Software Books

As other reviewers pointed out, this is indeed a nice work on Java Messaging. For the most part, the concepts are presented clearly and I had no trouble following them. What's good about this book is that there are enough examples to play with and most of them indeed work as promised in the book. This book uses ActiveMQ 2.1 for JMS Provider while the current version is 5.x. However, the ActiveMQ 2.1 libraries are included in the CD, so using those you will have no problem in running most of the examples. I could not get the examples that use Java Web Service Developer Pack (JWSDP) to work however (chapters 8 and 9). This book uses JWSDP 1.4 version which I could not find on the web (at the time of this writing only JWSDP 2.0 is available for download on Sun's site). The book says that JWSDP 1.4 is included on the CD but it was not. Except for these minor issues, this book is worth reading and owning. Highly recommended.

Although the book uses a specific JMS engine for the examples the details and the concepts were all right on and covered everything I needed for JMS. It literally saved my bacon, especially the peer to peer stuff over topics. Whew!

Super job.

Sam

Eric Bruno's JAVA MESSAGING explores different ways of messaging using Java software, from JavaBean events and JMS to SOAP. Web programmers receive all the basics to using these features, tips on how and why to use each feature and when to choose something else, how to combine features, and more. The basics of Java communication processes are revealed in chapters which form 'classes' to link related information in a logical progression. An excellent, basic foundation for Java users.

As we look at how much we use the web, it is sometimes hard to remember just how new this concept of worldwide packet switching really is. Java was started as a new language before a lot of the new concepts like XML and SOAP were conceived. But as a new language it has been able to move into using these new concepts faster than nearly any other language.

What I especially liked about this book was the first chapter. So often computer books start with programming. This one starts with a description of what we're trying to do here. He gives several examples of the types of communications that he is going to cover in the book. I had a particular application in mind when I got the book, but in reading the first chapter I began to see several other ways that messaging would help our system.

After the first chapter, I've go to say that it's a pretty regular computer software book. It tells you how to do the things that you want to do. It is quite clear on all the different software protocols, packages, and philosophies. Basically it is all that a Java programmer needs to implement messaging in Java.

The CD included with the book gives you all the sample code from the book, as well as the complete messaging toolkit and several open source tools.

Excellent introduction to messaging, including healthy portions on JMS and web services.

The writing style is clear, consistent, and to the point. Probably what I liked most was this no-nonsense writing style. If it's on a page, it's important to understand. The author doesn't waste your time with irrelevant discussions or out of scope topics.

Editing and code presentation are top notch, making it easy to follow, and build upon from one example to the next. The author also shares some gotchas and considerations that I wouldn't have expected to see in an introductory discussion which were particularly valuable.

Another great feature is one of the drawbacks of the book. The framework presented in the book is elegant, but in many of the examples, there is too much cognitive overhead involved in grokking the level of abstraction in the framework, and this takes away from actually learning the concepts. I would have liked to see more non-framework code for the introduction, which is then tied together with the framework.

My copy of this book is well worn, dog earned, and filled with enough paper clips to set off airport alarms. It has well over half a pad of pink post it notes extending from its pages. Several Xerox copies of book pages hang from my desk for quick reference. I would never go back to L*****'s book!

It was Diller's manuscript that allowed me to publish my dissertation with LaTeX in a timely fashion with minimal headache (from text processing!).

Pure TeX geeks will shun this book. It's too readable and too practical. If you want to hack away your grad school days solving Knuth's TeX programming exercises, this book is not for you.

Purchase this book if you actually want to get some productive work done with LaTeX!

This book is well written and is great for anyone trying to put together reports and simple documents with no frills (base fonts and formatting). It does not cover font selection (NFSS), customization, and many other important things for advanced documents, like a book. If you need a much more comprehensive book for LaTeX I would recommend Kopka's book. The book is structured in a very confusing and sometimes illogical manner, but it covers much more. This book is much more efficient, but you may find yourself needing more.

I've recently been through most of the beginning to intermediate LaTeX books and have found the bulk of them almost worthless in helping to learn and use LaTeX. This book is extremely readable and useful with correct syntax. The focus is unapologetically LaTeX2e and is not encumbered with outdated 2.09 commands. This is hands down the one book I would buy if I were only going to buy one. After this I would recommend Kopka, though that is much less well presented but definitely the next best (it is loaded with superfluous 2.09 command comparisons which just get in the way of getting through the book). It is way down hill after that, including Lamport's book (beautifully typeset but not clearly written).

In the TeX/LaTeX universe, I've found that you get the program for free, but then you wind up buying $200 worth of books to learn the program because no one textbook is all things to all people. This is hands down the best "introductory book." It's easy to read and gives you enough information to start up quickly. Hahn's book is outdated with its coverage of Latex 2.09, and Kopka's, while having lots of good stuff in it (if you can find it), reads like a scientific text translated from a foreign language--which it is.

If you want to start getting productive with LaTeX immediately, get this book.

I agree with the previous review. Among other nice touches the book contains a descriptive list of all LaTeX commands. This alone made it worth the money for me.

This is a perfect place to start for learning how to program with Processing. The methodology is very well thought out in a progressive series of steps, allowing one to build upon, complexify and extend previous examples in the book. It also allows one to grasp general programming principles applicable to other environments. It would be great to see this book translated into French one day!

I was really hesitant on sinking money on Yet Another Programming Book since I had bought a few in the past and they all failed to make things understandable or digestable. All the books before this had the pacing all wrong, too. This book does a really good job of slowly introducing one concept at a time.

Processing is perhaps the best "learning" language. After about halfway through the book, you may start to realize the limitations of Processing.

My only gripe is that the book doesn't cover certain topics enough, like Return type. Also there should've been more attention paid to Boolean perhaps. Still, these are mere nitpicks when I consider how easily and comfortably I was able to learn Processing with this book.

This is my second amazon review ever in seven years. I mention this to emphasize how much I believe in this book. I teach an introductory programming class to artists/designers at a University. Finding a good textbook has not been easy. I am very happy to finally find what I consider the "missing" book. I will definitely be adopting this book as one of the required texts for my Intro to Interactive class in the spring. I am very impressed with the content. It is very well suited for my students who are not fluent (and are sometimes quite intimidated) in programming lingo and concepts:) Other books cover the fundamentals usually in one chapter, and get into the key concepts very quickly. This book is paced better for the novice, and, as another reviewer noted, is very friendly and inviting. Job very well done!

I just received this book yesterday, and I have to say that this book is probably the friendliest "instructional" book. I say instructional, instead of programming because as a designer, I can comprehend the concepts that Shiffman talks about. It's even friendlier than some Photoshop and Flash books that I've read through.

I have both Shiffman's and Casey Reas' book (last year), and I'm starting Shiffman's book. Casey's book is for intermediates. I would even recommend this book to high school students who are interested in programming, however, most high school students are professional programmers already (look at the kids that work on Facebook).

In the past 10 months I have returned to programming computers, having taken a decade off doing such to produce dance music, work as a surgical nurse, and currently to do CAD/CAM programming for a stone manufacturer. In the nineties I coded a bit in pure assembly, but have never coded in a high level language, never one with objects or garbage collection, and honestly haven't coded at all for 12 years.

This book should have been the first book I picked up when I was staging my return, as it is the first beginner level programming book to hold my interest, and one which enables the user to work with first class multimedia applications while still coding at the beginner level. Data visualization has really taken off, and Casey Reas and Ben Fry's Processing language is a beautiful abstraction on top of Java for creating rich media, generative art, and visualizations.

I've built a small coding library of 75-100 retained books from the 400+ I bought from Amazon in the past 10 months, and this is absolutely the first book I should have read - without a doubt. Processing, the language, is an absolutely wonderful platform for learning to program - and I wish I could say that I first learned to program using this book and Processing.

If you are curious about learning how to program, "Learning Processing" gives you a much more interesting set of tools to work with for learning the basics - I think this will lead to continued interest in some who might otherwise give up early.

I have (but have not read cover to cover) the other Processing related books - "Processing" by Reas and Fry, "Processing" by Ira Greenberg, and "Visualizing Data" by Fry - and I think the reason I haven't completed them is because they are intermediate level programming books, and will make more sense to read now, having completed "Learning Processing."

Finally, I think it's important to mention that I have noticed that it is increasingly obvious when books are written by educators, as opposed to professional coders. There is a certain command of the readers attention span that only teachers/educators can harness, and this is no exception.

I highly recommend this book, which perhaps, could have been titled more aptly "Learning to Program via Processing," but which was a fabulous read nonetheless!

grantmichaels

Of the ten to fifteen series of Latin Primers I've looked at and taught from, this is the best. The next best is probably Oxford or Cambridge. The problem with Henle and Wheelock is that although one can thoroughly understand grammar, one does not acquire the idiom. I mean idiom as Cardinal Newman in Elementary Education (in Idea of University) describes it. Oerberg best gives you a knack for "how the Latin sentence is thought" or put together (not merely idiomatic expression). It is harder to teach, but much more enjoyable. My students love learning. It also has rave reviews from teachers at the publishers' forum for Oerberg. There is also a brand new companion book that is supplement to the grammar.

It is a "natural" approach. Everything is in Latin. My students learn to recite the Latin in 2 months of 6th grade, and learn about 4 times the vocabulary without ever using a dictionary (and I only give them a few difficult words, in particular some prepositions and conjunctions).

It is difficult on your own I imagine, but there are additional resources. It's by far the best approach, the closest to actually acquiring the language by immersion. Suitable for adults and used in colleges. (Oerberg has a very subtle and also not so subtle humor, making it suitable for all ages.)I studied Latin formally for ten years and never acquired a knack for the idiom. Teaching from Oerberg has actually improved my Latin. It is, I think, an answer to Dorothy Sayers who said her biggest complaint was that after 20 years of study, she never really acquired Latin -- she started when seven.

Vive, Hans! He's done a great service for Latin pedagogy. It's really a brilliant little work as are the best Latin text books -- the difference is, this works. Latin is the toughest elementary "subject" there is -- I've taught almost all of them including AP Calc. It's also the most beneficial. I'm grateful to the Oerberg for having made it a little easier.

FINALLY, if I haven't yet convinced you, I suggest that you get it as a supplemental reader. Just read it in the Latin and try not to translate. Read and reread until you master the first book. It will help all future Latin reading. (BTW the second book is helpful too, and Hans is attempting to make an intro. to the Aeneid.)

I take latin, and this is the book we use. I think it is VERY well writen, (all in latin) and very easy to use. I would, though not recomend it as a begining latin book, but as a second year latin course. The many pictures make it fun, and it is exciting to read about the roman family; Mother, Aemilia, Father, Julius, and the three children, Marcus, Quintus and Juila, (who is my favorite!) The story's are progressive, starting with simple introductions to the geography of Italy, then meeting the family, then moving on the more complicated things like runaway slaves. All in all, this is a very well written textbook!

Orberg has given us a priceless gift that will have a prominent place in the annals of language learning for many years to come. Revised and perfected over the course of several decades, I expect this series was what began convincing language scholars that immersion, or as Orberg calls it, the natural method, is the logical and most intuitive way to learn a language.

This book should be in the personal library of every language student in the western world. It has been refined to the point of grammatical precision. I have never seen anything like it.

The book is also entertaining--no small feat for a Latin text. After learning simple geography about the Roman empire in the first chapter, you immediately become acquainted with an endearing second-century family. Soon you are hooked and learning Latin naturally as the story unfolds.

I am doing my MFA in English at UC Irvine, where I'm also taking a Latin reading course. Reading courses usually amount to, more or less, a student standing in place while an instructor tries to throw a grammar at the student's head, hoping for a direct hit. The student is then handed some passages to translate, along with a healthy pat on the back and some words of encouragement: "Figure it out! It's really hard, isn't it? Learning Latin can sure suck! Have a great weekend!"

Okay, there's a little more academic structure than that and some courses are undoubtedly better than others. But the traditional approach to learning Latin has been, seemingly to me, a rough road. This book comes to the rescue. It's amazing. The only English in the entire book appears to be on the publisher's page and the back cover. The rest is all Latin -- you pick it up and start reading. You don't even have to pick it up. You could prop it up against something and start reading that way.

The experience isn't quite magic. You need to pay careful attention to what is happening in each and every paragraph. Concepts in this book come at you fast, and while they are reinforced, it helps to pick them up clearly the first time around. For example, some distinctions of case are very subtle, as with the genitive which is, at times, indicated by a mere long vowel mark. Because Latin is inflected, it can be very compact. But if you're astute and not in a big rush, learning is accelerated by this text's approach.

I am in love with this book. It's a revelation and a lot of fun. But I don't recommend it to anyone who prefers their learning to be painful, frustrating, or unpleasant. I also don't recommend it to anyone who believes that the acquisition of a language should exclusively be a slow, classroom process punctuated by nights of stressful cramming for the next morning's test. For those people, definitely go with Wheelock and enjoy the pain.

But if you want to work toward reading Virgil and Cicero in the most pleasant way available today, this book is the way to go. I also recommend the supplementary materials, especially the grammar, the student's guide (which is very useful), and the Exercitia Latina (which really works concepts well).

My name is Matthew (the name above is my Mom's name), and I am a 16-year old homeschooled highschool student. I just recently started studying this curriculum, and am thrilled! Last year (my freshman year) I struggled through Henle Latin, a terrible curriculum, and had almost given up hope that Latin could ever be rewarding and enjoyable. Then a friend recommended Lingua Latina to my Mom, and we bought it immediately. The moment I opened the book, I knew it was perfect. Instead of bombarding students with conjugation after conjugation, declension after declension, word after word, and rule after rule, all Lingua Latina requires is that students read the fun and interesting stories that are so well presented in this book. Although this sounds too good to be true, it works! Through the use of detailed pictures and clever diagrams, the meaning of each sentence is made clear. Even if students are fuzzy about the translation of a word or phrase, Orberg repeats it plenty of times, so by the end of the chapter nothing is left unclear. The characters: Julius, his wife Aemilia, and their three children - Marcus, Quintus, and Julia (along with a multitude of servants!) The episodes in their lives are often witty and humorous, making the learning of new words and sentence structure easy and enjoyable. Lingua Latina has proved to me that the Latin Lanuage need not be boring and discouraging! I would highly recommend this curriculum!

This is the first of the three books in the series The Lord of the Rings. In the beginning, a hobbit called Bilbo Baggins celebrates 111th birthday. He then disappears to go live with the Elves in a place called Rivendell, and leaves everything to his nephew, Frodo Baggins, including a mysterious and magical ring that he found long time ago. Frodo is advised by Gandalf to go to Rivendell, and to take the ring, and to never wear it. Gandalf fears that it might be the Ring of Power (the ring that belongs to the evil lord Sauron), so he goes to Rivendell where a council is met. Frodo agrees to take the ring to Mount Doom with the help of others this group form the Fellowship. As they go, they meet various encounters, and in the end of the book, Sauron's army fights the group and steals some of the Hobbits.
I chose to read this book because I heard it was very popular. Also, I heard that the book was a fantasy book tied in with magic, battles, and a great quest. I liked reading it and I knew what was happening because I read the book The Hobbit. Then I decided to read the prologue. I also liked to read the book because it was full of adventure and danger.
My favorite part was when Gandalf faced off the monster in the shadow of the mines of Moria. It started when the Fellowship began to make their way to Isengard. Gandalf decided to lead the group into a climb through the mountains. They noticed a large group of crows flying their way. Figuring that it was some of Sauron's spies, they tried to go through the ice caps of other mountains. Then Saruman the wizard tried to stop them. So they had no choice but to go through the mines of Moria where a monster lives. This is a fire-demon monster that lives. Gandalf tried to fight the monster but Gandalf and the monster fell and the Fellowship thought Gandalf died.

This is a must have if you purchase the game. Now this is NOT the best game in the world. It is not advised to even purchase this game, it is slow... You'd be safer to go with the two towers. But if you do buy this game (probably for the same reason I did..which was it is LOTR and I just have to own it) this is the ideal companion for you. The beginning of the game is very very hard. It takes awhile to get around the Ringwraith riders, and when you finally do you go into another part of town where unless y ou know what you are doing you wont be able to find your way out. So dont expect the game to be simple, it isn't much fun, in fact it is quite aggrivating. But if you do buy the game you have to buy this so you actually know what you are doing, and not wandering around like a fool in the woods...as I was until I read some of this ;)

Lord of the Rings:
The Fellowship of the Ring
By J.R.R. Tolkien

The Lord of the Rings The Fellowship of the Ring is an action packed magical thriller. It keeps you on edge with every flip of the page.
The book begins with the old Bilbo Baggins planning for his one hundredth and eleventh birthday. Half the Shire's been invited! It looks as though it'll be a night to remember. When Bilbo vanishes during his birthday speech, he leaves the crowd in awe. Seeing as how he is now leaving, for another adventure, and shan't be returning, he leaves his precious Bag End and all his possessions behind. His heir and second cousin one-removed, Frodo Baggins now has to carry the responsibility of taking the One Ring to Mordor to be destroyed.
To get to Mordor, Frodo must leave his beloved Shire and travel through Old forests, empty plains, and rocky mountains. He soon reaches Rivendale, with the help of a strange Rider, Aragorn, and an elf named Arwin. From there, Frodo and his three faithful companions, Merry, Pippin, and Sam become part of the Fellowship of the Ring.
To find out more, read the book!

I found this book to be delightful at all hours of the day for all ages! I highly recommend it if you're looking for a great adventure with out even leaving your couch!

Finally, a book I actually like, in and out! Tolkien amazes me with his ability to imagine the diverse characters and places in The Lord of the Rings. This book portrays leadership, and the long enduring of good in an evil world. I am very pleased with the detail that Tolkien puts into the novel so that the reader can understand completely each situation. Tolkien writes the book so that the readers feel as if it could be real. It's an outstanding novel that teaches us that we need to bear our burdens and stick together so that good can prevail in a world of such turmoil.
Tolkien has made me think a lot more about my characteristics and whether or not I would be able to bear the ring. Would I be able to withstandthe temptation of putting on the ring? Or using it's power for my own good? It's an outstanding concept. This book leaves you in anticipation for the next. The suspense of what is going to happen next is nerve-racking.
Overall, I just enjoyed the material, and I feel that Tolkein is a very experienced writer. He knows how to captivate readers, and enthral their minds into the book.

I haven't played many games of this type, but I'm a huge Tolkien fan so I decided to try the game. I have to be honest-I couldn't even get out of the Shire ( the first level) until I bought this guide! I ended up using it religiously along the way, because there were many sections where I wouldn't have had any idea what I was supposed to do otherwise. For instance, there's a section in Moria where, without the guide, I would *never* have figured out where I was supposed to go, even though I religiously explore every nook and cranny when playing these types of games.

Once I bought the guide, it took me about a week to finish the game. Since then, I've decided to play it again, without referring to the guide, to see if I can make it all the way through by memory.

The book is very comprehensive, and avoids using terms that the casual gamer wouldn't understand-it doesn't talk over your head, and it's very straight forward and easy to understand. The screen shots are helpful, so that you can see what sections of the game they're referring to.

As a little added perk, this book, while showing you all of the ins and outs, still leaves a couple of tiny goodies out-not essential ones, just a couple little perks, so it still pays to explore as much as possible to see if you can find them. To me, that added to the fun, and I didn't feel like the book was doing *all* of the work for me. For instance, the book doesn't mention that, if you can find Gollum, you can get a little treat from him!

I highly recommend this game guide; in fact, I'm off to the bookstore today to pick up Prima's game guide to another LOTR game!

Got it used (great price) from an Amazon Book Seller... What an amazing book... I have a few books on Dreamweaver, starting with version 2... This is the one I've been looking for... I'm now using Dreamweaver 8 and wanted a book I could use as a reference as well as a "How To"... Easy to find what I'm looking for, without a lot of reading to get there... It's big, It's heavy, Easy to read, Easy to understand, and the most useful of all the Dreamweaver books I own... I finally found it :-)

Book goes into great depth to show most of the features in Dreamweaver 8. The book puts its topics in alphabetical order so that it is easy to find what you need.

This book is heavy in more ways than one. For one thing, it's a big thick, glossy tome that weighs a lot. However, the good news is that it's worth its wait in gold! Never have a seen such an accessible, comprehensive aid for getting things done with Dreamweaver. It's task and tool based, with every step illustrated in color. Makes it incredibly easy to do use just about every aspect of the product. You just look up the task or tool and voilla! Fortunately, it's accessibility doesn't limit its utility, so this book is also for experienced DW users. I'm amazed at the sophistication of the techniques, even though they're presented in a way that make them head-smacking easy. This just could be the best overall book on Dreamweaver yet.

The best feature about this book is that it shows you screen shots and gives step by step instructions. I have for years been trying to teach myself about Dreamweaver, now this book helps me to better understand what Dreamweaver can do to make your Website really stand out.

I teach in the same district as and have worked with one of the authors (Kim Cavanaugh) and found this book on the shelf and decided to pick it up for that reason. I like the layout of it because if you need help on CSS, you simply go to that section because it's in ABC order. As another rater stated, you do need some background in Dreamweaver but I was able to pick up some of the techniques from it. If you want a training book you'll need to look elsewhere but it doesn't tout itself as that kind of book. It's richly illustrated and the steps are nicely described. It will be a great addition to anybody's library.

This is the best book on networking that I've read so far among lots of books I own. Instead of giving you tangible things like how it is composed of, I will give you a overall taste. I am a type of person who likes to "understand" the big picture first before delving into details. Then, it makes a lot easier to go and read those details knowing that how they are fitted in overall picture.
This book will give you that overall picture in DNS/DHCP/Dynamic IP aspect of networking. In addition, after explaining the big picture, he will tell you fine details about DNS/DHCP/DDNS (but not like how to install the server but rather like what are the DNS options are and how you can you them). Things like exactly what is autonomous system & its relationships to the rest, differences between domains-zones-areas, issues related to reliability, performance, security, availibility in designing your networks are discussed. The book also include a chapter on ipv6 and its relations to DNS (at the time of writing), on quality of service, and on mobile ip. An example will be how to tune bandwidth if a node is connected to 2 networks with different MTUs (max transmission unit).
Throughout the book, I see a lot of RFC numbers and also there is no bibliography anywhere. This tells me something about the book. The book is based on his experience as a consultant, not one the translation of other resources. As far as the explanation goes, you need to have some familiarity with basics of networking and you are on your way to fully understand what he is talking about. But if other people told you that you are a very experienced administrator, this book may not be helpful to you. Finally, I personally thank Mr. Paul Ammann for writing this book.

This book helped me to understand all about TCP/IP and Dynamic DNS that I needed to know. I think it's a good book for anyone wanting to learn the basics on computer networks. It also provides a look into the inner workings of Dynamic DNS that you wouldn't otherwise see.

I don't know what else to add except that the other reviews were correct about this book. You'll really have some new thoughts about your network if your using TCP/IP. Two thumbs up.

Solve and prevent tough TCP/IP problems! This practical new book is an everyday guide to efficiently managing a dynamic IP-based network for multiple platforms-including Windows 95 and NT, AIX, Linux, Solaris, OS/2 Warp and Warp Server, Macintosh, and network computers.

In this book is a surprisingly wealth of information.

Chapter 1 provides a technical review of TCP/IP. This is not for the light-hearted. It is, however, one of the best reviews I've seen in a long time.

Chapters 2, 3, 4 detail DHCP, NetBIOS name servers (WINS), and DNS. The information contained in these chapters is very detailed without being dry, straightforward with no BS. Time went into researching these chapters. You'll won't someone just reciting the RFCs off the Internet.

Chapter 5 deals with Dynamic DNS. It's a good read and informative. This chapter shows how DHCP, NetBIOS name servers (WINS), and DNS are combined into one server. I commend the author for attempting to cover a very difficult topic.

The rest of the book shows you how to apply Dynamic DNS to your network regardless if your using Windows, Unix, or a mixture of both. The author does a good job on applying this technology to Mobile IP. The book also touches lightly on Dynamic DNS and Win2K and contains some surprising information on this topic.

At the end, there is an excellent review of solutions from several vendors. Each with its own pros and cons.

Overall, I give the author a lot of credit for this book and not being bias towards any one particular OS. I would like to see more information added when the revised edition comes out. I've been using this book for reference as my company is restructuring its network.

If you are responsible for delivering results from your company's data warehouse, you owe it to yourself to read this book. Chris Adamson has lived and breathed this stuff and he knows first hand the challenges facing those who enable the business intelligence systems that more and more organizations have come to rely on. The implementation of aggregates in your data warehouse is not trivial. Make a mistake and the consequences can be very serious indeed. Mr. Adamson is more than an author. He is a scholar, an educator, and an experienced practitioner in the data warehousing world and the information he shares in this book is worth many times the cover price.

I must confess that I was skeptic before reading the book, because I thought that it could not add very much to Kimball's books. However, I was wrong: this turned out to be a very useful book. Not only it contains the most detailed explanation of DW aggregates available, but it also contains a very good discussion of the loading process for various types of dimensions and facts, which forms the bulk of data warehouse "back room processing".
One more final plus: the author completely adopts the Kimball approach to Data Warehousing, so this book fits very nicely with other books from Wiley's describing Kimball methodology.

Mr. Adamson is certainly the foremost expert in this area. He has many years of hands-on experience, research, and knowledge in Data Warehousing. I have been able to consult his books and find answers and solutions to problems that I encounter every day in my work. You shouldn't waste your time by not buying this book. Definitely don't waste your money by buying a book written by some else.

Recently, a colleague recommended "Mastering Data Warehouse Aggregates" and I have already applied many of the powerful techniques so ably presented by Mr. Adamson. Although experienced in the implementation of the Dr. Kimball's star schema approach, I have never been able to exploit its full performance potential - until now.

Despite the complexity of the material, the book is concise and easy to understand. NOTE: Adamson's approach is not tied to any proprietary HW or SW product. The book guided me from design fundamentals to a performance-optimized upgrade of an existing data warehouse. And it didn't take a long time to do it, either.

If you're a performance-oriented data warehousing professional, you'll find this book deserves a place on your book shelf of essential references. Highly recommended.

Chris does a great job of laying out both the good and bad associated with using aggregates as a means to support Business Intelligence and Hierarchical-type queries within a Data Warehouse environment. As a disciple of Ralph Kimball's Chris kept true to the doctrine and helped the reader understand why he recommended the tacts he did throughout the manuscript. The material was easy to follow and his illustrations were clear representations of the material being presented. I especially liked that he added platform-specific hints and scenarios to tailor the material to the reader's environment. While I do not necessarily agree that building aggregate tables are the solution to many of the challenges in a Business Intelligence use of Data from a Data Warehouse, I do feel that Chris' book is a great place to start to learn the challenges and start down the path of solution to the problem. Add on material might include mention of other solutions that are not manual that also address the same challenge - such as the software package from HyperRoll.

I'm new to the Sales Role and this book is helping me a lot understand not only the process sales but how to deal with politics and things that make the technical sale.

This book is uniquely geared to the sales engineer role, not to general sales reps. Yet anyone selling technology products will learn from the detailed info on techniques and step-by-step processes for the technical sales cycle. Case studies and exercises supplement the book's discussion with real-world perspective. However, the book gives only a brief, passing reference to the role of marketing to support sales activity--an understanding that is valuable to every SE.

As a professional technical sales consultant I enjoyed this book. I particularly like the real world examples and case studies for "tricky" sales situations. Even though I think of myself as a seasoned professional I learnt some new techniques and approaches from the book; especially in how to give a technical demonstration of a piece of software.

PS. I met one of the authors who was presenting at a product launch a few weeks ago in New York and got my book autographed.

I was challenged a few months ago to explain in detail what makes up a Sales Engineer/Solutions Consultant? What does the role entail and what do you need to know to be successful? Well, if I'd read this book before that exercise then I'd have simply asked the technical trainer I was briefing to read this book!

Mastering Technical Sales, not to be mistaken with the similar sounding Making The Technical Sale by Greenwald & Milberry, is an excellent practical book that covers the needs of not just new SE's but also provides advice and knowledge for the more experienced SE, SE manager or even executive tasked with creating and maintaining an SE organisation. What I found particularly useful were the real world examples of both successful and unsuccessful practice - these lend a level of credibility and relevance to the material that perhaps the Greenwald & Milberry book lacks. (Btw, this is also a fine & very relevant book for any SE). I also particularly liked the chapter organization of summarizing the chapter goals, presenting the material, summary and then presentation of a skill-building summary for both the new SE and the experienced SE.

The book tackles pretty much every aspect of a typical SE's life from what type of person does it take and why do we do this? What do I need to do to be successful? What resources should I call upon? When? How? When & how to use executives. How to leverage corporate resources be they product management, engineering, technical support, marketing, or external resources such as partners. I thought the section on 'crossing over to the dark side' was particularly relevant and accurate as it covers the risks, the rewards and the reality of whether this is something that an SE should consider or not and more importantly, why or why not?

The book covers all the standard stuff very comprehensively from the sales process itself, presentation skills & techniques, objection and competition handling plus the realities of how to manage the sale to avoid the pitfalls of demos, succumbing to technical trials & evaluations or being driven by your competitor's agenda. All excellent material and covered well with real war stories.

Whilst this isn't the cheapest book on the subject, I'd definitely consider it worth every cent. Highly recommended.

Mastering Technical Sales provides a terrific foundation for the newly-minted Sales Engineer, a growth vehicle for the developing journeyman, and rich source-book for the seasoned professional.

While there are numerous "sales methodology" books available today, nearly all focus on the sales people and provide little or no information for the Sales Engineer and others who address the technical sale portion of the overall sales process. Mastering Technical Sales focuses on this critical area and shares how to manage and execute technical sales tasks to enjoy the highest success rates, both in the sales process and in one's professional growth.

Advice to SE's: Buy it and read it.

Advice to SE Management: Purchase copies for all of your new hires.

Excellent book with plenty and colourful images. Easy to do mods that give your computer an amazing appearance

For any computer nerd with a sense of self this book is a great guide on how to turn your favorite machine into a personalized spitting image of yourself. I found this book very easy to follow, and the instructions were easy to follow, with colour images and step by step instructions

I was in the process of building a new computer for myself and shopped Amazon.com for some books to help with my build, Maximum PC hit the mark with a book that walked me threw the whole process.Not only was I so impressed with this book, I came back and purchased two more of Maximum PC's books. Thier books are bright full colored and easy to read. You can't go wrong with any of thier books.

This book covers all the basics that a beginning modder would need to know. He also branches out into modding a computer out of found objects, using a swiss hard shell backpack as a working example. There are plenty of high quality, color photos that clearly illustrate all the processes he describes.

But my favorite aspect of this book is Paul's teachings of the proper mindset for a modder. Adventurous, inquisitive, creative, always looking for a new and/or better way to do things. He not only gives very practical advise about this mindset, but demonstrates it in the working projects he goes through in the book. It is refreshing to have the author show how he learns from his own work, instead of seeming to sit on a high throne from his 20+ years of experience.

This is a great book! The entire book is printed on glossy paper with full color printing - really, a quality book. The book has good, clear photographs on almost every page, and the writing clear and easy to understand. I've read most of the boks on PC modding, and in my opinion, this is the best one.