Reviews : Jan 2004 to 2005

Update September 2004, June 2005

No, I haven't abandoned this section - books are an integral part of my life - I've just been running round in circles with everything else.

Out of interest, the books currently attracting my interest, attention and curiosity include:

• Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett
  
  
• Cascading Style Sheets, A beginners Guide
  by James H. Pence (McGraw-Hill/Osborne)
  Didn't answer what I was looking for, but for a beginner's guide it is rather detailed.
  Certainly worth a look
  
  
• Cascading Style Sheets for Dummies
  It never ceases to amaze me how good an useful these goods generally are. There is the odd computer title that makes me want to rattle a few teeth but I think they hit the right formula on day one and deserve all the success they have.
  
  
• Web Usability for Dummies
  
  
• Martian in the Playground
  By Clare Sainsbury
  (About Asperger's Syndrome)
  
  
• (... and several books on Linux and MySQL and PHP)

If I get time, and I remember, I'll do proper reviews on the above.

Developing Effective Websites - A Project Managers Guide   © 2001 by Royal Straus and Patrick Hogan
  ...  Focal Press ISBN: 0-240-80443-0

This appears more for project managers from other disciplines coming into the Internet arena. There's a few insights into corporate mentality from an accounting view and reiterated advice on the importance of product testing, but overall not a book I'd recommend buying.

Pretending to be normal. Living with Asperger's Syndrome   © 1999 by Liane Holliday Willey
  ...  Jessica Kingsley Publishers, London : ISBN: 1-85302-749-9

Have to say, not one I wholly recommend, but worth an afternoon to digest, I guess. To my mind, reading any sort of medical book is a hypochondriacs dream - I kept reading and thinking That's just like me. I don't have it that I'm aware of, but still… *

In some ways it's a positive book as the lady is question has a degree, a family, a career, but it annoyed me all the same. She'd reiterate how extremely intelligent she is, then points out she can't spell, she can't do maths and she can't solve problems. While I don't doubt she's bright, especially with the good memory she mentions, I can't relate to getting a high 'IQ' score when you can't jump mental hoops. More to the point, for me, while I could see a lot of myself in some of her recollections, I couldn't relate to her descriptions to my sons condition.

* … There again, maybe I do. As the lady points out in her book, there's no test for it in adults. Still, having read this book, the following link opened my eyes a tad more because it is uncomfortably close to describing me.
Asperger Norfolk : Symptoms. I guess an off the scale IQ helps mask it, eh.

Liane's website is here : Aspie.com

Acorna's Rebels   ©2003 by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
  ...  Corgi books : ISBN 0-552-15135-1

This is actually the sixth book in the series and I just read / re-read them all again.
It's by Anne McCaffrey, what more need I say...?

If you are unfamiliar with the author, shame on you!
If you are unfamiliar with the series, the main character of the title is Acorna, a space - and even time - travelling heroine from a race of pacifists, genetically engineered from Unicorns millenia ago. Worth reading just for the telepathic cat, Roadkill!

Yes, I have read a large number of other fantasy and technical books these past few months, but I've been engrossed in fighting Spam at the core. I'll add more to this section over the Summer, I reckon.

~ Paul