytelling - da non perdere

24 Hours In Cyberspace is truly the first book out of the publishing launch pad to capture the essence of 22nd Century human evolution in the emerging global electronic communication network, known as "Cyberspace". Kudos to the intrepid photojournalists, armed with their digital cameras, that found real subjects, then sent their scanned images back around the world to "Mission Control" to be collated into an instant book. The time capsule concept is definitely not new--but the cyber-method of manufacturing is what makes it an incredible milestone package. Brian Cartwright President & C.E.O. MediaOutfitters, Inc. (Multimedia Content Brokers) Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

"An extraordinary artistic, technical and logistical juggling act aimed at capturing the human face of cyberspace on film.".....

This is the first book I did purchase thru Amazon. And, I must confess, this book is the perfect selection to anyone interested in "feeling" what the web means today all over the world. It's indeed extraordinary, too, that all the wonderful pictures that are included in it were taken IN THE VERY SAME DAY in a period of just 24 hours. Moreover, that day the pics were being published almost in real time in the special web site for the project. The book quality is coffe-table-like. And the CD companion is just a perfect match. I do deeply recommend it.

If you already have a good www browser like Netscape 3 or Internet Explorer, don't follow the instructions for installing the CDROM. It does a lousy job of searching for existing versions of Netscape. It overrode my newer version and installed version 2. Just point your existing browser at the cdrom and start reading it. Other than this, it's great! Ted Shapin

Whether you're an avid traveler or a dreamer, this book has something for everyone. Plan your trip online or simply look at places across the world-no matter what, this book makes navigating the web easy. I especially loved the sites on currency conversion, ATM location, subway navigation, the translators, and the speed trap detector. It was all so useful and had so many sites I had never dreamed of. Thanks for making my travels so much fun to plan!

This incredible travel guide is like no other I've ever seen! With sites offering limitless possibilities on how to pick the perfect vacation spot and the best way (and price) to reach your destination, this book is a must have. I've been in the process of planning a trip of my own, and I honestly don't know how I would have ever survived without it! I've been able to find sites offering everything from theatre listings on Broadway to music festivals all over the world--not to mention a site offering all the best secrets from seasoned travelers who are available to help you with any travel question. Even if you have no travel plans in your near future, this book is a guarantee to have you packing you bags! Thanks and happy traveling!

I haven't done a great deal of traveling for the last two years but after perusing the book "300 Incredible Things for Travelers on the Internet" I am definitely more excited about traveling! I disagree with a reviewer who stated that some of the links in this book are inactive. Yes, some may be have been in accessible when he tried to click on them but what website isn't from time to time? I found that each one I clicked on worked beautifully.
Thank you so much for giving me that extra boost to get out there and travel! I can hardly wait now!

This incredible travel guide is like no other I've ever seen! With sites offering limitless possibilities on how to pick the perfect vacation spot and the best way (and price) to reach your destination, this book is a must have. I've been in the process of planning a trip of my own, and I honestly don't know how I would have ever survived without it! I've been able to find sites offering everything from theatre listings on Broadway to music festivals all over the world--not to mention a site offering all the best secrets from seasoned travelers who are available to help you with any travel question. Even if you have no travel plans in your near future, this book is a guarantee to have you packing you bags! Thanks and happy traveling!

Whether you're an avid traveler or a dreamer, this book has something for everyone. Plan your trip online or simply look at places across the world-no matter what, this book makes navigating the web easy. I especially loved the sites on currency conversion, ATM location, subway navigation, the translators, and the speed trap detector. It was all so useful and had so many sites I had never dreamed of. Thanks for making my travels so much fun to plan!

I'm glad I bought this book, it is very informative and it applies to anyone. The web links on the sides of the pages are very useful and can be put to good use. Searching for a job can be daunting and overwhelming, but with the advice and the skills learned in this book you can persevere and be successful. This book is very well thought out and gets right to the point, I would recommend this to anyone who is searching for a job, including skeptical people.

The Internet and Web keep changing, and as [...] Job Search editor since 1998, Alison Doyle knows what is going on and she shares her knowledge in this book. This book is up-to-date and extensive, and Alison's advice is straight-forward and practical (just like her section of About).

The book is an easy read - points and additional resources are highlighted in the outer margins, chapters and sections are clear and logical. It covers everything from "Choosing Career and Job Options" (Chapter 1) through resumes and cover letters to interviews and evaluating offers (Chapter 14) and more.

This is an excellent book!

I am about to leave a career that I've worked at for 38 years. This wonderful book arrived just in time for my second career search. When you only know one job it can be hard to know how to find a new career. I can honestly say that now I have several opportunities that I'm ready to explore. This book offers help and advice for everyone, no matter what their age or work situation. I am going to purchase several copies for my friends, some want to work for the first time, and others would like to start new careers. This is the book for all of us!!! Sandy ( a retired teacher from NJ )

The author expertly integrates a solid print presentation of job search strategies with specific references to helpful online resources which will support job searchers those various phases in the process.

The book is clearly written in simple, jargon free language yet it reflects the sophisticated perspective on an experienced professional in the career devlopment field.

The About.com Guide to Job Searching should be an instant classic in the world of job searching books. What makes the book special is that the writer, Alison Doyle combines her years of experience as a career services professional with current, solid Information Technology knowledge. That's a winning combination for today's job searcher who is Internet savvy and technology-oriented. Unlike some of the long selling job search manuals that seem to have added online job searching as an afterthought, Doyle's book makes online tools, job boards, e-mail, and cell phones an integral part of every aspect of job searching.

I write the Human Resources site at About.com so I have first hand experience of the job searching site which is fully integrated with this job search guidebook. The book really does cover everything you need to know to conduct a successful job search - quickly. And, as an added advantage for the reader, it provides links to all of the rest of the best online resources for job searching.

As an employer, I'd advise job searchers to follow the book's advice. It's on target, demonstrates common sense, and will get your resume and application looked at by potential employers. Written in an engaging style, job search advice is offered with lots of stories from Doyle's years of helping people job search. Doyle's been covering job searching online since 1998 and job searching, in general, for over fifteen years. After reading Doyle's guide, I'd highly recommend it as your one stop guide for job searching.

Photoshop CS3 is a very "deep" application, and I think that this book can be an excellent resource for virtually any CS3 user (especially those who classify themselves as intermediate users of Photoshop). The author does not assume that you have already read a user manual or other book. He covers in detail many of the tools in detail that are frequently used to color correct, mask and composite images, and do many other common tasks. "Hints" and "Notes" can be found throughout the book in small green boxes, and I found them very helpful. For example, in Chapter 10, the author explains in a Hint box how to apply sharpening settings from one image to a batch of images in Bridge.

Weinrebe supports his lessons with good screen shots throughout the book. Just a small selection of the tools that he covers very well (in a step-by-step fashion) are the Healing Brush, Lens Correction tool, History Brush, the Bridge and Camera Raw (including a suggested Bridge/Camera Raw Workflow), tinting with a color layer, batch renaming, converting to DNG, creating contact sheets, creating panoramas with Photomerge, and actions.

One of the most interesting parts of the book are the artist interviews. These Q&A sessions with such luminaries as John Paul Caponigro, R. Mac Holbert, Pedro Meyer, Graham Nash, Maggie Taylor and Joyce Tenneson generally run from about 4-7 pages and include fantastic imagery and insight about the artists' background, their art, what motivates them, and how they approach and use various technologies. I believe that this series of essays could easily be a very strong coffee table book on their own. They are a really special.

I also like the Chapter Reviews questions and Exercises at the end of each chapter, which can definitely help people to learn more about the Photoshop techniques that were covered in the chapter. Having all the exercise files on a CD in the book is also a nice feature. Also, it really helps that Weinrebe is a professional photographer who has been preparing files for clients for years. His work really shines throughout the book.

As a long time film photographer making the move to digital this book was a life saver. The step by step approach took the mystery out of photoshop.
The language was clear and the examples relevant.

The development of pigments by chemists changed the art of painting in the Renaissance. The development of film sensitivity changed the art of movie making in the 20th century. How will Photoshop and other image processing software change the art of photography?

This book provides instruction in the use of Photoshop, in an unorthodox manner. Most Photoshop books are organized along workflow lines, although a few work their way through each of the Photoshop tools and menus in order. Weinrebe follow his own order, dealing with light and shadow, curves, black and white processing, color tools and so forth before dealing with the tools used when first bringing images into Photoshop. Often a chapter introduces important techniques not related to the main one, as in the author's discussion of the use of the history brush in the chapter on curves. The author recognizes his approach is unusual, and suggests that readers go through the chapters in the order the reader needs.

The chapters include practical exercises that use images provided on an included CD.

The book recognizes the version 4.1 update to Adobe Bridge which is a component of Photoshop CS3, although I expect that the update was made available at too late a date for the author to do much exploration of its potential. (There has been a 4.2 update, but the changes seem to have improved code, without adding tools.) How else can one explain the author's dismissal of the new sharpening facility that allows for input sharpening, which is different from output sharpening?

Besides the instruction on using Photoshop, each chapter concludes with an interview with a famous photographer. Most of these photographers seem to specialize in montage, that is, the creation of pictures by combining images.

My biggest question was what happened to "the Art of Photography" mentioned in the title? Nothing in the material on technique goes further than to describe what controls and sliders create what effects on an image. No advice is presented in how to use Photoshop to create a picture that is more "artful" (whatever that means). The interviews are interesting but they don't include any information on how the artists used Photoshop to make their pictures more artful. I suspect that even Rafael received some instruction from his teachers on how to use the new pigments beyond how to apply them to canvas. Certainly, a few books on Photoshop have covered this terrain. I particularly found Rob Sheppard's "Outdoor Photographer Landscape and Nature Photography with Photoshop CS2" to be useful.

I also have some small complaints about the book. The text always appeared to be one or two pages behind the related illustrations, leading to a lot of page flipping. Some instructional areas seemed to scant the tools being discussed. For example, the chapter on Adobe Bridge mentions how customizable Bridge is, but neglected to provide any details in how to do this.

Still, a photographer looking for an introduction to Photoshop will be able to get started with this book. On the other hand, those looking for a more detailed introduction might want to look at a favorite of mine, "Photoshop Artistry: For Photographers Using Photoshop CS2 and Beyond" by Barry Haynes. It doesn't cover all the changes made to Photoshop in its later versions, but it will provide an understanding of the software that may even include a little bit about injecting the artful into one's images.

the book is well worth the cost: it is well organized and presents all of the capabilities of Photoshop in a pseudo-textbook fashion that are easily understood. At the end of each of the 12 chapters, the author presents a review: questions that the reader should be able to answer and exercises covering the CS3 capabilities that had been explained in that specific chapter. Also, the author includes interviews with 12 noted creative photographers such as Maggie Taylor and Lois Greenfield.

Photoshop is incredibly feature-rich software, and frequently perceived as overwhelming. Weinrebe breaks it down into easily understandable bits while still providing useful tips for very experienced users.

And the interviews with renowned photographers add a unique element, opening - at least a little a bit - a window on their varying perspectives and workflows.

Well done. This book is a valuable addition to every photographer's reference library.

To be honest, I've always been jealous of PowerPoints that I see during company meetings. How do they make them look so good? Finally, I decided to invest a little time. My friend's friend works at Microsoft and told me that his co-workers wrote a book. I figured I would give it a shot. Surprisingly, I actually enjoyed the book. I thought it would be really complicated, but little things go a long way to make slides look good and this book is great at pointing those out. Now, my presentations look clean, professional, and people are asking me for tips! It's great. If you want to impress your boss/co-workers with your PowerPoint skills, then this is definitely a good place to start.

As a student, I have only ever been expected to create the simplest of slide shows, and so my belief of the extent of PowerPoint's capabilities only stretched so far. However, with Microsoft's 2007 update, I thought it would be a smart decision to invest in a book that would guide me through the newest edition of PP. Well, after going through the book, I realized I got much more than I expected. Full of neat and useful tips, I believe that this book will truly benefit all of its readers in the long run.

Lots of useful tips on PowerPoint 2007. A lot of things have changed in Microsoft's 2007 update, and it's always nice to have a good reference so you can find/do what you want. I have not seen a better PowerPoint 2007 book.

Being a former consultant, business school student, and making hundreds of decks for presentations to CEO's, VCs, and a whole stadium full of people, I have to say that I have finally found the book I need. If you are an advanced user of PowerPoint, then you need to get this book. Learn all the tricks to creating more dynamic slides in less time. It a time saver! Worth every penny.

Chock full of good ideas and helpful hints. The examples are really illuminating and the writing is exceptionally clear, especially the section on the XML format (which was what I was most interested in). In both business and academic settings I've found myself having to maintain a large number of presentations. Often there are slight variations between presentations (different customer, different conference) and this book helped me streamline a lot of that process. For instance, now I can easily update tables with fresh data! A HUGE win. Now I finally have time to learn the clarinet!

Very comprehensive... a lot of bang for your buck in a little book. I keep it in my laptop bag 24/7 now.

I, incredulously, bought this book not expecting to refer to it because I know everything ( ;-P ). I have found that it a most invaluable resource. If you know (and love) Apache, this is the synopsis you need sitting on the left hand side of your keyboard.

For material that's mostly already online, this book is a good investment. I get really tired of window-switching references, and sometimes I like to sit away from the computer while I'm looking up stuff on directive syntax or whatever. For that, this book is worth the price.

I'd still like a more suitable binding for a small book with a font chosen for density. Lord, won't you make me said book so it will lay flat? That would make this dealie a five-star pick for me.

This little book covers the latest version of Apache, and was packed with info for its size. If you're already familiar with other releases of Apache, then this is the perfect book for you - and all you'll ever need!

A large system of configuration commands and syntax is a useful and powerful tool for allowing people to easily control complex pieces of computer software.

Large configuration files have one major problem; you tend not to look at them often enough to get the language and syntax down pat. You find yourself making too many tiny errors in command name or syntax and struggle with one window editing the file and one or more windows open displaying the documentation.

With Apache I have this problem in spades. The configuration system may be well designed and the syntax as easy as possible, but most people will still struggle to keep every detail in their head. I know what I need to do, have a fair idea how to do it, but the details elude me.

That's where this little volume comes in immensely handy. I have several of O'Reilly's pocket references and find the PHP, Apache and Perl ones never stray far from my computer. This one provides a wealth of reference information packed into a small, inexpensive little volume. It has enough information about the exact name and sytax of the Apache configuration directives that I donýt need to go to a larger book or delve into the manual.

Oh, and for those that want this volume to lay flat. I ran my copy through a paper cutter and trimmed the spine off. After punching holes in the pages I then had a loose leaf version that allowed me to add my own pages of notes in various spots and lays perfectly flat. It only took a few minutes. Sorry, O'Reilly - but it is more useful if it can lay flat and being able to add notes is great.