« My book reviews for 2001 »

Reviews : November 2001

Special Edition Using Excel for Windows 95 by Ron Person
  ...   Published by QUE Corporation   (ISBN 0-7897-0112-X)

The secrets to unleashing the full power of Excel for Windows 95 - at your fingertips. Quotes the back. Well, I don't know about secrets as such but it as in depth as you like, through I'd be happier is the section of macro's was somewhat larger. If you are serious about spreadsheets through, the 1200+ pages here make for a very good reference book.

Naturally you will likely look for a copy covering your version of Excel, be if from Office 2000 or even XP. Recommended.

ECDL3 The complete Course book by Brendan Munnelly and Paul Holden
  ...   Published by [ ] Prentice Hall   (ISBN 0-130-90837-1)
cf InformIT

Everything you need to pass the European Computer Driving licence
I actually read in the local paper about a girl who completed the ECDL course in two months instead of the 1 - 3 years they expect adults to work through it. If this book is anything to go by, I could take it in an afternoon! OK, maybe not one afternoon, but I would say anyone with a few years computer experience would stroll through this course. If you are relatively new to computers though, I believe this is written well enough to be an invaluable aid to anyone taking the exam. I'm going to take the exam for the heck of it after reading this, every string for the bow helps, are the saying goes.

Another recommended read

A Simple Guide to Flash 5 for Windows by Brian Salter and Naomi Langford-Wood
  ...   Published by [ ] Prentice Hall   (ISBN 0-130-61031-3)
cf InformIT

I haven't found the time to master Macromedia's Flash yet, but when I do, I'll sure this easy to read book will be a godsend as the examples and carefully chosen screen grabs make for intuitive training.

Flash in easy steps by Nick Vandome
  ...   Published by [ www.ineasysteps.com ] Computer Step   (ISBN 1-84078-106-8 )

As with the Simple Guide to... above, this in another beginners guide to this powerful application.
Worth a look.

Reviews : October 2001

Javascript Made Simple by Peter McBride
  ...   Published by Made Simple Books, An imprint of Butterworth-Heinemann   (ISBN 0-7506-3797-8)

Walks you through fifty odd pages of HTML before it gets anywhere near Javascript. If you are delving into Javascript I would hope you have a firm grasp of web editing first myself, but there you go. Grumble done with, it's not that bad actually. I've not the time at the minute to master Javascript, but in the future I will come back to this as it is easy to digest.

Javascript Programming for absolute beginners by Andy Harris
  ...   Published by [ www.prima-tech.com ] Prima Tech, a division of Prima Publishing   (ISBN 0-7615-3410-5)

I'm a funny beggar, I guess. I don't like it and am unlikely to plough through it.
It's tedious then?   Nope.
Too complex for beginners, that is it isn't it!   Nope!
The use a font called, or similar to OCR. Might be fine for the odd cheque or even as a headline font, but to put all the source code examples in it...

Wipes his watering eyes and sticks it back on the shelf, largely unread.

Visual Start Guide : Javascript for the World Wide Web (4^thed.) by Tom Negrino and Dori Smith
  ...   Publish by Peachpit Press (ISBN 0-201-73517-2)

Despite claiming you'll be up and running in no time I am inclined to think you need a basic introduction to Javascript first. Assuming you have familiarised yourself with the 'Hello World!' of JS (which it does starts with), it goes on in depth to be rather useful. As for the appendices. Anyone using Javascript wants this tome handy just for the back pages! Covers Genealogy (which object work with which browsers), reserved words, full CSS references and the ubiquitous links section. What can I say. Look it over. If you like the format get it, else the search continues.

Letts Revise A2 Computing by Roger Legg
  ...   Published by Letts   (ISBN 1-85805-910-0)

Picked up this book by mistake actually, but I must say I like it. Any course that throws the student into the deep end with low level assembly programming gets my vote. It's I didn't have all my other courses plotted out I'd be tempted to take the exam.

What you I think then? If you are actually study the A2 course, get it, period. Beyond that, from the brief and enjoyable read I reckon it will be of interest to anyone with more than a passing interest in computers or in programming. Covers everything from bubble sorts to system development. Recommended reading.

Visit Letts for free education and revision advice

Microsoft Office User Specialist - Microsoft Excel 2000 - Cheat Sheet by Rick Winter
  ...   Published by [ www.quecorp.com ] QUE   (ISBN 0-7897-2116-3)

Didn't realise it at the time when I picked it up, but this book is actually aimed at professionals wanting to prepare for the MS MOUS exam. Apparently the book is approved courseware. It's one of those "If you have this qualification you are worth more in the marketplace" things. Never bothered myself, but seeing how easy it , even for the "expert" level of the exam, maybe I will one day.

Taken that it's aimed at passing an exam in Excel, not learning Excel, here's my thought. If you are taking the MOUS exams, get this book and it's companion in Access etc, if you want to increase your expertise, there are weightier books out there. After glancing though it, I reckon that anyone willing to put the effort in could use this range to pass all the Office User Specialist exams and get a pay rise worth far more than the cost of the books and exam fees (About $70)

Teach Yourself Excel 2000 by   Moira Stephen
  ...   Published by Hodder & Stoughton   (0-340-77171-2)

Like the other Teach Yourself, it was a little dry for my liking, if books can be said to be dry. If you have a little understanding of Excel and want to be competent, then it's as good a place to start as any. No where near as good as the '3D visual approach' below, but it is a smaller format book, suited to keeping handy in work and offers more in depth information. I'll give it a 6/10

Microsoft Excel 2000 Simplifed by maranGraphics, Inc
The 3D Visual® Approach to learning Excel 2000
  ...   Published by IDG Books   (ISBN 0-7645-6053-0)

Well, that was a breath of fresh air after the sad tome below!
It's the graphics that do it. It's aimed at beginners, but if you are new to Excel, or even spreadsheets in general, this book richly deserves a space on your shelf. I've been using spreadsheets for nearly twenty years, all the way back to Visicalc and it still gave me a new perspective. OK, I never learned anything "new" but it shone a light on things. What can I say, I'm impressed. This is the first computer book I've ever read that I can honestly say, "Hey that makes sense". Better even than the rightly respected 'Idiots guide...' and 'Dummies guide...' series. Certainly I will be looking for more books in this range. Naturally, they also write for more advanced levels of expertise.

Microsoft Excel 2002 - Simply Visual
  ...   Published by Perspection Inc for Sybex Inc   (ISBN 0-7821-4006-8)


Glanced though it in five minutes and that's five minutes longer that I needed. It is only a beginners guide, but it's printed in pale blue ink with the odd screen grab of an few cells. I wouldn't bother if I was you...

You might want to glance over the other books they do at Sybex e-Trainer see if there's anything better.

Reviews : September 2001

David Gemmel Echoes of the Great Song
  ...   Published by Bantum press   (ISBN 0593 04195X)

Follows the trials and demise of a race of Atlantean-like near immortals as catastrophe after catastrophe reduce the super-race to a mere handful of survivors. So much for the synopsis, what was the book like ?

I found it poignant, but humorous. You have to read it, if only to follow the madman Viruk. You are reading it as if you are finding the stuff behind the myths and legends of a tribe.

Viruk grinned, and levered himself to one elbow. I don't know why you sub-humans cannot grasp simple realities, he said. We don't get what we deserve, idiot. We get what we get. Now if you are going to stab me, do it. If not, call for a surgeon. I may be a god, but I am a god with a broken leg.

David Gemmel Morningstar
  ...   Published by Arrows Books Ltd   (ISBN 0-09-922891-2)

I have yet to read a book by David Gemmel that I don't like, but this particular novel is passing brilliant. As well as being thought provoking, it gives a book realistic view. The heroes saving the nation aren't shining Paladins and claymore wielding barbarians, but thieves and murderers doing their level best to get out the way and avoid the conflict they are roped into. Besides that, it's full of sarcastic humour, which gave me a few laughs.

After the hunchbacked, Wulf, slides down a hill and breaks his bow...

Best I've ever had, he muttered. Had it blessed by the Abbess. It's never let me down before. Witchcraft, that's what it is!
You fell on it said Mace. That's not witchcraft, that's just clumsiness.

R.A. Salvatore Forgotten Realms : The Silent Blade
  ...   Published by TSR   (ISBN 0-7869-1388-6)

Yet another foray by the heroes Drizzt, Wulgar, Cattie-bBrie, Regis and Bruenor in the continuing saga of the sentient crystal Crenshinibon. This books waxes philosophical as they travel to have the evil destroyed and Wulgars twisted mind conjures up personal demons and affects moral all around due to his bottled rage and inner turmoil after ten years on torture in the Abyss.

Hardly the best of the Forgotten Realms books, but I enjoyed it all the same. My only regret is that the gits that took over TSR (Wizards of the Coast, now owned by Hasbro) continue to largely avoid the UK and indeed Europe as a whole. A decade ago you could walk into any bookshop, even Woolworths or WH Smith and pick up a copy Dragonlance or Forgotten Realms Novel. Now ? Even specialist games stores and TSR stockists like Forbidden Planet have a pathetically small range available. *SIGH*

Reviews : August 2001

Visual Start Guide : HTML for the World Wide Web (4^th ed) by Elizabeth Castro
  ...   Publish by Peachpit Press (ISBN 0-201-35493-4)

If you want to get to grips with HTML then this is an excellent starting point. After a brief and interesting intro it gradually takes you from the "Hello World!" stage to forms, using cascading style sheets, and beyond. It even covers promoting your site. I liked the section on hiding selective dividers on tables using <table border=1 rules=area>, which was a new one on me. A quick look in the appendices tells me that this is ratified under the HTML4 standard and should work with almost all browsers.

Overall, I can heartily recommend this book to anyone interested in writing their own web sites.

Warhammer : Lords of Valour (Edited by Marc Gascoigne & Christian Dunn)
  ...   Published by Black Library Publications   (ISBN 1-84154-150-8)

I used to play the Warhammer RPG so naturally I gravitate towards then novels based on the Games Workshop game. Most the books in the collection are quite good, but I'm in two minds about this collection of short stories. Some are good, others, rather less so as they seem to borrow heavy on Arthurian legend, which I don't recall as being in evidence before. One of the acid tests I have of deciding how good a book is whether or not I can read it when my children are being boisterous. I ended up finishing this at 3am in the morning because I couldn't concentrate on some of the stories.

Yes, it was OK, but there are far better books than this to spend your money on...

Reviews : July 2001

Brian Lumley   Return of the Deep Ones and other Mythos tales
  ...   Published by   ROC Books (ISBN : 0-14-017303-X)

If you like H.P. Lovecraft or even August Derleth's work, you'll enjoy this collection of Cthulhu inspired tales. What more can I say...

Visual Start Guide : Fireworks for Windows & Macintosh 3 by Sandee Cohen
  ...   Publish by Peachpit Press   (ISBN 0-201-70452-8)

Yes, I know Fireworks is at version 4 now, but this book was available so I got it, and as it happens, found it pretty darn good. It's a well written beginners guide that is easy to read and got me to understand all the functions of Fireworks 4 in double quick time. I'd check if it is being revised* for Fireworks 4 before buying but that aside, I can highly recommend it.
(*It was revised from Fireworks 2)

Brian Lumley's   E-Branch Series
  ...   Published by Hodder & Stoughton

The stories revolved around the idea of wormholes and vampires. These are books 11-13 in the Necroscope series so I guess it was a daft idea to read them thus. The books made constant references to the past (books) as I kept having this nagging feeling in the back of my head that I was missing the picture somewhere. That aside, what did I think?

I read them in three days and whilst I couldn't put them down I was constantly annoyed as the descriptions of the main characters - often seeming verbatim - were repeated in every book.   I get the feeling that if I bothered to read the other ten volumes I'd have the same features rammed down my throat.   It's cynical I know and I mean no insult to the author, but is felt like is was done to boast the word count rather than the story line.   Also, the accents of the Irish, Australians and Scottish encountered were almost cliche in the wording.

The plot has a few kinks that still niggle me too.   One of the characters, a psychic member of that E-Branch, knowing what was trapped below her and fully understanding the possible (and eventual) repercussions, lets three powerful vampires into the world when she could have let destroyed them.   This was to hopefully save the life of a worker she knew was as good as dead man anyway!   Then there's a three year gap in the story where I get the feeling it never happened, or it happened in a different order.   Finally is the end.   Up to the last chapter, I'd been reasonably enjoying the plot.   Then, it follows, the three vampires or Wamphyri are all killed off as they try to flee back to their own world, but the "heroes" are all now vampires themselves.   OK so far.   The ending is the precognitive main character, Ian Goodfly, seeing the future where E-Branch is fighting a world overrun by vampires seeded by the now dead Wamphyri, and again hundred of years into Earths future where mankinds wins out.

Overall? I'm not sure if I wholly enjoyed them, but if (or when) volume 14 comes outs I will get it. Go figure!

DK Essential Managers : Information Technology by Steve Sleight
  ...   Published by Dorling Kindersly (ISBN 0-7513-2788-3)

Seems to be aimed at middle-managers wanting the basics and owners of small companies thinking of investing in IT.   Covering the basics of computers and of the Internet, it includes chapters on outsourcing, and e-commerce.

This one of a range of mini-books (around 70 pages) and, like all Dorling Kindersley books, is extremely well written and designed. If you have used computers in a business environment for any length of time you will likely find it too simplistic, for the target market, well worth it. Certainly I'll be looking over the other "Essential Managers" titles.

Adobe Photoshop® by Design Beginner's Technique Guide.
  ...   Published by Hayden Books (ISBN 0-7897-2084-1)

Essentially a step by step guide to designing a few teddy bears and a robot. Written in 1998 it doesn't cover the features of the latest version of Photoshop, but taken as a set of projects it will guide you into using the packages various features. Hardly an essential purchase, but taken from the library, or a in book sale, then worth looking over. I'm not terrible artistic myself, but my wife (who's never used a paint package) is going to try to do a few of the pictures so I'll add her comments later.

DON'T MAKE ME THINK. A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability" by   Steve Krug
  ...   Published by Que Publishing. (ISBN 0-7897-2310-7)

This is a no-nonsense approach to web design and makes for very easy reading. Happily a number of his principles I already apply and the rest, well a number of them will be worked into this site with this revision.
It's not about the usual verbiage like three clicks and your out, but more akin to sage advice to the effect, would you *as a user* surf a web site that did...

Krug's cleverly worded advice explains that no matter how creative you (the design team) want to be, no matter how tempting you (the sales director) make the offers, the crunch test is the 250,000,000 potential viewers that have there own agendas, perspectives and tolerances. If you aren't making it easy for them, forget it.

Examples are as "obvious" as changing Enter Keyword [ ][ ] to   Search [ ] for [ ]
The simple things that all make the difference, eh.