price：$27.99
Pogue Press
Available for download now Core2Duoノートレビュー 's review (not bad, but may be difficult to follow) 『this book has some good in dept details of the function of css and the tags that may be used. but if youre unfamiliar with syntax and general knowledge of page layout, it might be difficult to understand what the writer is referring to. and it lacks graphic representation of each example they refer to. there is free content that you can download online that is mentioned at the end of the book. might be worth looking at if youre familiar with other forms of coding and want to go into a more graphic approach to building web pages.』
(Not an accessible reference book) 『A lot of people love this book, so obviously it speaks to them. For me, his code examples were abbreviated and lacking context -- and therefore lacked usefulness. I was looking for a reference book, and as such this book did not provide me with complete *functional* code examples that would allow me to skim and pick what I needed when I'm in a rush (i.e. working).』
(Excellent resource) 『I recently purchased this book and it has proved to be an invaluable resource to working with CSS in my project. The only thing I haven't found are some code examples... it would be nice to have sample pages illustrating some key concepts.』
(The best book on CSS I own) 『This wonderful, supurb book, "CSS: The Missing Manual (Fully revised 2nd edition", has set the bar high for the standard of excellence as regards teaching CSS. I started trying to learn CSS a long time ago but due to the poor quality of the books on the subject, I never "got it". Tragically, I first tried to learn css from the ridiculously terse and totally incomprehensible book, "CSS Pocket Reference (Pocket Reference (O'Reilly))". I next erred on the other extreme by purchasing the insanely meandering, needlessly padded, and pointlessly "funny" book, "Head First HTML with CSS&XHTML"
I really cannot say enough good things about "CSS: The Missing Manual (Fully revised 2nd edition". The author is so distinguished it's unbelievable. Not only can he really, really teach well-- in addition he really, really knows CSS inside and out.
At the end of each chapter he has a tutorial. After downloading all the code from the book's website, I do the tutorials using FireFox with the "FireBug" add-on enabled. "FireBug" is fantastic as a learning tool. It lets you easily change CSS operands and instantly see the effect. Another great FireFox plugin is "ColorZilla"-- it's "eyedropper" shows the RGB values of colors on the web page when you hover or click on a color. It's very validating to see "ColorZilla" display the exact same RGB color value that you can see via "FireBug" is the color setting for that element. Another useful plugin is "CodeBurner for Firebug" because it extends "FireBug" with reference material for CSS and HTML. Also, I find it very helpful to look at the source code of the book's downloaded tutorials via "jEdit", a free text editor which the book recommends. "jEdit" does a fantastic job of showing html and CSS in color, which makes it much easier to comprehend the CSS while doing the book's tutorials. The only shortcoming of "jEdit" is that it is a little clumsy to switch between edit windows. So, I use a 2nd text editor called "NotePad++" to show the "after version of the tutorial", and use "jEdit" to show the "before version of the tutorial". That way I can easily copy/paste the source code snippets as I go through the tutorial.
Thanks to this great book, "CSS: The Missing Manual (Fully revised 2nd edition", I finally at long last, feel confident of my CSS skills.
』
(Excellent CSS Reference: Balances Definitions with Technique) 『There are many good CSS books out there but what really sets the great ones apart are things like organization, clarity and the quality and simplicity of the how-to examples. I've read through dozens of technical how-to books, on topics ranging from CSS to Photoshop and Motion Graphics, but web technologies are often the most difficult to convey and explain succinctly and in context.
Everything is very abstract in the world of web code; it's no small task to write a truly excellent reference book that keeps you engaged and informed as a reader, rather than bombarding you with white-paper speak or endless, overly complex examples. This book succeeds on all of the counts noted earlier. It's very easy to find exactly the types of CSS elements you need to learn about, and then quickly discover how they work. The time between reading and implementing is short. The examples are very clearly illustrated and the author's style and ability to explain things in the right order and with the right amount of detail, make this book a must-have CSS reference. Example: it took me all of 10 minutes to discover (again) how to build my own navbar elements with this book, including styling and page flow considerations. With previous books -even good ones- I'd often sit there scratching my head, turning pages back and forth for a half hour before similarly complicated topics made sense.
I've probably read through a dozen popular CSS titles. I own three. One from Eric Meyer (the classic O'Reilly title - what else?), a copy of "CSS: Separating Content from Presentation" and now this book. This will be my go-to reference anytime I've forgotten a specific technique or guideline. As someone who works in the digital arts, I often go several months between code updates for my site and so having a truly comprehensive but efficient reference is a must to shake out the cobwebs. This is that book. Enjoy.』 『Web site design has grown up. Unlike the old days, when designers cobbled together chunky HTML, bandwidth-hogging graphics, and a prayer to make their sites look good, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) now lets your inner designer come out and play. But CSS isn't just a tool to pretty up your site; it's a reliable method for handling all kinds of presentation--from fonts and colors to page layout.CSS: The Missing Manualclearly explains this powerful design language and how you can use it to build sparklingly new Web sites or refurbish old sites that are ready for an upgrade.
Like their counterparts in print page-layout programs, style sheets allow designers to apply typographic styles, graphic enhancements, and precise layout instructions to elements on a Web page. Unfortunately, due to CSS's complexity and the many challenges of building pages that work in all Web browsers, most Web authors treat CSS as a kind of window-dressing to spruce up the appearance of their sites. Integrating CSS with a site's underlying HTML is hard work, and often frustratingly complicated. As a result many of the most powerful features of CSS are left untapped. With this book, beginners and Web-building veterans alike can learn how to navigate the ins-and-outs of CSS and take complete control over their Web pages' appearance.
Author David McFarland (the bestselling author of O'Reilly'sDreamweaver: The Missing Manual) combines crystal-clear explanations, real-world examples, a dash of humor, and dozens of step-by-step tutorials to show you ways to design sites with CSS that work consistently across browsers. You'll learn how to:
Create HTML that's simpler, uses less code, is search-engine friendly, and works well with CSS
Style text by changing fonts, colors, font sizes, and adding borders
Turn simple HTML links into complex and attractive navigation bars-complete with CSS-only rollover effects that add interactivity to your Web pages
Style images to create effective photo galleries and special effects like CSS-based drop shadows
Make HTML forms look great without a lot of messy HTML
Overcome the most hair-pulling browser bugs so your Web pages work consistently from browser to browser
Create complex layouts using CSS, including multi-column designs that don't require using old techniques like HTML tables
Style Web pages for printing
Unlike competing books, this Missing Manual doesn't assume that everyone in the world only surfs the Web with Microsoft's Internet Explorer; our book provides support for all major Web browsers and is one of the first books to thoroughly document the newly expanded CSS support in IE7, currently in beta release.
Want to learn how to turn humdrum Web sites into destinations that will capture viewers and keep them longer? Pick upCSS: The Missing Manualand learn the real magic of this tool.
price：$35.99
Pogue Press
Available for download now Core2Duoノートレビュー 's review (Truly, THE missing manual for Dreamweaver) 『I created a website for my business over 8 years ago using Frontpage, so easy and truly WYSIWYG...but the code, cripes! it was so bloated and ugly. I was lazy about ditching the now nearly 400 page site I had made with Frontpage as I knew I would HAVE to learn CSS and start using Dreamweaver (two things I knew nothing about), oh...and then there's the 400 pages!! Ugh. Oh well, it had to be done and procrastinating wasn't going to make it any less painful. I read this book thru before really making an effort and it helped me to wrap my head around it. I also ordered CSS: The Missing Manual but found it redundant as this book did such a good job of educating me in the basics of CSS. The author also included come issues you are bound to run into with different browsers...that subject could I believe fill it's own book should someone care to write specifically on the subject. That information was helpful but certainly not extensive which I was grateful for as I needed to feel like I had gotten underway and started forward. If I had not read the book but gone about learning in my normal, click and see method, I would probably not have discovered Library Items and other tidbits that are very helpful within the software. I also purchased Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 on Demand, which is like cliff notes for Dreamweaver, it leaves allot to be desired if you are just learning but is helpful as a quick how-to reference should you forget the basic steps or where to find a command. 』
(Good Tutorial Book) 『The tutorials in this book are made amazingly simple. There is a good amount of detail and pictures to go with everything as well. This book is both PC and Mac friendly so you don't have to worry about trying to figure out whats different between the two! One thing you do have to take note of is, This book has things you need to download for the tutorials! The downloads are free, but the book only tells you about them in an obscure way, just a warning!』
(Exactly what is says...) 『After looking for a book that I could use as one single resource without having to carry a library with me at all times to check up on forgotten procedures, I finally landed on The Missing Manual. This book gave me all the answers I was looking for, and I did not know I was looking for. In this book I found answers to almost every question regarding how to use the software in a professional working process. Especially interesting is the part concerning Dreamweawers potential in connection with creating dynamic pages. The book is a brick and contains in my opinion all the really vital stuff especially if one is an emerging developer, but certainly a must have backup for the more experienced also. Excellent mix of encyclopedia and hands on tutorials ease the need for constantly searching the web after tutorials on how to do this and that. I would like to recomend it as a resource worth having as your companion while developing websites with Adobe Dreamweawer CS4. Finally a release delivering exactly what it says in the title, and then some...』
(About Dreamweaver CS4: the Missing Manual) 『Long a fan of the Missing Manual series, the Dreamweaver CS4 Missing Manual is a cut above Adobe's Dreamweaver CS4 Revealed. Coming in at just over 1,000 pages it has details about every aspect of Dreamweaver.』
(Dreamweaver CS4) 『This is a well-written, if rather daunting, tome of 1064 pages, which can serve as both a reference manual and a series of tutorials on "Dreamweaver CS4-The Missing Manual" (DW). Explanations are clear, and tutorials are detailed enough that procedures are easy to follow. Tutorials feature commands appropriate to both Windows PCs and Macintoshes, so the Mac user is not frustrated by a Windows-centric approach.
DW is an extremely sophisticated and powerful web design/web authoring/web maintenance package with a long and steep learning curve, and this book is consequently not for the rank beginner. A pre-requisite is a working knowledge of HTML, without which the book would be very hard to follow, despite the fact that DW is billed as a WYSIWYG editor. With that caveat, the book is suitable for both the amateur and professional web designer.
The author, and DW, do an excellent job of introducing and integrating Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) into web design, so that even CSS newbies can add CSS to their web sites without tears. Additional sections deal with Spry tools and Javascript, and with php files and dynamic ("database-driven") web sites, but I have not reached those sections of the book yet.
Like all The Missing Manual Series volumes I have read, there are relatively frequent typos, unavoidable sequelae of rapid publication schedules, but the author provides a web site where readers can give feedback and suggest corrections.
The book lists for $45 (remarkably for the same price in Canada), but is available for under $30 at Amazon. It is also available in a Kindle version for $23.75. The Kindle version has the advantage of a more portable format, as the print version is rather heavy for a "vade mecum."
I will try to write a more complete review when I have finished the book, but in the meantime, I can recommend it as the most complete guide to Dreamweaver CS4 that one could ever hope for.
』 『When it comes to building professional websites, Dreamweaver CS4 is capable of doing more than any other web design program -- including previous versions of Dreamweaver. But the software's sophisticated features aren't simple.Dreamweaver CS4: The Missing Manualwill help you master this program quickly, so you can bring stunning, interactive websites to life.
Under the expert guidance of bestselling author and teacher David McFarland, you'll learn how to build professional-looking websites quickly and painlessly. McFarland has loaded the book with over 150 pages of hands-on tutorials to help you create database-enabled PHP pages, use Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) for cutting-edge design, add XML-based news feeds, include dynamic effects with JavaScript and AJAX, and more. This witty and objective book offers jargon-free language and clear descriptions that will help you:
Learn how to control the appearance of your web pages with CSS, from the basics to advanced techniques
Design dynamic database-driven websites, from blogs to product catalogs, and from shopping carts to newsletter signup forms
Add interactivity to your website with ready-to-use JavaScript programs from Adobe's Spry Framework
Effortlessly control the many helper files that power your website and manage thousands of pages
Examine web-page components and Dreamweaver's capabilities with the book's "live examples"
Perfect for beginners who need step-by-step guidance, and for longtime Dreamweaver designers who need a handy reference to the new version, this thoroughly updated edition of our bestselling Missing Manual is your complete guide to designing, organizing, building, and deploying websites. It's the ultimate atlas for Dreamweaver CS4.』
price：$23.99
O'Reilly Media
Available for download now Core2Duoノートレビュー 's review (Unique Approach) 『I love this book. Mr. Crockford covers a ton of very usable information in a relatively small volume. If you are the kind of developer who likes to be spoon-fed popular programming idioms, you might want to look elsewhere. If you want to master the nuts and bolts of JavaScript, this elegantly condensed and filtered version of the ECMAScript specification is probably for you. I would welcome a similar treatment of Python and Ruby. The author's no BS approach is refreshing.』
(A few gems, but too much filler) 『This book has some good parts, even some great parts. Many parts of Chapters 3, 4, and 5 are very insightful, and might revolutionize how you think about Javascript, even programming in general. (Unless you come from a Lisp or functional programming background, in which case the insights will be old hat to you).
Unfortunately, the book as a whole seems to suffer from an identity crisis, or a lack of effort by the author to craft a consistent work, or perhaps a struggle between the author and publisher. Whatever the cause, it seriously compromised the quality and integrity of what could have been an amazing book. Instead of the tome of grand enlightenment that it should have been, we are left with a few gems buried amidst mounds of useless filler material.
The introduction explains that this is not a book for beginners, which is true, because beginning programmers would find most of Chapters 3, 4, and 5 to be completely impenetrable. Even experienced programmers may find them difficult to grasp. As the introduction says, this book is "small but dense," which is a nicer way of saying that it throws advanced techniques and code samples at the reader without sufficient explanation.
The introduction also explains that this is not a reference book, which is also true, because it does not describe the DOM at all, nor even list all the standard methods and functions built into Javascript. The introduction suggests that the reader should go look on the internet to find such references, which you'll certainly need to do if you plan to actually use Javascript for anything. But despite it not claiming not to be a reference book, the author decided in Chapter 8 to present a mishmash of standard methods, without any clear reason for why some are listed and others omitted, nor even a mention of the fact that there are others you should be familiar with.
And even though it is not a reference book or a book for beginners, a significant chunk of the book is spent explaining very basic concepts that the target audience is undoubtedly already familiar with. For example, 14 pages are spent explaining the syntax for whitespace, numbers, strings, if statements, while loops, and so on, all of which will be nothing new to anyone who has used C, C++, Java, etc. The book even provides railroad diagrams to illustrate each syntax, which adds thickness but little value to the book, then repeats them in Appendix D to add another 10 pages of pure bulk.
There is a lot of other filler material, as well, such as the appendix on JSLint, which is a slightly more polished copy of the documentation [...], and the appendix on JSON, which is a slightly more polished copy of the documentation [...], both being pet projects of the author. Neither of these appendices adds value to the book, only thickness.
If Crockford and O'Reilly were interested in offering a really great book, or even a book worth the price tag, they should have cut the filler, expanded the explanations where they are needed, and offered more insights and substantial practical examples.
But I can't really recommend the book as it is now, unless you buy it used or borrow it from a library. You would be better off with a Javascript beginner's guide plus reference to learn the basics, or proper guide to functional programming (regardless of the programming language) to learn the advanced techniques. 』
(High hopes, Sad reality) 『Abstracted from the Preface:
"intended for programmers who, by happenstance or curiosity, are venturing into JavaScript for the first time" 1
"This is not a book for beginners" 2
And this is just the first page of the preface. While preparing comments on this book, I reread the preface no fewer than five times in a vain attempt to divine the meaning behind these conflicting statements. I emphasize the term "reread" since in crops up real soon:
"it takes multiple readings to get it" 3
The first page of the preface provides the key to understanding this book. The book is far too short on explanations and context. You're forced to read and reread important material to extract any return from your investment. And rereading the material is no guarantee that you get useful insight. So much is assumed that you better have the Rhino book handy.
The sad reality is that with thoughtful treatment, this book could be a blockbuster for advanced JavaScript programmers tasked with building the next jQuery or similar library. Since most programmers are library consumers, this also implies that only a small subset of programmers might benefit from a complete discussion of the advanced subject matter only hinted at in this book. As an aside, It would make the library consumers of the world, well.. better library consumers and there is value in that as well.
1. From the preface, page xi, first paragraph, first sentence. 2. From the preface, page xi, third paragraph, first sentence. 3. From the preface, page xi, fourth paragraph, fourth sentence.
』
(Material is good, but author attitude is not) 『I'm new to javascript and wanted a book just to get me started. I figured this book was as good of a starting point as any.
The material is good, but not always explained very well.
I gave the book only 3 stars because I found the author's blatant bitterness and self-righteousness to be distracting.』
(Repetitive, opinionated, and cranky) 『Short but repetitious. A bad combination. Majorly disappointed by this one.
First of all, it's not really a JavaScript book - much of the advice offered is very generic. Like YOU MUST USE PARENTHESES AROUND CONDITIONAL BODIES. Repeated three times. And the evils of ++ and -- operators. The author forbids these even in for loops. Huh?
I don't care about the code for solving the Towers of Hanoi. I want to learn more about JavaScript! Unfortunately the descriptions of prototypes, functions, inheritance, in here are so terse that I have to spend far longer than is necessary in rereading them.
The "railway" diagrams are pure filler. Page after page. Come on, NOBODY reads these.
And what have regexps got to do with JavaScript per se? Nothing... so why do we need a whole chapter on them?
For that matter, why does Yahoo! NEED a "Chief JavaScript Architect"? Bet Google doesn't have one.
JavaScript only survived the first year of its life because Applets were so obviously useless. It only survived its childhood because teenage hackers liked its lack of a type system and its simple way of doing simple things (badly); and it is only alive today because AJAX came along. I wanted this book to change my mind about how awful the language is. It didn't. Instead I got the semi-random ramblings of someone who's invented some fairly trivial tool - JSLint - and thinks it solves everyone's problems. Well, it doesn't. My IDE does a better job these days.』 『Most programming languages contain good and bad parts, but JavaScript has more than its share of the bad, having been developed and released in a hurry before it could be refined. This authoritative book scrapes away these bad features to reveal a subset of JavaScript that's more reliable, readable, and maintainable than the language as a whole-a subset you can use to create truly extensible and efficient code.
ConsideredtheJavaScript expert by many people in the development community, author Douglas Crockford identifies the abundance of good ideas that make JavaScript an outstanding object-oriented programming language-ideas such as functions, loose typing, dynamic objects, and an expressive object literal notation. Unfortunately, these good ideas are mixed in with bad and downright awful ideas, like a programming model based on global variables.
When Java applets failed, JavaScript became the language of the Web by default, making its popularity almost completely independent of its qualities as a programming language. InJavaScript: The Good Parts, Crockford finally digs through the steaming pile of good intentions and blunders to give you a detailed look at all the genuinely elegant parts of JavaScript, including:
Syntax
Objects
Functions
Inheritance
Arrays
Regular expressions
Methods
Style
Beautiful features
The real beauty? As you move ahead with the subset of JavaScript that this book presents, you'll also sidestep the need tounlearnall the bad parts. Of course, if you want to find out more about the bad parts and how to use them badly, simply consult any other JavaScript book.
WithJavaScript: The Good Parts, you'll discover a beautiful, elegant, lightweight and highly expressive language that lets you create effective code, whether you're managing object libraries or just trying to get Ajax to run fast. If you develop sites or applications for the Web, this book is an absolute must.』
price：$54.99
Random House Audio
Usually ships in 24 hours Core2Duoノートレビュー 's review (The Innocent Man by John Grisham) 『The Innocent Man is the author, John Grisham's, only non-fiction book. He says he chose to write it because it was a compelling story about a man on death row, sentenced to die for a murder he did not commit. The man, Ron Williamson signed a contract with the Oakland A's and thought his life was going to be set as a major league baseball player.
After some setbacks at the Farm system level Ron came back to his hometown of Ada, Oklahoma a failure. Feeling embarrassed at not making it in the big leagues he began to hang out in bars and drink heavily. It was here in this setting he met a young waitress named Debbie Carter. When Debbie's body turned up brutally raped and murdered at her apartment Ron was charged with the crime. After five years of looking for debbie's killer and nothing but dead ends, the authorities arrested Ron Williamson and his friend Dennis Fritz for the murder. One small detail the police and prosecutors failed to realise....Ron Williamson was innocent. Both of the men were tried and found guilty as the prosecutors used junk science and the testimony of jailhouse snithches to convict them. Fritz was given a life sentence, while Ron was sent to death row.
Grisham goes on to tell of Ron's struggles with mental health and the horrible conditions of his tenure in prison while on death row. Many times while reading this book you find yourself appalled by the tacticts used by the autorities to manipulate any attempts at justice for Ron's freedom. You wonder how this could be happening to him, while at the same time holding a secret desire to see him vindicated of the murder and the real culprit caught and found accountable for young Debbie's death.
There is a feeling of pending futility sitting in a cell awaiting your death for something you didn't do. You want to scream loudly for someone, anyone, to come to your rescue and stop the painful anxiety driving you to maddness as each day brings you closer to the date of your final demise. I found myself pulling for Ron to get out of prison and begin to put the broken pieces of his life together again.
Mr. Grisham does a worthy job of presenting Ron's life and struggles. He is to the point, reporting the findings of the case, as they happened, interjecting enough emotional moments of deprevation experienced by the family as they prayed for Ron's release. I wanted to see the men who did Ron dirt through their false testimonies and trial maipulations in pursuing his continued incarceration dealt with by the law, either themselves thrown in jail or disbarred from any future involement in the criminal justice system for the remains of their lives. There is no equal compensation for taking a person's life away from them, as they cannot buy back one hour of youth once time has trampled over and left it in history's rear-view mirror.
Charles Hamilton Sr. Former Executive Director of Northwest Teen Challenge and author of From Darkness To Light and A Step Of Faith. [...]
From Darkness To Light』
(Not a 5-legged dog!) 『It's amazing how many people still today can be duped and will believe Grisham because he's Grisham, a novelist, not an investigative reporter. If you call a 'dog's tail a leg, it doesn't make it a 5-legged dog; and, if you call it non-fiction, it doesn't make it non-fiction'. It may be non-fiction couched in many lies to help support a certain agenda, eg., anti-death penalty or to sell books...or an historical novel. One thing is certain: this is a one-sided novel. Do yourself a favor and take a look at the DA, Bill Peterson's, website for another, more credible view!』
(Is it just me or Grisham, too?) 『I wonder, why this terrible story had to keep going that long and somewhat ease the pain it caused? Did I have to work harder to remain in the same horror I felt when started the reading? Or, maybe Grisham could trust me a little more and make the message less didactic? Or, maybe I'm just too the impressed by completely fictional but so true The Green Mile : The Complete Serial Novel?
I love all Grisham's books, especially his classical prose having no action but a lot of meaning and real craftsmanship, like A Painted House. For me, The Innocent Man is not something more, it's something less, literature-wise. But I'll re-read it.』
(An Innocent Man by John Grisham) 『Amazing research and depiction given by John Grisham. Really makes you wonder how many innocent men and women have been convicted of crimes they didn't commit. Great read!!!』
(Don't waste your time reading this book) 『I have read every one of Grisham's books. I wish I had never read The Innocent Man. I wish I had those hours of my life back. Although I wholeheartedly agree with the premise of the book that an innocent man should not be sentenced to death row and I support the Innocence Project's objectives, I had an extremely difficult time with the individual that Grisham chose as the basis for making the point. The problem for me is that I never felt that concerned about this man. He obviously deserved to be behind bars for the rapes that he committed, so I never felt that connected or concerned about the man. I felt like it was a complete waste of my time to read about his despicable life. Sure he didn't deserve to be on death row, but he certainly belonged behind bars for his other crimes.
I think this book would have been much more powerful if it had been written about someone that the majority of us could empathize with or that resembled someone like ourselves that could be wrongfully accused. I think it would have been more impactful had Grisham selected someone similar to the man that was recently put to death in Texas for arson that killed his children when in fact the fire was not caused by arson and the deaths of the children were accidental. Now, that is the type of situation that truly drives home the point that an innocent man could be wrongfully prosecuted and put to death due to faulty evidence. I have always been in favor of the death penalty, and Grisham's book did not persuade me to change my opinion. However, I am rethinking my opinion after hearing about the Texas case, because with that case I can see that "there but for the grace of God go I."』 『In the town of Ada, Oklahoma, Ron Williamson was going to be the next Mickey Mantle. But on his way to the Big Leagues, Ron stumbled, his dreams broken by drinking, drugs, and women. Then, on a winter night in 1982, not far from Ron’s home, a young cocktail waitress named Debra Sue Carter was savagely murdered. The investigation led nowhere. Until, on the flimsiest evidence, it led to Ron Williamson. The washed-up small-town hero was charged, tried, and sentenced to death—in a trial littered with lying witnesses and tainted evidence that would shatter a man’s already broken life…and let a true killer go free. Impeccably researched, grippingly told, filled with eleventh-hour drama, John Grisham’s first work of nonfiction reads like a page-turning legal thriller. It is a book that will terrify anyone who believesin the presumption of innocence—a book no American can afford to miss.』 『John Grisham tackles nonfiction for the first time withThe Innocent Man, a true tale about murder and injustice in a small town (that reads like one of his own bestselling novels).The Innocent Manchronicles the story of Ron Williamson, how he was arrested and charged with a crime he did not commit, how his case was (mis)handled and how an innocent man was sent to death row. Grisham's first work of nonfiction is shocking, disturbing, and enthralling--a must read for fiction and nonfiction fans. We had the opportunity to talk with John Grisham about the case and the book, read his responses below.--Daphne Durham20 Second Interview: A Few Words with John Grisham
Q:After almost two decades of writing fiction, what compelled you to write non-fiction, particularly investigative journalism? A:I was never tempted to write non-fiction, primarily because it's too much work. However, obviously, I love a good legal thriller, and the story of Ron Williamson has all the elements of a great suspenseful story.
Q:Why this case? A:Ron Williamson and I are about the same age and we both grew up in small towns in the south. We both dreamed of being major league baseball players. Ron had the talent, I did not. When he left a small town in 1971 to pursue his dreams of major league glory, many thought he would be the next Mickey Mantle, the next great one from the state of Oklahoma. The story of Ron ending up on Death Row and almost being executed for a murder he did not commit was simply too good to pass up.
Q:How did you go about your research? A:I started with his family. Ron is survived by two sisters who took care of him for most of his life. They gave me complete access to the family records, photographs, Ron's mental health records, and so on. There was also a truckload of trial transcripts, depositions, appeals, etc., that took about 18 months to organize and review. Many of the characters in the story are still alive and I traveled to Oklahoma countless times to interview them.
Q:Did your training as a lawyer help you? A:Very much so. It enabled me to understand the legal issues involved in Ron's trial and his appeals. It also allowed me, as it always does, to be able to speak the language with lawyers and judges.
Q:Throughout your book you mention,The Dreams of Ada: A True Story of Murder, Obsession, and a Small Town. How did you come across that book, and how did it impact your writingThe Innocent Man? A:Several of the people in Oklahoma I met mentionedThe Dreams of Adato me, and I read it early on in the process. It is an astounding book, a great example of true crime writing, and I relied upon it heavily during my research. Robert Mayer, the author, was completely cooperative, and kept meticulous notes from his research 20 years earlier. Many of the same characters are involved in his story and mine.
Q:You take on some pretty controversial and heated topics in your book--the death penalty, prisoner’s rights, DNA analysis, police conduct, and more--were any of your own beliefs challenged by this story and its outcome? A:None were challenged, but my eyes were open to the world of wrongful convictions. Even as a former criminal defense attorney, I had never spent much time worrying about wrongful convictions. But, unfortunately, they happen all the time in this country, and with increasing frequency.
Q:So many of the key players in this case are either still in office or practicing attorneys. Many family members and friends still live in the same small town. How do you thinkThe Innocent Manwill impact this community and other small rural towns as they struggle with the realities of the justice system? A:Exonerations seem to be happening weekly. And with each one of them, the question is asked--how can an innocent man be convicted and kept in prison for 20 years? My book is the story of only one man, but it is a good example of how things can go terribly wrong with our judicial system. I have no idea how the book will be received in the small town of Ada, Oklahoma, or any other town.
Q:What do you hope your readers will take away fromThe Innocent Man? A:A better understanding of how innocent people can be convicted, and a greater concern for the need to reimburse and rehabilitate innocent men after they have been released.
price：$31.99
Pogue Press
Available for download now Core2Duoノートレビュー 's review (Holy Smokes Batman!!!) 『Wow. This book is hands-down the most comprehensive, entertaining, and downright useful MS Excel book I have ever owned. Don't get me wrong - there's other really great books out there (I personally love the "Bible" series) but this one just blows them all out of the park. Great job Mr. MacDonald! I am indebted to you.』
(Excel 2007) 『Good book. Lots of useful info. Better help sometimes then offered online with usoft office.』
(I can finally find what I am looking for) 『I was finally able to find functions I knew existed but didn't know how to do. Book explains difference in functions very well.』
(Made me look like a hero!) 『This book really helped me to become the Excel expert at work. Clearly written, understandable, great visuals and easy to use. The whole Missing Manual series (I now own 3) are a step up from the For Dummies books and get into the next level of using the software.
If you want to learn more than just the basics, this is a great book!』
(Good manual. Not as in-depth as I would like, but good intro.) 『Good beginning book on Excel 2007. Excellent screen shots and write up on almost all the features. I was hoping for a few more "expert" tips, but I still found the book very useful -- like all the "Missing Manual" books.』 『Microsoft Excel continues to grow in power, sophistication, and capability, but one thing that has changed very little since the early '90s is its user interface. The once-simple toolbar has been packed with so many features over the years that few users know where to find them all. Microsoft has addressed this problem in Excel 2007 by radically redesigning the user interface with a tabbed toolbar that makes every feature easy to locate and use. Unfortunately, Microsoft's documentation is as scant as ever, so even if users can find advanced features, they probably won't know what to do with them.
Excel 2007: The Missing Manualcovers the entire gamut of how to build spreadsheets, add and format information, print reports, create charts and graphics, and use basic formulas and functions. Like its siblings in the Missing Manual series, this book crackles with a fine sense of humor and refreshing objectivity about its subject, guiding readers through the new Excel with clear explanations, step-by-step instructions, lots of illustrations, and friendly, time-saving advice. It's a perfect primer for small businesses with no techie to turn to, as well as those who want to organize household and office information.
price：$27.99
Pogue Press
Available for download now Core2Duoノートレビュー 's review (Excellent book to advance your Access skills.) 『I must say that this is really an excellent book. The "Missing Manual" title is quite fitting. This information should be provided with the product. It goes over nearly any basic task that you could want to accomplish in Access, even breifly delving into the land of VB programming and SQL Server Access Projects. Of course those topics don't go extremely in-depth because you could write another 700 page book on either of those, but it touches on them enough to give you a basic understanding and complete some basic tasks. So if your looking for an Access VB programming book, or looking specifically for a manual on SQL Server based Access Projects, you'll probably want to look elsewhere because it's beyond the scope of this book. For that, I gave the book only four stars, but I'd have given 4.5 if I could.
The book is written in a fun, easy to read manner which caters to both absolute beginners as well as some of the more versed Access users. I have used Access for several years and have created multiple databases via Access, and I have learned a lot from this book. I highly recommend it.』
(is is not always 's) 『The content of this book is great. The author knows his subject. BUT, I'd really like to have an electronic copy so I could change all 's to [space]is. It's difficult, and tiring, to read a book in which you have to keep trying to figure out if the author means possession or a verb.
His other books are the same. Too, bad! Good author, bad grammer.』
(Helped me tremendously) 『This book helped me tremendously. I had NO EXPERIENCE with access, and was put into the position of creating a database at work. I went through the training videos offered through work, and they were no help. I borrowed Access For Dummies, and that was marginally helpful, but with the MM I was able to design the database from scratch. I plan on ordering more from this series.』
(Missing Manual Access Review) 『The manual is well written and presented for the beginning to intermediate access user. Since it is a complete manual it does start out a bit basic but quickly gets more advanced. The author does a good job presenting examples of Access databases to teach not only the program but also proper database design. I like the prgression of more advanced program features and integration of Visual Basic into the manual. The only real downside is that the manual is a bit hard to read, smaller font size and harder to read typeset. Overall I would recommend this book for both training and reference. The author's writing style is extremely readable with no editing errors and good presentation.』
(Gold Standard) 『Can you believe that a liberal rag like the New York Times has a staff of techies that can write like real folks? They make this new (complete rewrite) Access crystal clear with many insights on how to take advantage of the new features. Professional MS Office lecturers at conferences I attend use the Missing Manual series to prep.』 『Compared to industrial-strength database products such as Microsoft's SQL Server, Access is a breeze to use. It runs on PCs rather than servers and is ideal for small- to mid-sized businesses and households. But Access is still intimidating to learn. It doesn't help that each new version crammed in yet another set of features; so many, in fact, that even the pros don't know where to find them all. Access 2007 breaks this pattern with some of the most dramatic changes users have seen since Office 95. Most obvious is the thoroughly redesigned user interface, with its tabbed toolbar (or "Ribbon") that makes features easy to locate and use. The features list also includes several long-awaited changes. One thing that hasn't improved is Microsoft's documentation. To learn the ins and outs of all the features in Access 2007, Microsoft merely offers online help.
Access 2007: The Missing Manualwas written from the ground up for this redesigned application. You will learn how to design complete databases, maintain them, search for valuable nuggets of information, and build attractive forms for quick-and-easy data entry. You'll even delve into the black art of Access programming (including macros and Visual Basic), and pick up valuable tricks and techniques to automate common tasks -- even if you've never touched a line of code before. You will also learn all about the new prebuilt databases you can customize to fit your needs, and how the new complex data feature will simplify your life. With plenty of downloadable examples, this objective and witty book will turn an Access neophyte into a true master.
price：$49.99
Findaway World
Usually ships in 24 hours Core2Duoノートレビュー 's review (Not Really Patterson) 『I love Patterson, but this book left me pretty cold. I don't know if the co-author wrote most of this or what, but I was not terribly impressed with the story or the writing. Just my personal opinion; I loved books one and two. Sharon Schultz』
(Okay, but it is really two stories) 『The story is okay. But this is really two short murder mysteries. I wish the author had expanded the primary crime, as I was left wishing I knew more about that story line. But half the story is about a different murder spree that involves only two members of the Club. And that story is not very well developed, leading me to dismiss it. I did listen to the complete audio book, hoping of of the plots would share something about the killers' motivation. But there is nothing here about the killers, only the anguish of the Women's Murder Club to solve these crimes.』
(The 5th Horseman) 『It is difficult for me to review this product because on the last disk I was unable to hear the end of the book because of damage to the CD - The packaging holding the CD's was smashed down a bit when I received it but I did not notice until I listened to the last CD that there was an impression on it from the CD next to it in the package that messed up the disk.』
(Dueling Cases) 『When a woman is found dead in a car, homicide lieutenant Lindsay Boxer assumes there is a connection. But when they track down the owner, he doesn't recognize the victim. Even more curious, the victim was dressed in fancy clothes that had never been worn before.
Meanwhile, Cindy is covering a huge trial. San Francisco Municipal Hospital is being sued for malpractice by a group of families who have had love ones die unexpectedly while in their care. Newest member of the club Yuki Castellano becomes interested when her mother is admitted to that hospital. Is there a killer on the loose? Or is the hospital negligent?
This book has two cases that have very little to do with each other. The only thread tying them together are our main characters. That bothered me a little, but not too much. Both cases were interesting and kept me turning pages wondering what would happen next. We saw more of Cindy and Claire in this book. And I felt I really got to know Yuki who was introduced in the previous book in the series.
My problem had to do with the climax. One case was wrapped up early, and I was rather fine with it, although one twist could have been explained a tad better. The second case, however, included a complication introduced just to add pages to the book. Then suddenly, things get wrapped up with no explanation.
I enjoyed this book, but the longer I've thought about the climax, the more it has bothered me. This is another fast read for the fans, but anyone else can skip it.』
(They blew it) 『The subplots might as well be trashed except for the Car Girls. The rest of it was garbage and didn't know where it was going. It fact, there was no real indication of where it was going even at the end. The subplot of Garza and O'Mara was interesting, but it was as though this was sort of hung on there to make sure there were sufficient pages to justify someone buying the book. The twist and turns that are endemic to mystery books were simply added on. Why did the father of a little boy who was murdered by the "Night Walker" attack Dr. Garza? Simply to justify a few more pages. By this point, I didn't care. I had already deduced that Dr. Garza had nothing to do with the hospital murders. So, what happens? Oops, we forgot to tell the readers who the "Night Walker" was. Sounded suspiciously like the Night Stalker of reality. So, they drag into the ending someone who had been mentioned peripherally and hold them up as the end all to the case. Dumb. And what the hell was Boxer doing in Atlanta? Was the police department in Atlanta so out of it that they couldn't solve the case by some back and forth via email or telephone? In short, the book was a crooked and twisted look at nothing except for the Car Girls. Patterson, you can do better. I know it, because I have read better from you. Either get yourself a new partner or start writing them yourself. A C- or a D on this one.』 『Playaway is the simplest way to listen to a book on the go. Small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, it comes with the audio content already on it and a battery to make it play. No Cassettes. No CDs. No Downloads. Simply plug in the earphones and enjoy. The Women s Murder Club faces an unspeakable horror in an irresistible hospital and courtroom thriller by #1 bestselling author James Patterson. SOMEBODY DIES. A young mother is recuperating in a San Francisco hospital when she is suddenly gasping for breath. The call button fails to bring help in time. The hospital s doctors, some of the best in the nation, are completely mystified by her death. How did this happen? APOCALYPSE NEARS. This is not the first such case at the hospital. Just as patients are about to be released with a clean bill of health, their conditions take a devastating turn for the worse. Accompanied by the newest member of the Women s Murder Club, Yuki Castellano, Lieutenant Lindsay Boxer probes deeper into the incidents. Could these cases just be appalling coincidences? Or is a maniac playing God with people s lives? When someone close to the Women s Murder Club begins to exhibit the same frightening symptoms, Lindsay fears no one is safe.』
price：$23.99
Pogue Press
Available for download now Core2Duoノートレビュー 's review (dissapointed - no help to my business) 『Have been using Quickbooks for three years and want to move beyond basic record keeping (expenses, income&payroll) and into more analysis of my business practices - job profitability, etc. This book seems great in telling you what you can do within the Quickbooks program, but little guidance in applying it to real life situations. For a Quickbooks beginner its probably too complex and for an experienced user trying to improve their skills, too simple.』
(NOW YOU CAN REALLY LEARN QUICKBOOKS!!) 『QuickBooks Pro 2009
WOW!! THIS BOOK MAKES QUICKBOOKS UNDERSTANDABLE FOR SOMEONE WITHOUT AN ACCOUNTING DEGREE. I WAS AFRAID I WOULD HAVE TO SIGN UP FOR $500 IN CLASSES JUST TO KEEP TRACK OF ONE SMALL BUSINESS. THANK YOU FOR CREATING "THE MISSING MANUAL". I AM SO GLAD I FOUND YOU.
QuickBooks 2009: The Missing Manual
THIS IS TRULY "THE BOOK THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN THE BOX!"』
(Not for Mac users) 『On page four of this manual, the author warns that this book will not be useful for people who are using Quickbooks for Mac. I'm rating this four stars because I am required to rate the product to submit a review. I have not used this book.』
(Really helps to have this book) 『This is a good book as far as quick books goes. It had some insight that the "Official Guide" did not have. I would have to recommend it along with the other two if you are serious about understanding this program. Do youself a favor and buy the other two books. QuickBooks 2009 The Official Guide, and QuickBooks 2009 Solutions Guide to go along with it. One of those three will most likely have the answers that you are looking for.』
(Quickbooks 2009 The Missing Manual) 『I read a bunch of books about Quickbooks 2009. This book was the easiest to understand and is perfect for teaching how to do quickbooks.』 『QuickBooks 2009 has impressive features, like financial and tax reporting, invoicing, payroll, time and mileage tracking, and online banking. So how do you avoid spending more time learning the software than using it? This Missing Manual takes you beyond QuickBooks' help resources: you not only learn how the program works, but why and when to use specific features. You also get basic accounting advice so that everything makes sense.
QuickBooks can handle many of the financial tasks small companies face.QuickBooks 2009: The Missing Manualhelps you handle QuickBooks with easy step-by-step instructions. With this book, you will:
Get more out of QuickBooks whether you're a beginner or an old pro.
Learn how QuickBooks can help you boost sales, control spending, and save on taxes.
Set up and manage your files to fit your company's specific needs.
Use QuickBooks reports to evaluate every aspect of your enterprise.
Follow the money all the way from customer invoices to year-end tasks.
Discover new timesaving features like like better multi-user performance, a homepage dashboard, revamped online banking.
Build budgets and plan for the future to make your business more successful.
If you're new to QuickBooks, special "Up to Speed" boxes fill you in on introductory information. Sidebars labeled "Power Users' Clinic" offer technical tips, tricks, and shortcuts for the experienced QuickBooks fan.
For a topic as complicated as accounting software, why trust anything else?』
price：$31.99
O'Reilly Media
Available for download now Core2Duoノートレビュー 's review (very informative) 『The Author explains all things but goes off on tangents at times. I wanted a book on project and for me the chapters on Project Management were not needed. I just want to know the inner workings of the software not why the software is important. Sort of like buying a book on Microsoft Word and the author took you through an English lecture first.』
(Finally, a text I can understand.....) 『The author has successfully organized the overwhelming volume of info about project management into readable, digestible chunks. It's most helpful to skip around to the parts you're interested in at the time - and this book allows you to easily do that. MS Project 2007 is a complicated program!!!! I appreciate the examples and step-by-step breakdown of concepts that the author provides.』
(Very Useful!) 『What I look for, in a book like this, is good info and a good index -- so I can use it as a reference for specific problems, rather than having to read the whole thing.
I give this book very high marks in this regard. It was useful to me in the first hours of learning my way into MS Project. As far as I'm concerned, it has already paid for itself. Good job.』
(Must have text) 『Very well written text to guide you through the complexities of Project. Beginner or expert will find lots of great suggestions and assistance.』
(How to look good at work) 『 Microsoft Project is an unmatched tool for managing all aspects of a project, and the power of its integration with other MS tools is awesome. But its potential is very complex and not for the faint of heart. Before you start blithely loading your milestones and allocating your resources, you really need to understand the concepts of defining your project and conceptualizing the plan. The software won't teach you that and it's the easiest thing in the world to wind up with a Gantt chart that looks like the head of Medusa in no time flat.
That's where this manual makes its mark. Yes, it's a good primer on the software; yes, it's a good reference manual as long as you can guess the term for what you want to do. "Unhide columns," for example: that's what I wanted to do this week, and two minutes with the index and a page reference got the job done for me. (Hint: it doesn't behave exactly like Excel.)
Since I tend to shun manuals, I had not picked up this book until now. I took a moment to flip, and was impressed, and wound up starting at the beginning and going all the way through, reading here and there, checking the book's organization and the points it made about project management. What a great resource! It's an introductory project management course that will get the user started on the right foot.
Despite its name, Microsoft Project 2007: The Missing Manual is much more than a manual. I recommend it for anyone who wants to brush up on the key points of project management, and especially for anyone using the software for the first time (or the first time in a while, which is my situation). It can't guarantee that your project will be a success, but it will greatly increase your understanding of what's going right and wrong. This book is going to make you look good!
Linda Bulger, 2008』 『Schedules, budgets, communications, resources. Projects big and small include them all, and Microsoft Project 2007 can help you control these variables -- not be controlled by them. But Project is complex software, and learning it is, well, a project in itself. Get up to speed fast withMicrosoft Project 2007: The Missing Manual. Written by project management expert Bonnie Biafore, this book teaches you how to do everything from setting budgets and tracking schedules to testing scenarios and recognizing trouble spots before your project breaks down.
Find out what's new in Project 2007 from previous versions, and get help choosing the right edition, whether it's Project Standard, Project Professional, or Enterprise Project Management Solution. With Microsoft Project 2007: The Missing Manual, you get more than a simple software how-to. You also get a rundown on project management basics and plenty of solid advice on how to use Project to:
Define your project and plan your approach
Estimate your project, set up a budget, define tasks, and break the work into manageable chunks
Create a schedule, define the sequence of work, and learn the right way to use date constraints and deadlines
Build a project team and assign resources to tasks: "who does what"
Refine the project to satisfy objectives by building reality into the schedule, and learn to keep project costs under control
Track progress and communicate with team members via reports, information sharing, and meetings that work
Close out your project and take away valuable lessons for the future
Microsoft Project 2007 is the flagship of all project management programs, and this Missing Manual is the book that should have been in the box. No project manager should be without it.』
price：$27.99
Pogue Press
Available for download now Core2Duoノートレビュー 's review (Nice book, faster than an internet search) 『As a reasonably experienced Office 2007 user I was constantly fighting to find solutions to "quirks" with the Office 2008 suite for Mac (i.e., what's the comparable Office 2008 key stroke for F-4 in Excel? Surprise, it's CMD-T). Don't let them fool you, the PC version of Office is much more versatile than the Mac version; but the Mac has more than enough virtues to overcome these deficiencies.
After spending too much time looking for answers on the internet (too many threads ending up in dead ends) I decided to purchase the PDF version of this book. The key information is now available to me quickly in the office and on the road. Time is saved and it's much less frustrating.
This book is well suited to quickly finding answers and solutions with Office 2008. I'm not sure it is as useful as a self learning introduction to Office 2008.』
(essential reading) 『"Office 2008 for Macintosh, The Missing Manual" is just that: the manual you should have gotten with the product. They say that MS Word is the most complex program ever, and we've managed to navigate a few of its complexities thanks to this book. It's paid for itself many times over. Plus, some of the writing has a humorous edge that makes all that painful learning more palatable.』
(missing manual) 『excellent book just what a PC user needs when you start using word on a mac』
(Mostly focused on Word) 『The first 348 pages of this book are on Word. Then there's 158 pages on Entourage. 132 pages on Excel and then a scant 80 on PowerPoint.
That's too bad--I was mostly interested in Excel and PowerPoint. I use Office pretty heavily--my use of Word is limited to making small modifications to existing documents and sending those documents back to my colleagues.
However, I do a lot of original document creation with Excel and PowerPoint. Altogether, this book weighs in a little shy of 900 pages but only 212 of them apply to me.
Perhaps the most annoying thing about the PowerPoint section is that the first chapter discusses presentation basics that have nothing to do with PowerPoint. I suppose that's not terrible, but there are many better books out there about how to build and deliver a presentation. There's very few if any other books out there about PowerPoint 2008 for Mac. I give a _lot_ of presentations and I was looking for a tool to help me wield PowerPoint better--little tips and tricks to avoid all the clicking, to better link my spreadsheets into PowerPoint, or how to set up my own Quick Theme artwork or best practices of dealing with OmniGraffle figures in my PowerPoint slides...
The book is well written, well organized, makes good use of screenshots--the team did a great job. I did learn a few things from this and I'm sure I will get more out of it in the coming weeks--and at this price, there's no downside even if there is so little information applicable for me today.
Perhaps I am being unfair here, perhaps there really isn't so much to say about Excel or PowerPoint. But I suspect that's not the case--the Missing Manual for the _Windows_ version of PowerPoint is 488 pages. So I would guess more real information about the Mac PowerPoint could have been put into this book.
I'm sure I will find the Word stuff handy one day, and I'm sure many people do spend the bulk of their time in Word. But if you're looking for a definitive guide to Excel or PowerPoint on the Mac, this book isn't it.』
(Overly Detailed) 『Extremely detailed in describing multiple operations possible. At times, often hard to find the answer to specific questions, having to pour through pages of (unhelpful) information, only to find the sought after answer inadequate to task. However, it does seem to cover it all, which is important in any manual. It is large and heavy, 800+ pages. Just be aware, maybe consider other options if your needs don't require an all-emcompassing encyclopedic work.』 『Still the top-selling software suite for Mac users, Microsoft Office has been improved and enhanced to take advantage of the latest Mac OS X features. You'll find lots of new features in Office 2008 for Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Entourage, but not a page of printed instructions to guide you through the changes.Office 2008 for Macintosh: The Missing Manualgives you the friendly, thorough introduction you need, whether you're a beginner who can't do more than point and click, or a power user who's ready to tackle a few advanced techniques.
To cover Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Entourage, this guide gives you four superb books in one -- a separate section each for program! You can manage your day and create professional-looking documents, spreadsheets, and presentations in no time. Office 2008 has been redesigned so that the windows, toolbars, and icons blend in better with your other Mac applications. But there are still plenty of oddities. That's why this Missing Manual isn't shy about pointing out which features are gems in the rough -- and which are duds. With it, you'll learn how to:
Navigate the new user interface with its bigger and more graphic toolbars
Use Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Entourage separately or together
Keep track of appointments and manage daily priorities with the My Day feature
Create newsletters, flyers, brochures, and more with Word's Publishing Layout View
Build financial documents like budgets and invoices with Excel's Ledger Sheets
Get quick access to all document templates and graphics with the Elements Gallery
Organize all of your Office projects using Entourage's Project Center
Scan or import digital camera images directly into any of the programs
Customize each program with power-user techniques
WithOffice 2008 for Macintosh: The Missing Manual, you get objective and entertaining instruction to help you tap into all of the features of this powerful suite, so you can get more done in less time.
』 『Still the top-selling software suite for Mac users, Microsoft Office has been improved and enhanced to take advantage of the latest Mac OS X features. You'll find lots of new features in Office 2008 for Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Entourage, but not a page of printed instructions to guide you through the changes.Office 2008 for Macintosh: The Missing Manualgives you the friendly, thorough introduction you need, whether you're a beginner who can't do more than point and click, or a power user who's ready to tackle a few advanced techniques.
To cover Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Entourage, this guide gives you four superb books in one -- a separate section each for program! You can manage your day and create professional-looking documents, spreadsheets, and presentations in no time. Office 2008 has been redesigned so that the windows, toolbars, and icons blend in better with your other Mac applications. But there are still plenty of oddities. That's why this Missing Manual isn't shy about pointing out which features are gems in the rough -- and which are duds. With it, you'll learn how to:
Navigate the new user interface with its bigger and more graphic toolbars
Use Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Entourage separately or together
Keep track of appointments and manage daily priorities with the My Day feature
Create newsletters, flyers, brochures, and more with Word's Publishing Layout View
Build financial documents like budgets and invoices with Excel's Ledger Sheets
Get quick access to all document templates and graphics with the Elements Gallery
Organize all of your Office projects using Entourage's Project Center
Scan or import digital camera images directly into any of the programs
Customize each program with power-user techniques
WithOffice 2008 for Macintosh: The Missing Manual, you get objective and entertaining instruction to help you tap into all of the features of this powerful suite, so you can get more done in less time.
Why Should I Upgrade to Office 2008 for Macintosh?
AuthorJim Elferdinktalks about what’s new in Office 2008 for Macintosh. If you’re still using Office 2004, you’ll find some great reasons to upgrade. Jim also fills you in on some cool features that Office for Windows can’t match, and why you may not need to invest in iWork!
What are the best new features that will make folks want to upgrade to Office 2008? Publishing Layout view.If you use Word to create formatted documents like letters and brochures, you’ll find it so much easier to do now in the new Publishing Layout view than in the old Page Layout view. Publishing Layout view is actually quite similar to Pages; both are very usable. It’s a huge boon for Word people—if you haven’t bought Pages, now you won’t have to! MyDay.I really enjoy Entourage’s MyDay feature. Assuming you’re not working on a laptop that doesn’t have screen space to spare, I recommend keeping MyDay open in the corner of your screen. That’s what I do! It helps me keep track of my appointments and schedule. If you’ve got appointments every 20 minutes or just a lot going on in your day, it’s great to have it all at a glance. It also helps you remember to go pick up the kids. (And you can feel superior to your Windows friends. There’s nothing resembling MyDay in Office for Windows.) Project Center. Entourage’s Project Center has been streamlined and beautified for 2008, but it’s still very underutilized. It takes a little extra effort to learn, but once you’ve got it up and running, if you’re doing any kind of a project that involves Office documents or even files from other programs, it’s a great timesaver. It lets you keep shortcuts toall these documents, plus email related to the project, in one window. The Project Center makes it easy to categorize email, contacts, notes, and documents. Things don’t get lost, and you don’t have to worry about Mac OS X labels and other ways to categorize things. (Office for Windows also hasnothing like the Project Center.) Formula Builder.In Excel, one of the greatest new features is the formula builder. If you use Excel much for formulas at all, especially more complicated ones, it’s really a timesaver. It helps you get those things created and working much faster than you could do before. Elements Gallery.The Elements Gallery concept is really great because it carries over from one program to the other, gives the programs a consistent feel. If you’re using a lot of templates or AutoShapes, you’ll find it a quick way to get at all that stuff. You could do all these things before, but it was a lot harder to find what you were looking for.
So, are there any disadvantages to upgrading to Office 2008? Publishing Layout view can be frustratingly slow on G4 Macs, especially when you’re trying to move layout elements around onscreen. I would only use it on an Intel Mac. The same caveat holds true for PowerPoint; it’s hard to move things around. But the rest of the suite works great on faster G4 machines. Office 2008 uses the same new, XML-based file format as Office 2007 for Windows. It’s great not to have to worry when someone with Office 2007 on a PC sends you something. Office 2008 can open those documents right up. But now when you send documents to Mac folks who haven’t upgraded, they won’t be able to open them! Once you upgrade to Office 2008, you’ve got to be awarethat not everyone else has, and (unless you have a real need to use the XML format) set your Save options (in Preferences) to the older format so there won’t be problems with your attachments. Then there’s the macro problem. Any macros you wrote in earlier versions of Office use the Visual Basic programming language (VBA), and they won’t work in Office 2008! If you’ve written a lot of macros for yourself, you’ll have to stick with Office 2004 until you have time to rewrite them in AppleScript.
What do you like best about "Office 2008 for Macintosh: The Missing Manual?" I’m happy with the way this book turned out. I think it covers everything you need to use this really powerful suite of programs for all your work. One chapter I’m particularly fond of, and which I think is missing from every other PowerPoint book I’ve looked at, is Chapter 15—Planning GreatPresentations. It helps you prepare for your presentation and shows you how to use PowerPoint for its true purpose. PowerPoint isn’t doing the presentation—you are. You’re the star of the show! Unfortunately, too many people think it’s the other way around.』
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Q:After almost two decades of writing fiction, what compelled you to write non-fiction, particularly investigative journalism?
