4 comments about Macromedia Captivate: The Definitive Guide (Wordware Applications Library).

1. I had been looking for a book on Captivate for some time, so I was happy to see this one come out. Having used Captivate for a few months now, I had gotten beyond the basic 'how-to' and was looking for some of the more advanced tips & tricks.
   
   As I read through the book, I was amazed at all of the little things I picked up, even in chapters were I thought I knew how to do what the author was describing.
   
   The book is well-written and well-designed. It contains a lot of very good information that will help any Captivate user, beginning or advanced, to turn out a better product.
   
   I would recommend the book to anyone who uses or is thinking about using Captivate.



2. The book was delivered on time and in excellent quality.
   
   It will be very helpful if Amazon explored the possibility of delivering books to India. I requested for this order to be delivered to my daughter in Portland, Oregon and she further mailed the same to me as a post-parcel.
   
   Thanks,
   Hema



3. The book is well organized and written clearly, however, I was hoping to find a little more in-depth information for a more advanced user.
   This book will really help you if you are a Beginning or early Intermediate user of Captivate.



4. This book is rated for Introductory to Advanced users. I would rate it as something akin to "Captivate for the Mentally challenged" and a complete waste of time if you have used captivate for more than 30 minutes.
   
   Don't waste your money on this book. Play with the application a bit and this book quickly becomes irrelevant paper pulp. I look for a bit more than information on resizing windows and slide elements in a definitive guide.
   
   Sorry, Brenda.

3 comments about Quake 4 Mods For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech)).

1. The title is Quake 4 Mods for Dummies. The tag line is "Ever wonder what Quake 4 would be like if it included that especially cool weapon you dreamed up? Here's the fun and easy way® to find out." But here's the deal: it will show you how to INCLUDE that fancy new weapon, but not how to make it. Nor will it tell you how to change the gameplay mechanics of the game.
   What you get instead is 200+ pages of how to make maps. At the end of that is a small section on how to make a GUI, reskin models, and package them for putting into the game.
   I'm giving it 3 stars because it seems like a pretty nice map tutorial, but this is NOT a book on how to make mods. If you wanted to learn how to make that machine-gun-shotgun, you're out of luck here. If you wanted to find out how to make new power-ups, you're out of luck here.
   Summary, the book would be better named Quake 4 Mapping for Dummies.



2. While this book does primarily cover mapping for Quake 4 (which is a form of modding), it also covers other aspects of modding (although in lesser detail). However, if you want to make a new level for the game, this book rocks. It comes with complete examples on making maps from start to finish. It shows you how to make custom textures for your maps and characters. Then it shows you how to package and release your map to the world.
   
   [...]
   
   Definitely worth the price. You'll be making your own maps for your friends or clan by the end of the weekend.



3. Sadly this thing only really covers Map making,with the title it has I would cry foul and demand your money back,unless you are focusing on maping.

1 comments about OpenGL Graphics Through Applications.

1. This is not a terrible book, but there are much better books to learn OpenGL. My favorites are "OpenGL Distilled" and "OpenGL Super Bible".
   
   This book does provide some simple applications of OpenGL that the other books don't. Image Processing, Edge detection, curve fitting, fractals, etc.
   
   There is source code available on the Springer web-site. The examples are mostly C and GLUT. This is not great code, but small simple examples to illustrate the applications from the book. Though much of the code is somewhat Windows centric, I was able to compile and build the projects on my Mac without much difficulty. In the end the results and time spent didn't seem to be worth the effort.

1 comments about Beginner's Guide to SolidWorks 2005.

1. If you want to enter the world of solid works this is the book you must have. Easy to follow with step-by-step instruction and illustrations.
   I took the training and after I finish I could start making my own drawings. Also this is a good quick reference for the experienced designers.

5 comments about Differential Equations with Mathematica, Third Edition.

1. Abell and Braselton strike a nice balance between the analytical solution of differential equations by hand, and numerical solution by computer. Mathematica is used to simplify some of the details, but they teach how to do everything by hand, including programming runge-kutta solution methods, fourier series, and other topics that lazier authors might have skipped over.

   Every chapter starts with basic definitions and builds to useful solution techniques. The book is packed with fully worked examples. My edition is a few years old and talks about the "newly released" Mathematica 3.0, but everything applies just as well to version 4.2.




2. I was expecting more. The notebooks on CD-ROM were not particularly helpful. All I could do with them was to run the authors's examples. Could not modify them to do my own.

   Unless you are a complete novice in the field of differential equations, don't buy this book!




3. This book explains differential equations in a mathematical context rather than simply a "plug and chug" approach. What is particularly good is the section on partial differential equations and their applications. I have used the second edition extensively in my work, and the third edition is even better. The authors are to be congratulated for their clarity in writing.



4. I am using this book to brush up on the subject. In Chap 2, for instance, I have found a couple of places were the examples using Mathematica and those worked out on paper do not follow each other. Errors generated are shown for some Mathematica examples but not others.
   Heavily dependent on using Mathematica to do the legwork, coverage of the basics is sparse.
   Not a book for people just starting out learning Differential Equations. I would have rated this book lower if I was depending on it as a textbook or tutorial.



5. If you're taking a course in ODEs and your primary text doesn't have some kind of Mathematica supplement, then this book might help you learn to solve differential equations with Mathematica.
   
   However, this book most emphatically is *NOT* a good place to learn diffy Q's if you're a novice or you don't have some other source of instruction. The author tends to dance around from topic to topic a bit much; she frequently presents the "condensed" version of definitions or proofs; and she has a tendency to drop very advanced notions (e.g. nonlinear equations) into the middle of simple discussions without warning. Much of the time, she seems to be assuming that her audience already knows the subject matter, so she can just give a quick sketch of some topic.
   
   This book really doesn't provide enough value to justify its high price.

3 comments about Gardner's Guide To Internships In New Media: Computer Graphics, Animation and Multimedia.

1. Students of computer graphics, animation or multimedia will find Gardner's Guide To Internships In New Media an involving reference which profiles hundreds of companies sponsoring internships in these new media. Contacts, phone numbers, and all the details necessary to assess a company's internship offerings make for a fine guide.



2. This book gives the reader a definite edge in the quest for new media internships. Let's face it, the only way get a really good job in computer graphics or animation is to start off in an internship. And the only way to get a good internship is to have an edge over all the other applicants. Gardner's guide is a huge help to students trying to get an internship in new media, I would definitely put this book on my top ten books for the 2G.



3. Gardner's Guide To Internships In New Media: Computer Graphics, Animation And Multimedia is a definitive, ground-breaking guide for high school and college students which profiles hundreds of companies in the visual effects industry who offer internships in graphic design, photography, animation, television production, web design, film and computer graphics. Information is provided on various industry magazines, a list of international festivals, and a list of fully digital television productions studios. The company profiles include general information about the company, internships available (summer, fall, winter, spring, and year round), benefits and contact information (often with E-mail and website addresses). Gardner's Guide To Internships In New Media is an unique, indispensable job training and internship guide that is highly recommended for community and school based job counseling and employment center reference shelves.

1 comments about The Blackbirch Kid's Almanac of Geography (Individual Titles).

1. This is the most engaging almanac for children: bright colorful pictures, easy to understand information and a wide range of subjects very interesting for all ages. My 5 year old is enthralled and her grandfather spent the majority of his visit last weekend poring over this volume. How lucky we were to stumble across it!

5 comments about Real World Scanning and Halftones (3rd Edition) (Real World).

1. I bought the book sight unseen based on the glowing reviews here.

   I wanted to get specific, detailed insight to which scanners worked well, and how to get great and consistant color out of them.

   I got none of that. There was no detailed instruction on how to make and use color profiles with scanners.

   They talk "about" scanning quite a lot, but give no hard specifics. Often the advice is that "more expensive scanners work better." That's something that I didn't need the book to tell me.

   It does cover a great deal of basics for first-timer users, but little for people who already know how to pump pixels.

   Every time I thougt it might get into some of the details I wanted, the chapter ended.

   It is written too casually for me. It appears to be written by a few guys who have been around publishing. It reads like a collection of casual "shop talk," more than hard info. The authors occasionally get in over their heads technically and make some mistakes trying to explain things that they admit they don't understand, like how JPEG compression works.

   I returned my copy, a great thing about Amazon. I got nothing out of it. One cool trick they suggested for Photoshop didn't even work. (c) 2000 kenrockwell.com




2. I've learned some thngs from this book, however like one other reviewer stated, just when you thought it was going to get to the good stuff, some stupid flip remark would be made and the chapter or discussiong would end. Very difficult reading. Too much about prepress. Not enough about photoshop, scanning and color management. Reads like childish manerishums. Author's have very immature writing styles.



3. Frequently, I find that I have to buy books that are overly technical for my purposes in order to get all the info I want. This book suits me, (though it may not suit the needs of a graphics profession). There are no buyer's guides to specific models of scanners here. However, there is a lot of detail about how scanners, scanning software and graphics programs work. The authors provide such arcana as the formula for determining what size a scanned image will be (depending on the options you pick) and goodies like this. There is info on file formats, compression, how to choose resolution and what influences the outcome of scans and how to correct the result. There is also a lot of information most applicable to professional print work, for which I have no particular use, except that info of this type helps to fill out my picture of how digital imaging works. If you want suggestions for scanning projects to do with your kids, look elsewhere, but if you're interested in the theory of scanners I would recommend this book. I'll also mention that, in my view, the writing is clear and well-organized and if I occasionally must pause to consider it's only because the material requires a little thought. This is not rocket science, but neither is it Sponge Bob and the authors treat it accordingly.



4. As one of the authors of the third edition of the book (2004), let me tell you that the third edition (2004) has been entirely revised, redesigned, and overhauled. Keep that in mind as you read reviews below of the 2nd (1998) and 1st editions (1993).

   In the latest edition, we've restructured the book around the scanning and digitzing workflow: starting with scanners and digital cameras; moving through correction; then into output onto ink jet, film, screen, and (extensively) offset press as halftones.

   Our Web site at www dot rwsh dot com contains a downloadable chapter and other information about the book, or you can use Amazon.com's Inside the Book feature to read pages here.




5. For someone like me, a novice in using the scanner, this was just right. I purchased a very high end scanner, and wanted to do more than just scan pictures, documents, etc. The hardware came with decent color management software, which was upgradable at no cost. I've used it more often and more efficiently for more projects as a result of this book. The areas that I din't like, didn't need, or didn't understand were just left for later investigation. It has, though, spurred me on to do a little research beyond what's in the book and in this way has assisted me in acquiring a bit more scanner skill.

5 comments about Genetic Programming : An Introduction : On the Automatic Evolution of Computer Programs and Its Applications (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Artificial Intelligence).

1. We all know that kind of books where the author likes to show how much he knows making things intentionally complex....well...this is the opposite side of the spectrum.
   The book is very complete and detailed yet easy to read, even after a day of work.
   The first part of the book contains introductory information on background areas like probability, biology and computer science as a general discipline.
   Getting into the topic, it clarifies some of the differences between evolutionary systems and genetic algorithms and shows how all this contributes to the theory of genetic programming and the evolution of computer programs.
   It explains how things are done with different types of individuals (tree, linear, graph, etc) and gives valuable insight about the implementation process.
   Although you may need other sources for formal treatment of some topics, this book is a very good acquisition.



2. I skimmed the Koza books (GP: I & II) and this one at the store. Using the layout, chapter names, and the introductory chapters as my guide, I decided to buy this book to introduce me to the current state of the art in GP. The strengths of this book are its textbook format and the informal exercises that are presented for the reader at the end of every chapter. There is also a great deal of compilation from other relevant gp works presented in a localized, intra-chapter basis. The book is thus highly digestable to a newcomer, and is a far less time-consuming way to learn about GP than through the "expert" papers on the web. Having now almost finished the book, I feel that I am ready and able to author and apply GP techniques in a wide variety of applications and languages, having spent less than 20 hours in study time. A terrific achievement by Banzhaf and company, highly recommended.



3. This book is good for getting a general view of genetic programming. Nevertheless, I think it neglects many details. For example, it is very hard to from the book how a simple selection strategy (tournament selection) works in practice.

   I do not think this book is useful for someone intending to code a genetic programming algorithm.




4. It's rare to find an advanced computer science textbook that's both so engaging and so informative. I've only read the first seven chapters so far, but when I sat down to write my first genetic algorithm (for real research use), the book had already prepared me well.
   
   It's hard to imagine a better introductory textbook for this topic.



5. I have no idea how this is marketed as a college level text on the subject. It is just a 'high level' text suitable for non programmers interested in learning some of the terminology regarding Genetic Programming, with little or no practical information. This book was published in 1998, there are many free texts with far more practical information. I bought A Field Guide to Genetic Programming, which is also available as a free pdf, with this book, and the Field Guide is a far far better book on all counts.

No comments about The Geography Teacher's Guide to the Classroom.