Technology Books

Even though there is not a single line of code in this book, it is one that all people who are involved in the process of managing software development should read. In most cases, investment professionals will have an easier time understanding it than software developers will. The decision to invest organization resources in a software development project is treated as an investment and the point of the analysis is to determine if it is a sound one.
Part one starts with the fundamental concepts of how business decisions are made. Cash flow diagrams are used to illustrate how the flow of money relative to your organization can be visually modeled. Entire chapters are devoted to the various ways interest can be computed, the formulas used to compare the net worth of two different proposals and how to develop mutually exclusive alternatives. A large number of formulas are used, so if you are unfamiliar with the mathematics of finance, you will probably have a difficult time understanding them.
Parts two and three deal with how to make decisions in for-profit companies. Decision analysis, economic life, replacement decisions, salvage value, factoring in inflation/deflation, depreciation, cost accounting, and the impact of income taxes on business decisions are all examined using formulas, charts and diagrams. At times it gets very technical. To give you some idea, here are the titles of some sections:

*) Calculating after-tax cash-flow streams.
*) Inflation and after-tax cash-flow streams.
*) Gain or loss when selling or scrapping depreciable assets.
*) Comparing financing methods in after-tax cash-flow terms.

Part four deals with making decisions in government and nonprofit organizations. This is a very short section, less than twenty pages in length. Since these organizations generally cannot lose money either, the main focus is on the different ways government and nonprofit organizations finance their expenditures. Part five covers present economy, how to do break-even and optimization analysis. The primary focus is on how to perform various types of break-even analysis.
Part six examines estimation, risk and uncertainty. How to recognize and model the level of uncertainty and how to make decisions in situations with a great deal of uncertainty. This requires some knowledge of the fundamentals of probability and expectation. The last section covers the situation where there is more decision criteria than just the basic cost. This of course can be rather difficult, as it can enter the area of personal opinions. It is often due to the ordinal form of the data, where the range of assignments can be something like, {very poor, poor, average, good, very good}. While all can agree that poor comes before average, what one person will consider average, another would categorize as good. Fortunately, it is fairly easy to assign numeric values to the categories for standard numerical analysis of the data.
This is probably the hardest "computer" book I have ever read. I know a reasonable amount of financial mathematics, but it was still difficult to wade through all the equations, charts and diagrams. Despite this difficulty that you will most likely also face, I strongly encourage all managers to thoroughly study the contents. There is a set of self-study questions at the end of each section and solutions to most of them are included in an appendix. The software development industry has a (largely deserved) reputation for lax financial planning and the person who reads and comprehends the material in this book will have an enormous competitive advantage in the battle for jobs, revenue and profits.

Published in Journal of Object Technology reprinted with permission

Engineering is the practical and economical application of science in building products and services. So it puzzles me how financial aspects are so often neglected in teaching Software Engineering or Computer Science. What a big mistake! This is a skill that no Software Engineer should left unmastered. By the way - this is very useful even if you're not dealing with software and for your private life as it allows you to make informed decisions based on a sound rational. Steve Tockey writes in a very concisive and interesting way and provides several examples for each topic. I highly recommend it!

First, a confession, I know Steve Tockey. I work with Steve. That may bias my review a bit depending on how much I like Steve. One thing about Steve is that he home brews many nice beers and brings them into work where we get to share. I like Steve.
I also like his book. Now, I will admit that this is no thriller where you are excited to turn the next page (though I did get a little worked up on Analytical Hierarchical Process). It is designed to be an entry level economics text for the world of software engineering. The world of computer science and software engineering needed a book like this and didn't have one. So, Steve brewed this one up.
Part one (chapters 1-9) contain the basic economic theory you would find in most basic economic books. The topics are based around making decisions to make the most money (for profit companies) or to deliver the most benefit (non-profit). The text in these sections tends to get acronym heavy and Steve had to use the equation editor to type all the fancy mathematical formulas needed for things like interest for equal-payment-series capitol recovery. If you have had a basic economics course in college you can probably skip the first part without any pain. If you haven't or had forgotten (like me), then reading them is warranted. I found Steve's prose on this very dry subject to be reasonable.
Parts two through five carry on in the same way (chapters 10 - 20). Part two in decision making in for-profit companies and part three is advanced decision making in for-profit companies. Again, if you have concepts like Minimum Attractive Rate of Return, Cash-Flow Streams, Planning Horizons, Sunk Cost & Salvage, Inflation & Purchasing Power, Depreciation, Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System, etc. then you can skip these sections. Same sort of story for part four, decisions in non-profit companies and part five, present economy.
BUT WAIT, there is part six! Estimation, risk, and uncertainty. Now here is a section that everybody should read, at least a couple of times. In my work and consulting, I find I am recommending to my clients that they read this section carefully. People building software seems to really miss these economic concepts. Steve does a very good job here in explaining how estimation, risk, and uncertainty work together (often against) on a work effort. He then provides several decision making strategies that work within the reality of uncertainty.
Part seven completes the teaching part with working with multiple-attribute decisions with a good discussion on number theory and how to rationally make comparisons. This is another section that I find most people don't understand too well and highly recommend that everybody reads this part.
There is a part eight but it is a summary and conclusion.
So, my bottom line is that some parts of the book are a must read. So parts are a could read. If you don't mind skimming the parts that you know or are not applicable for the current situation, this book should work out fine. It is also one of those books that you will actually pull off the shelf next time you are asked to lead the selection of a new Commercial Off The Self (COTS) system, choose between two competing project ideas, or just want to make a better personal finance decision.

How I was introduced to this book:
About nine months before this book was published I was researching the return on investment of software projects. While doing my research, I was introduced to Steve Tockey who asked if I might be interested in reviewing his book.

My background:
For almost 10 years I've worked in the software and consulting industry. Currently, I work at one of the leading CRM software companies worldwide where I spent three years advising customers on how they can get the most out of their investment in our software. At the time of my research, it was imperative that our division understood how software investments are impacted by certain business decisions and related financial considerations. Today, I am responsible for planning, implementing, and measuring the outcomes of investments and projects within our marketing organization.

Comments on the book:
This book does an excellent job covering the financial aspects of investing in software systems (or really any investment) as well as covering decision-making and risk management techniques. If your career path includes the development of any business case for software systems, this book explains many of the concepts you will have to use. While the introductory portions of the book explain how financial principles generally apply to software, the book goes far beyond an introduction - honestly, it's depth in content will give it a home on my bookshelf as a trusted reference for years to come. Besides clear explanations and good fundamental examples, the accompanying self-study questions, website, and tools will help readers truly understand and use what is being taught.

If you are familiar with Steve McConnell's books on software, you will not be disappointed with this one (as Steve Tockey works at Construx Software).

There are hundreds of books on topics relevant to various aspects of software engineering. However, when we analyze what went wrong with so many of our large practical software projects, one of the leading culprits is a misunderstanding of the business, economic and financial aspects of the projects. Where are the books and courses to help us with this major problem?
University engineering programs often have a course such as Fundamentals of Engineering Economy. What Steve Tockey has done with his book is to apply these general engineering economics topics specifically to the field of Software Engineering and set a standard for the subfield of Software Engineering Economics. His is not the first such book (see, e. g., Barry Boehm, Software Engineering Economics, Prentice Hall, 1981 or Leon Levy, Taming the Tiger - Software Engineering and Software Economics, Springer-Verlag, 1987) but it is the most thorough and up-to-date one that I know. It is an excellent book on a very important subject. Every professional software engineer, whether CTO, group manager or programmer in the trenches, will benefit considerably from reading this book.
Return on Software is divided into several major parts: general concepts of business decision-making, interest and the value of money, and cash flow streams; business decision-making at for-profit companies; decision-making at government and not-for-profit organizations; estimation, risk and uncertainty; and decision-making based on criteria other than money such as reliability, quality, speed, and other important features (strict economists might argue that all of these other criteria could be equivalenced to money considerations but I think considering these other criteria on their own seems more natural to me).
Judging from the topics listed above, Steve believes business decision-making to be the key ingredient of successful software engineering. I could not agree more. The crucial chapter in the book is #4: The Business Decision-Making Process. The key topics in this chapter include understanding the real problem, defining the selection criteria, identifying all reasonable technically feasible solutions, evaluating those proposals, selecting the preferred proposal, and monitoring its performance. The remainder of the book is an elucidation of those topics.
Each chapter closes with a summary and a set of self-study questions supporting the book to being used as a textbook. My university will offer a course around "Return on Software" in the spring quarter for our Master of Software Engineering students and I expect the course to be offered regularly. The last time I checked, Steve's company was not offering a short course on his book's topic but it would not surprise me to see one soon.
To prove that I am not from the publisher's marketing department, I would like to suggest that the next edition include at least two more topics: buy-or-build decision-making and outsourcing (whether offshore or not).

If you ever thought you knew all about wood, guess again.
This book has more history, knowledge and facts than any we
have ever had. We have a copy and have given copies to approx.
6 people in the wood working business.

We own a saw mill, but my husband was so delighted with little
known facts and trivia, we just had to share it with others.

A MUST buy!!!!

Eric Sloane has written several books, filled with his wonderful drawings, looking back at times in our early American past. This is the first of his I've read, and I want to read them all. I can't say if he is accurate in his depictions, nor whether his viewpoint has full historical merit, but he shows us the value of what we've lost.

This is one of my all-time favorite books. I read it in a sitting. I'm not even all that interested in wood or building anything else that may have made me a likely fan. The writing was fantastically engaging, and the tidbits and anecdotes just kept coming. I say it's Cliff Claven writes a book because that's how I've been describing it for 10 years now - Sloane's enthusiasm and honest passion are to writing what the charm of a pure young laugh is to happiness. I've given this book away I don't know how many times, and have never heard of somebody not loving it too.

This is Sloane's best book in my opinion, but then I've been a woodworker for many years and already have "a reverence for wood". There is much to learn here, a lot of information compressed into easily understood drawings and text and a joy to study. Highly recommended for both the woodworker and anyone interested in wood and its properties and uses.

This is an easy read that yet conveys quite a bit of information. An important part are the drawings, which say more than a thousand words. It is an atmosphere book, which lets the reader understand something of the relationship between the early Americans and their material (wood). It also shows that wood allows more uses than what passes for woodworking these days.

I am a little dubious about the inclusions of trees in the back. The author appears somewhat out of his depth here (he is no Peattie, not by a long way).

This is a true story of the author's father, whose passion for rocks (even when other people teased him gently about it) eventually led him to become director of a museum and, in her own words, "probably the happiest man I ever knew".

I love this one beyond belief. It's very sweet and nostalgic.

I will say that it's probably better suited for the older end of the 4-8 range. It's a bit wordy, and some of the details about their lives - much of the book takes place during the Depression - are going to go right over the heads of the younger ones.

I was priviledged to meet the author and take a workshop given by her. She was and is a great story-teller! I read this book to my second graders and they loved it. It tells how her father followed his love of rocks and minerals into his dream occupation: curator at a museum. It was a long, slow road, but he always had a rock in his pocket and a story to tell about it. My students repeated the line: "Take a look at this one..." each time it was read. I combined it with Gail Gibbons' book Dragonflies, Diamonds and Dinosaurs, which is about a Natural History Museum. We followed up with a nonfiction book about rocks and minerals. It was a series that held high interest for my students and me.

I like to read this to my 2nd grade class during our rock unit.

This book tells the life story of the narrator's father, a self-educated man who managed to become museum curator due to his passion for rocks. When the narrator's father was a young boy, he collected rocks everywhere he went. When he grew up, he ran a gas station and kept his rocks on shelves for customers to look at. The gas station went under during the Depression. After hunting around, the man eventually stumbled into a job as a night janitor at the Museum of Science. He was quite happy with this job because he got to polish the rocks in the exhibits. Eventually he was even promoted to the position of curator of the museum because of his expertise with the rocks, even though he lacked a college education. The story is quite appealing for older kids. With 1250 words, it may be a bit long for the young ones.

This book is narrated by a rock-collector's son. He starts off telling how his father worked at a gas station. He displayed his large rock collection at the station where he worked. Many people came to talk, look at the rocks, and play chess with the father. Then the Great Depression started and the father had one job a day. He still found time to go to the museum and look at rocks. The museum manager noticed him and she gave him a job as a janitor there. Then he was found switching the rock labels because he knew they were wrong. After this happened he was moved up to museum currator. I like this book because to me, it is about following your dreams.

During the past ten years I have worked with a nunber of methodologies in the area of Root cause analysis. During this time I have seen none as effective and cost efficient as the PROACT methodologies showcased in this book.

Bob has written a classic RCA manual for all people in all industries. I personally have used both the methodology and software to great effect and would recommend them to anyone.

If you are serious about a reliability growth program in your site, then you need this book!

This book gives you the tools to develop a strong reliability program. In my 35 years as a mechanical engineer (P.E.) in the chemical industry, I have seen several "programs" come and go. Reliability, when proactive as taught by RCI, is the one program that consistently documents very large savings to cost ratios. In order to survive in the 21st century, industry must have a strong reliability program. RCI is a pioneer (since the 1950's) in reliability and in particular teaching and training industry in using this valuable tool.

Closing the gap between the goals companies set and their actual situations is the overall focus of this book. Written by two experienced executives from the Reliability Center, Inc., the book helps readers identify, resolve, and eliminate the chronic plant floor issues, such as repeated equipment or system failures, that hinder the attainment of organizational goals.

Specialists in root cause analysis methodology, the authors discuss the roles of management and a root cause analysis team in prioritizing the problems to analyze, automationg the process, and helping to uncover the physical, human, and latent causes of undesirable workplace events. They point out that the gap between goals and reality that exists in virtually every industry leads to undesirable outcomes, failures, and incidents that siphon profits from the corporate coffers. To close the gap, they explain, companies must reinvent the way they work, understanding why errors occur and how to prevent them.

The book explains root cause analysis, which is a structured process designed to uncover the cause of any undesirable workplace event. The PROACT steps outlined in the book teach companies how to preserve event data, order the analysis team, analyze the data using logic trees, communicate findings and recommendations, and track for bottom-line results.

Case studies are used to illustrate the potential of root cause analysis, showing its effectiveness in particular in steelmaking, customer service, and manufacturing. Software for automating root cause analysis is also discussed. Informative, well-illustrated and well-organized text is worthwhile reading for any plant engineer seeking to understand why errors occur and to eliminate them, and have a direct positive impact on his company's bottom line.

I have now been involved with RCA for several years and it's the way to go in the future. This book is a good example of what Root Cause Analysis is all about. The book focuses on the use of the PROACT system and I imagine would they would work very well together. I am looking at trying PROACT as well, not just yet! Good book easy to read and gives good definitions to those foggy terms. I enjoyed the book and I use it for my job which speaks for it's self, it doesn't hide in a cupboard or on a shelf. I get the feeling this book is one of the better ones in the bunch, not just someone who has jumped on the RCA bandwagon because it's a flavour of the month.

I co-ordinate a root cause troubleshooting clinic at a major engine manufacturer. We have had moderate success with our investigations and have developed several powerful methodologies. This book has taken our procedures one large step further with a coherent, effective method to analyse and document a problem to root cause. The combination of system diagram, logic tree and verification log described in the book is exactly the kind of methodology we needed and is proving very useful. The book is well written and is filled with useful guidelines for such required activities as information gathering and selection of the most productive analyses to perform. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in root cause analysis.

This book is written as college course text. It is easy to understand if you have a good techincal background. It does a good job of covering the many different aspects of the difficult subject.

Nice book. It helped with my understanding of nano technology. Best if used in conjunction with a class requiring it so the teacher can explain some of the processes better than the book because it is vague on some concepts.

This book is well worth the price if you are looking for an understanding of how semiconductors are made. Although it would be useful to have an engineering degree in order to understand all of it, it isn't necessary. The first couple of pages in each chapter are easy to read and as you gain knowlegde, the book simply expands for you. If I have a complaint, it would be that the book doesn't fit easily in my briefcase!

I feel the authors have accomplished exactly their stated intent. I have used this text as a Fab Manager to train technicians new and old, and I have used it in academia to instruct students. It is superbly presented and easy for ANYONE to understand. It is worth purchasing for the glossary alone which is an excellent tool in helping the un-indoctrinated sift through the tons of jargon associated with this technology. This book is not for in-depth study of the subjects covered- it just explains the basics very well.

I am non-technical person in the financial community and have used this text as a resource on a regular basis. I have found it very accessible despite the fact that I have no engineering degree. I recommend this book to any reader who wants a detailed summary of semiconductor manufacturing from wafer fabrication to packaging and test.

Being interested in speculative reality and philosophy, this was a must read. I was not disappointed.
Philip K Dick writes, "All responsible writers, to some degree, have become involuntary criers of doom, because doom is in the wind...and the doom stories are intended to call attention to reality."
This is made all the more relevant by the fact that the human folly that gave way to encroaching doom(war) ~ as the interviews and essays complied for this book run anywhere from twenty five to fifty five years ago ~ is far more manifest and pervasive in our own perceived time. That much closer.

Part five: Essays and Speeches, deals with schizophrenia, LSD and Gnosticism. He delves into the Jungian concept of synchronicity regarding his own life, and the inexplicable coincidences in his novel, "Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said"...(also see the movie, "Waking Life")..of "fiction mimicking truth, and truth mimicking fiction."
What he refers to as "a dangerous overlap, a dangerous blur." Take a look with *open* eyes at the society we've created and you realize that the "dangerous blur" is scarcely acknowledged it is so routine, so deeply solidified. 'Entertainment'(of the mindless sort) has proven to be the ultimate vehicle for Big Brother totalitarianism, so to speak.

The final section, Exegesis, at times feels like listening in on a discussion, a contemplation, within his own conscience, on the matter of God/Cosmos: "Creator: time past. Holy Spirit: time is. Christ: time completed."
Overall, a fascinating and unique read.

THE SHIFTING REALITIES OF PKD is a perfect title for this material. It was in his speeches to college students that PKD exposed his mental terrain--holding little back. Here he discussed his two obsessions: What is reality? & What constitutes an authentic human? This material shows how Dick used his sci-fi novels to poke holes in simpler cosmologies. Dick made the universe his own sandbox.

In THE ANDROID & THE HUMAN he says that free will may be an illusion. Were humans also controlled by tropisms that are so evident in the growth of plants? He sounded out his greatest fear as �The reduction of humans to mere use--men made into machines, ... what I regard as the greatest evil imaginable.� Dick saw the time to come when a writer would be stopped not by unplugging his electric keyboard but by someone unplugging the man himself.

In MAN, ANDROID & MACHINE Dick found a hopeful theory at the end of his dark tunnel. In this essay he discussed Teilhard De Chardin�s Noosphere, �composed of holographic & informational projections in a unified and continually processed Gestalt,�--a summation of the globe�s intelligence. Dick never worried about the label �made in a laboratory.... the entire universe is one vast laboratory,� he writes. Here he also lays bare his own reality--one composed of a series of crystallized dreams. He cites Ursula Le Guin�s THE LATHE OF HEAVEN as his model for �understanding the nature of our world�. He adds: �I myself have derived much of the material for my writing from dreams.� PKD challenged the reader to pry beneath the facade of daily existence and knead the silly putty of the dream world into some recognized shape.

While I've read this entire book cover-to-cover, I have probably read the last half (Part Five: Essays and Speeches, and Part Six: Selections from the Exegesis) at least four times. That's where the real philosophy is. Or perhaps I should say the real mysticism. Actually, P.D.K.'s thought was a combination of philosophy and mysticism, not unlike the works of Pythagoras or Plato. Indeed, I would not hesitate to place him in such exalted company.

Dick's Gnosticism is the Gnostisism of true revelation, of epiphany and theogony (of union with the divine.) Yes, some people arrogantly write this off as the rantings of a "schizophenic", but then they would no doubt apply that same meaningless, garbage diagnosis to every great mystic teacher or shaman.

Here you get the revelations of his novel ,_Valis_, developed and fleshed out in a much more satisfying manner. Indeed, unless you are fortunate enough to track down a copy of his mythical _Exegesis_ this is the best expression of his thought that you will find.

One last note, as much as I agree with the gnostic idea of a transcedent God (or Logos, or Tao) breaking through into our material "Black Iron Prison", I do have a problem with his concept of a Yaldaboath (i.e. deranged, lesser, creator god.) You see, human materialistic, hyper-rational, civilization functions as such a lesser "god." Have we not made money, science, and ego into idols that are worshipped in their own right to the exclusion of the the true transcendant God? You simply do not need to posit the existance of such a supernatural demiurge, devil, or "Moloch" (as Ginsberg called it.) Human ignorance and evil are quite up to the role.

(...)

This book is a gathering of eclectic, mostly non-fictional, writings by one of my favourite authors -Philip K. Dick. I have given it a five star rating in spite of the fact that the material is of uneven quality. Dick can't talk to us anymore since he died in 1982, and so it is wonderful and special to come across these writings. From a literary point of view they are invaluable as spotlights on the mind of the author of such brilliant, disturbing and important works such as The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, Ubik, The Man In the High Castle, Faith of Our Fathers, etc. But these works also stand on their own for their intelligent, creative and transcendent analysis of what it is to be human. If you have any interest in Gnosticism, you are in for a treat, since Dick is a kind of Gnostic warrior, and offers up many fascinating, and at times, profoundly uplifting Gnostic thoughts and speculations. There is much more -biographical material, thoughts on SF as a genre, comments on other SF works and writers, political commentary, musical musings, two excellent completed chapters from an abandoned sequel to The Man In the High Castle, and even a brilliant pitch for a never-made television sit-com about angels visiting earth on commission to help clients out of tight jams. Some of this material is frightening, since Dick is constantly challenging the very concept of reality. As with all of Dick's writing -fiction and non-fiction -there is a mind expanding effect. Your universe is never the same after reading him -it will be enlarged or even multiplied, as well as being rendered a lot stranger. All P.K. Dick fans should have this book, but anyone wanting to learn more about the views of one of the brightest, most intriguing minds of the past century will find it an invaluable and entertaining book to read. Lawrence Sutin has done us all a wonderful service by making these pieces available, some of them for the first time. These are peculiar and magical writings from a 20th Century savant. Read it. It could change your life.

PKD is my number-one writer, both for style, but more particularly for ideas. There is so much in this book that shows the man was a thinker, an explorer of ideas not just for the novels and short stories he could generate from them. With PKD, ideas developed a unique philosophy which is why his fiction is founded on such a firm basis. Even when his ideas change and we can see the change (for example 'The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch' and 'A Scanner Darkly') there is no contradiction involved, just a clear evolution. For PKD fans who haven't yet read his non-SF novels I encourage you to do so - I would be surprised if you were disappointed.

PKD has also left a great legacy of pithy quotes - such as 'reality is what is left behind when you stop believing in something'. My favourite, however, he wrote in a forward to one of the anthologies of short stories. He said that science fiction is not about 'what if ......' it's about 'My God! what if .....'.

There is a lot of this in his philosophy too.

What a pleasure to finally read this classic book. I grew up loving Cousteau's television programs. Ultimately, I became a diver because of Cousteau.

This is adventure writing at its best. Cousteau was always a master storyteller. That was probably more instrumental to his success than his bravery, innovativeness, or his ability as a diver. This book is a collection of Cousteau's experiences with early scuba. He masterfully captures the awe, the fear, the struggles, and the sense of adventure of the first years of scuba.

I love adventure writing, but sometimes great adventurers are not great writers. Cousteau was both. If you have an interest in Cousteau or in scuba diving, this book is a must read.

As promised in the title, in this book Jacques Cousteau reveals a new world of unanticipated beauty, fittingly described in his charming, French-influenced English phraseology. C. Blickenstorfer has done a fine job explaining the contents of this book, particularly as it relates to divers or those interested in diving history. However, The Silent World, read as a frontier narrative, also has relevance for anyone interested in our current and historical treatment of the ocean.

Humans have interacted with the ocean for ages, but before divers like Cousteau it was a blind interaction, a grasp at resources based on guesses and historical results. Cousteau's underwater observations of trawl-net fishing make clear the change of ideology his "aqualung" opened to humans. Watching the net destroy grasses on the ocean floor, Cousteau reports "Man's method of undersea farming seemed to consist of blighting the acre while reaping a small part of the crop" (48). As opposed to a history of blind grabs at ocean creatures, Cousteau's aqualung gives him the capacity to see without touching, and his narrative provides a chance for our knowledge to begin catching up to our know-how.

Another epiphany facilitated by the aqualung is a completely new set of fears and a new evaluation of old "monsters." The killers of which Cousteau writes are nitrogen in his blood and clams with shells sharp enough to sever air pipes. On the contrary, the octopus, demonized by Victor Hugo as a monster who will suck out a man's innards, shows itself as harmless and shy. Cousteau concludes his chapter "Monsters We Have Met" with a jocularity that is persistent in the work: "If none have eaten us, it is perhaps because they have never read the instructions so generously provided in marine demonology" (222).

Cousteau's reinterpretation of the ocean brings readers to the fundamental questions of humans and their environment. How are we going to think of this new space? Should we sell it as new realty? Militarize it? Farm it? Should we simply Keep Out in a quest to guard some portion of the earth against ourselves? Those from my generation who have mythologized Cousteau as a heroic conservationist might struggle with Cousteau's narrative. This is not the work of a dolphin-hugger. Cousteau writes of his exploits kidnapping an endangered monk seal pup in his desire for an aquatic hunting dog (the seal almost dies and is given to a zoo) and bludgeoning most large sea creatures who get close enough. This includes wounding a captured porpoise to watch sharks eat it alive, an act which he justifies with "It was cruelty to an animal but we were involved in a serious study [. . .] and had to carry it out" (234).
In his conclusion, Cousteau asserts "Obviously man has to enter the sea. There is no choice in the matter. The human population is increasing so rapidly and land resources are being depleted at such a rate, that we must take sustenance from the great cornucopia" (266). Both those who would agree with this 1950s assumption and those who believe this "cornucopia" has been already overexploited can gain insight from this book as a well-written record of human reactions to the new world under the waves.

As a diver for long years, I remember the old b&w tv days, when we find happiness with Cousteau's documentary films. Now it's a mirracle to be able to purchase the whole collection in DVD format.

As great a read today as it must have been over 50 years ago. Being a modern day technical and recreational dive instructor I still find this book a fascinating read and would recommend it to all ages to divers and non divers alike.

What can be said about Jacques Cousteau and his groundbreaking book that hasn't been said a thousand times? He is undoubtedly the defining figure of modern scuba diving, his books, films, and documentaries known to millions or billions. Even the name of his ship, the Calypso, is known the world over. It's a small volume, this book, just 160 pages, yet it's absolutely mandatory reading for anyone interested in what Cousteau termed "the silent world" under the surface of the water that covers 71% of our planet. The Silent World is the bible of modern scuba diving.

Jacques Cousteau himself died in 1997 at the age of 87, but the legacy of his pioneering work with diving and diving physiology lives on. It is all well documented and disseminated worldwide, thanks to this French explorer's unique combination of instinctive understanding of the world under the surface and his equally unique knack of spellbinding the world with his words and images. A total master of public relations and getting the word out, Cousteau managed to grab attention and media coverage wherever he went. Critics went so far as suggesting his media talents exceeded his actual contributions to understanding the seas.

At first it's hard to figure out why this slim volume became such a success. It's not a textbook, it doesn't cover the history of diving or even much of Cousteau's own research, and it's not an adventure book. Though Cousteau was French, he wrote The Silent World in English as he had attended American schools in his youth, widely traveled the US, and, of course, extensively lectured in his enchanting French-accented English. Yet, The Silent World clearly reveals its author's non-English origin and decidedly "non-English" thinking. The writing, while precise, often suggests that Cousteau frequently described a word or concept that existed in his native French, but did not directly translate into English. As a result, the writing at times seems a bit flowery and, well, foreign, and you need to read a sentence or paragraph two or three times to figure out what it actually means. Cousteau's liberal use of metaphors, artistic nuances, poetic concepts and words that have since fallen out of currrent language only serve to make The Silent World even more unusual of a literary treat.

Anyone looking for technical explanations, precise history, a logical flow of events, or anything one might expect from a world-famous documentary maker and researcher will not find it in this book. The Silent World is a totally unique, very compressed tale flowing from Cousteau's mind. Read half a chapter and you know the man; he's a unique combination of inspired philosophical observer and gifted researcher with uncanny intuition. While others conducted their research methodically and ploddingly, Cousteau always just seemed to know what to expect, how to behave, and what to seek and avoid to make it all seem easy. He and his close associates and friends Phillipe Tailliez and Frederic Dumas used their "aqualung" to experient liberally in sort of a "Hmmm.... this is probably what will happen, let's go check it out!" approach.

Using this, Cousteau describes the difference between "helmet divers" and the newly liberated users of their "aqualung" -- what we now know as air tanks and regulators. The book casually touches on all the principles of diving physics and physiology, the stuff we learn in our PADI and NAUI classes. He describes sea life, how it reacts, where it lives, how it behaves, and what is dangerous and what is not. They see just how deep they can go. They check how colors change. What nitrogen does and why we need recompression chambers. He offers his views on treasure hunting (not worth it; if you find real treasure authorities and hordes of lawyers will soon apprehend it). He reports on atrocities he witnessed underwater, like the needless destruction of corals and cruel killing of fish. He debunks myths of sea monsters, seeks answers to geological phenomena such as the Fountain of Vaucluse near Avignon, one that almost cost him and Dumas their lives in a pioneering effort at extreme cave diving. He describes what fish do and how they react. And sea mammals and other sea critters. Sharks remain an enigma to Cousteau as his conclusion is that you simply cannot understand or predict them.

So The Silent World relates, in 14 fascinating self-contained chapters, pretty much everything we know about diving today, 60 years after Cousteau began researching as a "manfish," all the principles we know, and it's all neatly and attractively presented in tales that always mix research with adventure. Cousteau never preaches or lectures. He just explores, pushes, interprets, and reports. Maybe Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau was a showman as much as a researcher. If so, good for him as otherwise we may never have had the opportunity to learn from him and enjoy his remarkable insights. -- C. H. Blickenstorfer, scubadiverinfo.com

This is an excellent walkthrough of Skype all the way from getting started to using special phones and other VoIP appliances. I'm impressed by the depth of the coverage, and the quality of the writing. This is easily the best book I've seen on Skype.

"Skype Me" is an excellent book for both beginners and advanced users of this free Voice over IP (VoIP) application. With easy instructions for downloading, installing, and using on any system, Skype is remarkably effective, but simple. It allows you to talk by voice in computer-to-computer conversations, conferencing, and even video capabilities with the necessary security features to protect your conversations.
This "family and friends" phone plan could put the phone companies out of business - except to bring us the DSL line. I've seen my wife use Skype to conference with her local partner and their Australian customer.
While basics are great, there's plenty here for the more advanced users including using Skype with other hardware and software (eg, wireless devices like cell phones). The authors also walk you through the security aspects of Skype - absolutely necessary these days.
Overall, a great book to own and keep handy as a reference for expanding your cyber knowledge.

Skype is a simple to implement Voice Over IP (VOIP) solution for the average computer user. If you are tired of long-distance charges, want to be able to tell when someone is online and you can call them, chat in a secure, encrypted environment, engage in video chatting with others, or call someone who has a regular phone system at substantially reduced rates then Skype may be the product you need. This book covers installation, configuration, and basic usage as well as configuring advanced features and personalizing your Skype. While this is useful, I found the software to be so user friendly that it was easy to figure out most of this by just exploring the basic options of the system. That being said Chapters seven and eight were well worth the price of the book by themselves. These chapters cover software and hardware add-ons that can greatly enhance your Skype system and make it work the way you would like it to. The final two sections of the book cover setting up Skype in a business environment and writing custom interfaces to it by accessing the Skype API. This section includes important information on how to set up Skype behind a firewall. Skype Me is a highly recommended purchase and a great way to access the VOIP world for anyone with a computer and good Internet access speed.

Skype Me! is a book that everyone needs to have. It's less technical than Skype Hacks, which makes it more accessible to non-techies. Gough starts off with basic lessons about VoIP, Peer-to-peer technology (as it's used in VoIP), even Skype security. These basics will help anyone who is looking at setting up Skype in their home.

Installation is covered in Chapter 2. Gough gives detailed instructions on testing individual computers setups to make sure that Skype will work properly, and shows how to install Skype on Windows, Pocket PC, Mac OS X, and Linux. Then, in chapter 3, he covers the basics of using Skype.

Gough spends a lot of time on using Skype from Pocket PCs, even Pocket PC cell phones and smart phones. This is something I'd never thought about, honestly - my cell phone bill is pretty small, and we've got a good family plan. I can see where people who use a lot of cell phone minutes each month could save some money.

Skype Me! also goes into detail when it comes to implementing Skype in a business setting. This is one area where I think that Skype is being under-utilized. There's a perception that Skype is for home users, but isn't powerful enough for enterprise use, but it's clear that Skype is a lot more powerful than people think. There's a lot of potential for business use - especially when you look at the call center hack that I mentioned in the review of Skype Hacks.

One disappointment I had with Skype Hacks was that it didn't really talk much about the Skype API. Skype Me! does this in chapter 14, and goes into enough detail that people with a computer background will be able to take advantage of the API in customizing their own installation of Skype. Skype Me! also goes into more detail in discussing the various Skype-enabled devices that are available, or will soon become available. Gough includes mini-reviews of a lot of popular Skype hardware add-ons that will make your Skype experience much more pleasant - and productive.

For new users, Skype Me! is a valuable addition to their library. The fact that Michael Gough is the guy who runs SkypeTips.com and is constantly adding material at that site is just another reason to get this book.

Skype Me! is the perfect introduction to Skype for users of all skill levels. It could serve as an example of how to write a product-centric book that delivers real value. The text is well written, clear, and focused. The material becomes progressively complex as the reader moves from learning about Skype, to installing it, to using it, to extending it into areas I hadn't previously considered. Anyone who wants to get the most out of Skype should read Skype Me!

I believe Skype is an incredibly intuitive and simple piece of software. I didn't spend much time with the first four chapters of the book, since I think the ease of installing and using Skype is one of its main attractions. Beginning with Ch 5, however, author Michael Gough started expanding my sense of what could be done by Skype. With advanced features in Ch 6, software add-ons in Ch 7, and hardware accessories in Ch 8, I was entering new territory. The material was well-covered.

I have no real concerns with Skype Me! I have a minor issue with the author's suggestion on p 270 that using a 900 MHz cordless phone is a sign they need to be "upgraded". A 900 MHz cordless phone is a great way to avoid interference in the 2.4 GHz range used by modern wireless networks and newer cordless phones. I would have also liked some expert commentary by a security professional regarding controlling Skype in the enterprise.

Overall I highly recommend Skype Me! I would feel comfortable sharing this book with my parents as a way to encourage them to try Skype. I would also share it with friends who want to tinker at the edges of traditional Skype usage.

Sonar 2.0 is such a complicated program. I haven't even messed with many of the features, including MIDI, but have gotten quite good at audio editing. This book made a huge difference. I found it much clearer and easier to follow than the online help or manual that came with Sonar. Highly recommended!

I'm using Home Studio 2002 XL, which as one of the reviewers pointed out is basically just a cut down version of Sonar 2. I had hoped that this book would help me to really learn how to use the advanced features of Home Studio/Sonar, but I was disappointed to find little advice on technique in the book.

It's a very comprehensive overview of the features of the program, but apart from a few small features I'd overlooked there was very little that I hadn't managed to already learn from the included help files (which are pretty good) or previous experience with Sequencers and using MIDI.

In particular I was interested in more information on how best to arrange and mix songs, in particular using aux-buses, but I found that less time was spent on this topic than on explaining the different effects (in more detail than I thought necessary).

Perhaps I'm being a little harsh, and perhaps I'm looking for a different kind of book. I work with computers for a living, so I'm used to finding my way around new software - I guess if you aren't then this is probably a good tour of what the software can do.

I review this book as one who does not own this particular piece of software, but as a prospective Sonar user. I wanted to do a little research to see if Sonar was the way I wanted to go, and I found this book extremely informative. It makes what might be a scary program for the novice very approachable and user-friendly. If I do wind up purchasing Sonar, it's unlikely I'll even need to read the manual with this excellent resource available to me. Outstanding!!

Sonar 2 Power! is an excellent book. It is, by far, the best book available on Sonar, and a must have for anyone who uses Sonar. I have found it was great for intitially getting up to speed on the software. And now that I know the software much better, it is still full of tons of helpful information. Sonar 2 Power! lets you quickly dive right into those features you are interested in. Best of all, the author, Scott Garrigus, is able to make learning quick and enjoyable. It is clear that Scott has a great deal of enthusiasm for making music using his computer and Sonar; he does a very good job of getting this enthusiasm across, which makes the book all the more enjoyable to read. The author has a Website...for his readers.

This is a good book for Cakewalk Home Studio 2004 (and XL) users as well, because Home Studio 2004 is basically the same as Sonar 2 with a few missing features that Home Studio 2004.

I did a comparison of it to my recently acquired 2004 XL upgrade and other than the synchronization function, a couple of UI changes (Snap to Grid button changed locations), and a few effects that Home Studio XL doesn't give you, everything works identical to the Sonar 2 version in the book.

I haven't read the Cakewalk Power Book, but I did notice it looked thinner on the shelves than Sonar 2, and chose to buy Sonar 2 because I thought it was more comprehensive. I've been very happy about the purchase and what I've learned about Home Recording.

A real hit with our six year old. The illustrations are wonderful and the educational aspect is not totally obvious. A very entertaining book that's he took to share with his class at school.

Once upon a time many years ago I watched my daughter Emma play with her cousin Brian, whom Emma lovingly referred to as Meatball, and I wondered how long it would take before he began to cry. At eight years old Meatball looked like a smaller version of Rhett Butler, he talked with a squeaky voice that was struggling to mature, and his blondish hair oddly matched the color of his skin. Every game between the two kids eventually turned sour--a bump of the head, a twisted arm or even harsh words would send the boy reeling into the kitchen looking for comfort. While I admired his theatrics, I did not acknowledge them. Emma, on the other hand, like to pretend he was her plaything, a doll she collected. Take, for example, the afternoon she dressed him up like a pirate and sent him out into the yard with a steak knife searching for the neighborhood tabby cat. Florence, the woman that lived across the street and spent most of her days with her nose between the blinds of her front window, knocked on my door and demanded that I do something. I invited her in for coffee but she ranted and raved, cluck-clucking about manners and responsibilities and child-rearing, none of which I particularly cared to hear about. Meatball ran inside and tugged at Florence's blue polyester pants. "Don't worry," he said. "I buried the knife in the backyard." Florence grabbed his wrist and told him that he needed to dig it back up. He sighed heavily, stared at the ground and then began to cry. I pulled the cigarettes from the pocket of my robe, lit it, and waved him inside.

Charlotte, Meatball's mother, picked him up every day at 5 o'clock. She sat on the couch with Meatball on her lap and listened as he recounted his day. She disregarded any of Emma's attempts to defend herself when Meatball claimed she had harmed him. But who would believe an eight-year-old boy that said his cousin had instructed him to hunt for prey and bring back souvenirs?

I am a student at the University of Arizona South, majoring in elementary education. I recently read this book to a class of 3rd grade students. The children anjoyed watching as the guests arrived at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Comfort and re-arranged the tables and chairs each time someone else showed up. They also enjoyed the fact that only Mr. and Mrs. Comfort's names were given and everyone else was referred to by their relation to the hosts, "Mrs. Comfort's brother's daughter's twin sons". The children loved the chaos as more and more people arrived and fewer and fewer place settings were left available, while "extra" chairs piled up in the periphery. Every student was engaged in the book because each and every one of them knew what Mrs. Comfort knew, that without a seating arrangement of eight seperate tables each seating four people, there would not be enough room for everyone to sit down. And by the end of the book, they found out they were right! The extensions available at the end of the story increase the possible learning to be attained, illustrating how to actively engage the children in hands-on activities to learn about area, perimeter, multiplication and division. Children can find out how many seats are available for each table formation in the book. They can also determine how many meatballs everyone can eat. This is a lively and interesting tale that evolves into spirited and animated discussions involving mathematical concepts. The children had a wonderful time listening to the story, then engaging and actively participating with their eight squares and 32 paper clips (tables and chairs) as we went through the story page by page with them arranging and re-arranging the seating. It was fantastic to see them so happily involved with LEARNING MATH!

Cute way of having students know how they use math in their everyday lives. Great explanation of the mathmatical idea behind the book.

I read this book to my sister's kids (ages 4-8) and they all really enjoyed it. They had a lot of fun with the story (and didn't even know they were learning). This book is great for kids.