5 comments about Web ReDesign 2.0: Workflow that Works (2nd Edition) (VOICES).

1. As a web programmer (server-side and client-side), as well as a web designer, I found this book to be invaluable. I discovered it while working for a company that did most of their web development by the seat of their pants. I was able to establish a series of milestones using the forms and suggestions in this book, which transformed the company and their relationship with their clients. No longer was every conversation with the client about what they'd misunderstood or programmed incorrectly. They started to be proactive about getting specs, understanding the clients needs, and producing the website in a logical progression. They were transformed from an rinky-dink, amateur web development company into a focused, professional one.
   
   I highly recommend this book. I've owned the first and second edition. They both rock. Not only is it good for the all-in-one programmer/designer like me, but it's good for a development team so each player in the development process can see how their part fits into the whole and how their success contributes to the success of the project.



2. This book is very good at providing the nuts and bolts steps for a re-design project. Its helped me be detailed enough for the micro-managers and large scale enough for the hands off managers. Definitely worth having on hand for small and large projects.



3. Back in the Olden Days of the 20th Century, during the waning days of the dot-com boom, (when a lot of us pioneers thought that we were really awesome web-studs when we actually didn't know diddly-squat) Kelly Goto's first edition not only saved my tail, but actually helped me get a job with a large State located on the west coast of the USA. (I think you've probably heard of the place if you think about it..) I was able to go into the interview and knock 'em dead with my knowledge of web project management.
   
   Kelly clearly explains step-by-step what you need to do at the start of a web project in order to avoid an unmitigated disaster at the end of the project. Her advice is straight-forward, logical, and accurate.
   
   Flash forward, and suddenly I find myself a web project manager once again, called in to Save the Day because someone else did some really embarrassingly stupid things with a public website. What was the first thing that I did after getting this assignment? Find my Kelly Goto book! What was the second thing I did? Order the newer edition!
   
   Kelly offers good solid practical advice. Kelly Goto offers templates on her website. Kelly Goto has sage advice at Adobe.com [...]
   
   Heed the wisdom of the sage, Grasshopper, and you will find enlightenment.



4. My company was recently hired to do a site revision for a HUGE site. This book helped us keep our ducks in a row and do lots of up front work before we started changing over content. The client resources provided at the web site were very helpful! HIghly recommend for any web site designers/developers library.



5. I had to use this book on college, out of all my books this is the only one that I burned. I even kept my math books. Now that I am an instructor and author myself I look back on this book as the single worse publication currently in the industry of web design. Yes they do spend to much time boasting about themselves. The book goes way off topic about topics unrelated to web design without even a single attempt to justify why it has done so.
   
   Kelly is (and I quote from the book) a self-proclaimed "design ethnographer," I do not buy into this line of crap at all. A professional does not self-proclaim anything, if through hard work your peers gave you this title that is one thing. Other then that this is a sign of a person with serious egotistical issues about themselves.

No comments about MCITP Self-Paced Training Kit (Exams 70-640, 70-642, 70-646): Server Administrator Core Requirements (PRO-Certification) (PRO-Certification).

5 comments about BusinessObjects XI (Release 2): The Complete Reference.

1. It is a great book to give you an overview of the product from a user's perspective. Recommended for universe designers. Although it doesn't go in detail on best practices. This coupled with reading the business objects documentation online (which is REALLY good) shoulg get you pretty far.



2. I've been implementing and supporting BO since version 4.0.3, so I've read a few BO manuals over the years. It's difficult to encompass all the functionality of BO XI R2 into a single manual without turning it into a multi-volume text. This is a very good reference covering the major ground work of the new BO version. I recommend it as the starting point for all old and new users of BO, especially given the fact that they've totally rewired our favourite BI tool. And didn't it need it!



3. I bought the book hoping to get a sound overview of BusinessObjects - what it is, how it works, and how to use it. Instead, I found a combination of marketing gibberish and user documentation that has been recycled and updated so many times that it no longer makes any sense.
   
   This book might be useful for folks who already know some version of BusinessObjects and are looking for a refresher. But if you're trying to learn what BusinessObjects is all about, this book is a very expensive waste of money.



4. If you are new to Business Objects and need a good understanding of what Business objects does and can do then this is an excellent book. Where I work we have purchased several copies of this book. Doesn't go into tremendous detail on how to do some of the more complicated concepts of Business Objects but is more than enough to get you started.



5. I can see that a lot of work went into this book and it does a pretty good job of explaining Business Objects at a high level. This is a good book for you if you are tentative about working with computers and don't expect to do intermediate or advanced work with Business Objects.
   
   The notion that this book is a 'reference' or can replace a manual is completely off base. This book is a 'primer' not a reference. Any topic that is easily addressable through discussing the GUI is handled, but only for obvious cases. The function reference is incomplete and poorly documented. Insightful examples that make you think, "Oh, that's how you do X (where X is anything nontrivial)" are not found in this book. The kind of situations you will likely encounter if you want to create reports for a real business, are not handled. In these cases you are left to your own devices.

4 comments about SolidWorks Surfacing and Complex Shape Modeling Bible.

1. I believe this to be the best SolidWorks book for advanced part modeling currently available on the market. This is a good and informative book aimed at the intermediate/expert SolidWorks user.
   
   A good understanding of SolidWorks is required to get the most from this book.
   
   The book covers all the advanced features available in SolidWorks in detail and where it can it tells you where you would use a particular feature.
   
   The title is self explanatory. This book is primarily aimed at people that do consumer product design where appearance and smooth surfaces are required.
   
   The only reason I gave this book 4 stars is because I believe there is always room to make things better. That said, this is my best SolidWorks book yet.



2. I highly recommend this book along with Matt's "SolidWorks 2007 Bible" for those wanting to get the most out of SolidWorks. I am very impressed with the content and layout of this book. Very easy to read and the color illustrations are perfect for understanding the material. Matt's writing is clear and concise. When I first heard that this book was being written, I eagerly awaited its release. Now that I have gone through the book, it has far exceeded my expectations. Well done.



3. This book is not as good as the author's "bible" in that this one does not have as many step by step tutorials. This one covers Solidworks 2008 and 2007 mostly. I was impressed with the author's bible book so I ordered this one too. If he added more tutorials instead of writing mostly theory and details of Surfacing it would be easier too learn. The print quality of the book with colored images is very good. It did not come with a cd of tutorial files and the book in pdf format. You are told to visit website for tutorial files. So I recommend the book but it is not for beginners.



4. The book is absolutely not for the beginner or the intermediate user. It should say Experts ONLY! And even then? I've been using SolidWorks for approximately 15 months, and got very frustrated trying to understand the book.
   
   It does have many items on surfacing, mostly theory, but does not provide many practical tutorials or detail instructions. It reminds me of a person jumping off a cliff who thinks they can fly. There is no CD in the book with models to back engineer, if you can not follow the text. The book does not cut the mustard and the writing style is poor. I think I need a VAR class?

5 comments about Manage It!: Your Guide to Modern, Pragmatic Project Management.

1. Plenty of books promise project management skills and most contain concrete, practical information - especially when it's applied on a case-by-case basis meeting certain conditions rather as a global strategy for everything. This book is for software managers but also for business managers who would understand the special applications and methods for building and managing projects. From using life cycles and creating a fine team to managing meetings and multiple projects and goals, MANAGE IT! YOUR GUIDE TO MODERN, PRAGMATIC PROJECT MANAGEMENT is a highly recommended acquisition for any business library.



2. Every organization/team is different, the things that work well for one may or may not be applicable for another. It is not a beginner's book or a step by step guide to software project management. It's a great reference on things you can expect, what you can do about it and why you would want to do it that way. The great thing about this book is that it gives you the information to determine which practices you want to use and how to adapt it to your situation.



3. Manage It! Your Guide to Modern, Pragmatic Project Management by Johanna Rothman is the best project management reference I've ever read, and I've seen my share of project management tomes. Here's what I like best about the book: it's not theological. By this I mean Rothman doesn't advocate one "true" way of running projects. She is very careful to be continually cognizant of context when she talks about different approaches you might take. In this sense, she is very situational about prescribing solutions, which I like because it helps a project manager develop what I think is a critical attribute of a good project manager: good judgment.
   
   One of my favorite chapters is Recognizing and Avoiding Schedule Games, which uses comic art and prose to explain and fix schedule games that can occur on projects. Here are a few from the book:
   - Bring Me a Rock
   - Hope Is Our Most Important Strategy
   - Queen of Denial
   - Sweep Under the Rug
   - 90% Done
   and so on, for a total of 16 entertaining schedule games that every project manager eventually needs to face.
   
   Rothman is an entertaining writer with a knack for interesting prose and practical advice. Unlike most PM books I've read, I've not found anything yet where I was inclined to ignore her advice or felt an approach would require too much work and yield too little benefit. She definitely has a propensity toward simple, sustainable approaches to project management, something I sincerely appreciate due to my strong disdain for any approach with substantial overhead.
   
   Another great feature of this book is you can read it out of order, either by opening it randomly or by simply reading the sections that interest you at the moment or that apply to problems you are struggling with.
   
   Buy it. Try it. It's worth it.



4. Manage It! will help you understand how to manage projects effectively, taking into account the needs of the people working on the project as well as the needs of the business sponsors. In this regard Johanna Rothman follows in the steps of authors like Jerry Weinberg in showing you how to set up a project environment that helps software developers be more effective and thus be better able to deliver value to their customers. This book has lots of pragmatic advice on how to make progress and issues visible, how to plan a project, and most everything else you need to help a project come to a good conclusion. This book is unique in that while it discusses the benefits of agile lifecycles, it shows you how to make progress in a variety of software lifecycles, and how to introduce techniques that will help your team to be more effective even if they don't really "fit" into your defined process.
   
   Buy this book if you want to be a more effective project manager (or technical lead who works with project managers), or if you want to be more agile but are not sure how. What I liked most about this book is the focus on how project management processes can help people be more (or less) effective; an understanding of the primary role of people in a project is key to being more agile.



5. This book is years of experience condensed to its best. It addresses all important aspects of modern project management. It is objective towards many different processes but it clearly makes the point that agile is the best choice in most cases.
   
   While reading this book, it opened my eyes again and again -- Yep, been there, seen that.
   
   I encourage every project manager to read this book from beginning to end; this will put hooks in your mind to come back later and re-read the appropriate chapter when needed. After having read this book, it makes a great reference. I use it to make sure I have not overseen anything when reaching certain life cycle events.
   
   Thanks Johanna, this book was overdue for a long time!

5 comments about Microsoft Expression Web For Dummies.

1. I really was hoping that I could cobble together an actual website after reading this, but no. As another reviewer said, it's a mix of the extremely simple and the very complex. There's no in between for someone like me who has created websites in Front Page and other such applications and would like to to the same in Expressions Web. Alas, there is no bridge from one to the other in this book.
   
   Maybe, after I go out an buy another book that tells me how to use the application I can go back to this one and cull some good tips out of some of the chapters on CSS. I thought that the Dummies series was supposed to have that entry-level book, but I thought wrong.



2. This book may not be the best book available to get you up & running with expression web quickly, but it has been a valuable resource for me. It has a good index for finging topics quickly, and the explanations of how to do things in Expression Web are fairly simple.



3. This book may seem a bit redundant for frequent users of FrontPage as there are many similar GUI features.
   
   However first time users of Expression Web or limited FrontPage users will find many helpful tips, tricks and quick facts for using Expression Web.
   
   Well worth reading



4. I like the Dummies series so I expected to like it. It provided an easy format for me to learn Expression Web. Good book



5. I'd been trying to use a book from Microsoft, but it didn't help much. I got this book, and I was able to work on my website much more quickly. I'm not completely done yet, but I couldn't be as far as I am without this book. I give it high marks.

5 comments about Beginning XML, 4th Edition (Programmer to Programmer).

1. I am taking an XML class at the University using this book as the required course text. The authors do a good job at highlighting the key technologies, and the examples and tutorials significantly enhance the material. I enjoy the straight-forward manner with which Hunter and his friends explains what the example code in the book does. My only disappointment is that the book does not explain in enough detail how to use XML technologies on non-Microsoft systems. I believe a greater emphasis on Java and non-VB/ASP/.NET can extend the benefits this book otherwise offers.



2. (I don't have time for a full review right now,so I will write a few comments and try to add to them.)
   
   I knew very little about XML, so this sounded promising. As of Chapter 8, my general comments are:
   
   1. The teaching structure is often murky. At many spots, the authors don't seem to grasp what a beginner needs to know first in order to go to the next step. This makes the material unnecessarily difficult and confusing.
   
   2. Instead of one example page, for some reason the authors will sometimes create one XML page to illustrate a point, then create another completely different page to illustrate the next point, then go back to the first one for the next point, etc. It's inexplicable. The book would be much easier to follow, and probably easier to write, if they built one XML page from scratch and used/modified it throughout the book.
   
   3. There are too many editorial screw-ups, such as "Figures" that are labeled incorrectly or don't exist -- that is, the text will say "see Figure 7 for the output" and Figure 7 will be the wrong one. I really have no patience with expensive books that don't bother to pay for one thorough copy-editing.
   
   I am currently on Chapter 8 (XSLT), one of the worst-written ones. After a completely unnecessary discussion about "procedural" versus "declarative" programming (I imagine every reader is at least basically familiar with css, and if not, it is hardly difficult to understand "declarative" programming), the book just starts throwing XLST terms at you, with no foundation as to what they are doing or why. I finally gave up and pulled up the online W3C tutorial. This tutorial is free, covers most of the material, and is well-organized and easy to understand. Teaching in logical order isn't that hard.
   
   There is a ton of good information in "Beginning XML", and the information on how to find, install, and use software such as Saxon and Schematron is invaluable. It is a shame that the authors didn't take the time to actually give the book to a few XML novices and then rewrite it as the introductory text it is supposed to be. The poorly organized writing at least doubles, and often triples, the time, energy, and painful confusion needed to learn the material.



3. Other than the fact that you can tell that the book was written by 5 different guys because of the the difference in writing styles between chapters, overall it is packed full of information and a handy reference.



4. I'm currently reading this book and enjoying it very much. You probably would understand it more if you are already a programmer. But I think it's good for non-programmers as well.
   Covers a lot of the new technologies that are using XML, which is very useful.



5. This book is very concise and it tells a lot about the subject including other topics such as XSLT, RSS, and many other web technologies related to XML. Would highly suggest buying.

5 comments about The CSS Anthology: 101 Essential Tips, Tricks & Hacks.

1. I am a web designer by career. And when our company began moving into CSS, I thought I'd better find some good books. This one was fantastic. It's filled with a lot of examples and tricks that not only taught me about CSS at a level I could quickly grasp, but it also provided examples that I could actually pull and use in my projects.
   
   I own other sitepoint books such as "The Principles of Beautiful Web Design" and "CSS the Ultimate Reference" and they are all fantastic. I'm beginning to think that sitepoint is a great source for knowledge. I recommnend this book highly.



2. This book has some good examples, and the way that the author describes the code is very well done. I question the overall value of this book, though, because this book is designed with neither the beginner, nor the advanced user in mind.
   
   Ms. Andrews begins her book by making an incredibly quick overview of how CSS works and what it's for, but by no means explains it in enough detail for a beginner to really catch on. As she progresses through the question and answer format, she will quickly lose whatever intended audience she thought she had: the first half of the book is painfully simple, the second half is too advanced for the beginners, and probably too basic for advanced users.
   
   It is difficult to use the guide as a direct reference because of it's format...an unfortunate problem that comes of the way she chose to write this book.
   
   While I do feel that this guide increased my knowledge of CSS, I can't say that the few little tricks I learned were necessarily worth the money I spent on the guide, and that serious users should consider another option.



3. For those of us who are beginners or intermediate programmers of CSS, I would recommend this book. From beginning use to advanced hints and tips, this book has something for everyone. Any book that helps me to learn even one item more than I already knew is a benefit to my library, and you can't beat Amazon.com for price!



4. After reading two great Sitepoint books* cover to cover and returning to them again and again, I thought "The CSS Anthology" would be another good purchase.
   
   Unfortunately, this book makes learning web design as frustrating as the other two books made it easy. I'm on the verge of returning it.
   
   The writing is not as simple, clever or memorable (important in a How-to) as the other books. Instead, the author tends to complicate rather simple concepts and blur the lines between topics.
   
   I'm at about an intermediate level with CSS. The few solutions here that aren't too basic are hopelessly complicated by bad writing. It is easy to waste a day trying to get something from this book to work, simply because the subject was not well presented.
   
   Because "The CSS Anthology" is not designed to be read straight through- I find myself using internet tutorials to find the same information. Not only do the Internet solutions tend to work better, they're easier to find and easier to understand.
   
   I'll probably try to get my money back. Skip this one from the Sitepoint library.
   
   *"Build Your Own Websites the Right Way Using HTML & CSS" and "The Principles of Beautiful Web Design"- Both excellent for beginners



5. CSS is difficult to master, and most who have have done so over a period of years, through trial and error, and from picking up tips one by one from the community of practitioners. Rachel Andrew's CSS Anthology doesn't offer much for the CSS veterans (I found only 1 tip I didn't know), but it's is absolutely full of all the good stuff that we CSS authors treasure and, of course, USE on a daily basis. The best part? Most instances in this book follow Web standards--you won't find that to be true with many other CSS books.

No comments about Troubleshooting Oracle Performance.

1 comments about Digital Dice: Computational Solutions to Practical Probability Problems.

1. This is a delightful book showing how probability can be made to come alive by using Monte Carlo simulation. Wonderful examples are given to demonstrate this. A little experience in Excel or Matlab suffices to solve by simulation interesting probability problems that are otherwise not easily amenable to an analytical solution. The book is an excellent appetizer for more mathematical books combining probability and simulation such as the highly recommended books Understanding Probability: Chance Rules in Everyday Life by Henk Tijms and Intuitive Probability and Random Processes using MATLAB by Steven Kay.