Category: Books

I read this book using iBooks on an iPad; this review is for the first edition of the book printed in 2007. There is an updated "Second Edition" available that appears to have some additional content.

This book is a really quick read at around 180 pages. I appreciate the format of the author walking through the process of creating the design for a web site from the ground up.

I really liked the chapter on color theory and the proper use of a color wheel, I always struggle with choosing colors that "work."

The new edition of the book appears to be a nice upgrade to the first edition and I look forward to reading it sometime soon.

From the publisher:

Tired of making web sites that work absolutely perfectly but just don’t look nice?

If so, then The Principles of Beautiful Web Design is for you. A simple, easy-to-follow guide, illustrated with plenty of full-color examples, this book will lead you through the process of creating great designs from start to finish. Good design principles are not rocket science, and using the information contained in this book will help you create stunning web sites.

Understand the design process, from discovery to implementation Understand what makes "good design" Developing pleasing layouts using grids, the rule of thirds, balance and symmetry Use color effectively, develop color schemes and create a palette Use textures, lines, points, shapes, volumes and depth Learn how good typography can make ordinary designs look great Effective imagery: choosing, editing and placing images And much more

Throughout the book, you’ll follow an example design, from concept to completion, learning along the way. The book’s full-color layout and large format (8" x 10") make The Principles Of Beautiful Wed Design a pleasure to read.

I rate this book a 7 out of 10 and recommend the second edition of the book to anyone beginning web design.

I got this book from Audible.com, it is narrated by the author.

I usually love stories by Neil Gaiman and this one is no exception. The story of Nobody Owens told in The Graveyard Book has its dark moments but falls just short of being scary.

You can watch videos of Mr. Gaiman reading chapters from the book at his web site for young readers “Mr. Bobo’s Remarkable Mouse Circus” where you can also find his other YA books and games.

From the publisher

Bod is an unusual boy who inhabits an unusual place-he’s the only living resident of a graveyard. Raised from infancy by the ghosts, werewolves, and other cemetery denizens, Bod has learned the antiquated customs of his guardians’ time as well as their timely ghostly teachings-like the ability to Fade. Can a boy raised by ghosts face the wonders and terrors of the worlds of both the living and the dead? And then there are things like ghouls that aren’t really one thing or the other. This chilling tale is Neil Gaiman’s first full-length novel for middle-grade readers since the internationally bestselling and universally acclaimed Coraline. Like Coraline, this book is sure to enchant and surprise young readers as well as Neil Gaiman’s legion of adult fans.

I rate this book a 10 out of 10 and recommend it to anyone who likes dark fantasy stories.

This book was recommended to me as the “Bible” for interaction design. I am in the midst of changing my career focus and doing more designerish work. I am not sure exactly where my new job will lead me, but I figured reading “Designing for the Digital Age” could give me a head start.

I read this book using Safari Books Online and bought a physical copy from Amazon. The physical copy was because I figured I could read it faster if I had both electronic and print versions.

After reading this book I have to agree that it could be the Bible of interaction design as it appears to cover every topic of modern design. But overall I found the book hard to read, repetitive, and very textbook like. I think I would have gotten a lot more out of it with the help of a classroom setting, which is a very rare thing for me indeed as I do not enjoy structured learning at all.

From the publisher:

Whether you’re designing consumer electronics, medical devices, enterprise Web apps, or new ways to check out at the supermarket, today’s digitally-enabled products and services provide both great opportunities to deliver compelling user experiences and great risks of driving your customers crazy with complicated, confusing technology.

Designing successful products and services in the digital age requires a multi-disciplinary team with expertise in interaction design, visual design, industrial design, and other disciplines. It also takes the ability to come up with the big ideas that make a desirable product or service, as well as the skill and perseverance to execute on the thousand small ideas that get your design into the hands of users. It requires expertise in project management, user research, and consensus-building. This comprehensive, full-color volume addresses all of these and more with detailed how-to information, real-life examples, and exercises. Topics include assembling a design team, planning and conducting user research, analyzing your data and turning it into personas, using scenarios to drive requirements definition and design, collaborating in design meetings, evaluating and iterating your design, and documenting finished design in a way that works for engineers and stakeholders alike.

I rate this book a 6 out of 10 because of its textbook like nature, but the information in the book is very valuable and I am glad that I have read it.

I listened to this book from Audible, it is narrated by James Marsters.

Side Jobs is a collection of short stories that take place between the other books in the Dresden Files series including a story from before Dresden has a P.I. license. I really enjoyed every one of these stories as they lend further depth and breadth to the characters I have grown to love.

James Marsters gives an amazing performance portraying not only Harry as a lead role, but also Thomas and Murphy in their own stories. Mr. Marsters is an incredible actor!

The publisher does not appear to have a synopsis for this book, but the editorial reviews on Amazon do a good job.

I rate this book an 8 out of 10 overall, but a must read for Dresden fans.

I read this book using Safari Books Online using an iPhone and a MacBook Pro with Firefox. I was most comfortable reading on a 22" screen rotated vertically so that I could easily read an entire page without scrolling with a font large enough to read while sitting back in an office chair.

"Rocket Surgery Made Easy" is about doing usability testing with a small budget, little time, and not a lot of support. I think it does a great job fulfilling that purpose and more. It is very focused and does not stray from the subject it covers. I feel empowered by what I have learned and have a lot more confidence that I will be able to conduct usability tests that will result in knowing what should be worked on next.

This is a short book compared to others on the market; in fact I read this book as a break from reading another much larger and broader-in-scope book.

From the publisher:

It’s been known for years that usability testing can dramatically improve products. But with a typical price tag of $5,000 to $10,000 for a usability consultant to conduct each round of tests, it rarely happens.

In this how-to companion to Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, Steve Krug spells out an approach to usability testing that anyone can easily apply to their own web site, application, or other product. (As he said in Don’t Make Me Think, "It’s not rocket surgery".)

In this new book, Steve explains how to:

• Test any design, from a sketch on a napkin to a fully-functioning web site or application
• Keep your focus on finding the most important problems (because no one has the time or resources to fix them all)
• Fix the problems that you find, using his "The least you can do" approach

By paring the process of testing and fixing products down to its essentials (A morning a month, that’s all we ask ), Rocket Surgery makes it realistic for teams to test early and often, catching problems while it’s still easy to fix them. Rocket Surgery Made Easy adds demonstration videos to the proven mix of clear writing, before-and-after examples, witty illustrations, and practical advice that made Don’t Make Me Think so popular.

I rate this book a 9 out of 10 for those interested in usability testing.

I bought this book as a hardcover from Amazon along with "I Shall Wear Midnight" which I hope to read soonish.

I absolutely love everything Terry Partchett. The Discworld series is so incredible with its depth and breadth of characters, locations, plot-lines, and pure awesomeness. I have read all of them multiple times.

Terry Pratchett also writes amazing children’s books like the Tiffany Aching series, which takes place in the Discworld universe, "Nation", the award winning "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents," and "The Bromeliad Trilogy."

The "The Bromeliad Trilogy" consists of "Truckers," "Diggers" and "Wings" which are adventures of the "nomes," little people similar to garden gnomes but don’t dare say that to them.

From the publisher about Truckers:

For years the Store has been home to hundreds of four-inch-tall nomes, until the day they discover devastating news: The Store is going to be demolished. Now the nomes need a new way of thinking, a daring escape plan, and a whole lot of luck …

From the publisher about Diggers:

Just as the nomes are settling into their new home, they discover they have to move again. That is, unless they can find a way to fight back …

From the publisher about Wngs:

The powerful conclusion to the trilogy, wherein the nomes search for a way back to their original home and learn more than they ever could have imagined about airports, humans, outer space, geese, and Floridian sandwiches.

I rate this book a 7 out of 10, it is not as fast a read as most Discworld books, but it a satisfying story full of Terry Pratchett’s unique sense of humor.

I listened to these books from Audible.com which are narrated by James Marsters. As always the production values are excellent and the characters are portrayed by Marsters in a way that really brings them to life.

The series is really taking off with big changes for the characters and intensifying plot lines that leave me wanting more and more. I really like how every book surprises me with plot twists and character bends that deepen my interest in Harry Dresden and the people that surround him.

Turn Coat

We get to learn more about Morgan and what motivates him to do the things he does in "Turn Coat."

From the publisher:

The Warden Morgan has been accused of treason against the Wizards of the White Council–and there’s only one, final punishment for that crime. He’s on the run, wants his name cleared, and needs someone with a knack for backing the underdog. Someone like Harry Dresden.

Now, Harry must uncover a traitor within the Council, keep a less-than-agreeable Morgan under wraps, and avoid coming under scrutiny himself. And a single mistake may cost someone his head–someone like Harry.

Changes

Wow! Just WOW!

I do not want to give anything away about this book, so I wont. It is not a book that you should read without reading all of the other Harry Dresden books first, but as the 12th book in the series it is the best of the bunch.

I have edited the description from the publisher because I feel it gives away important plot points of the story that should be left as a surprise.

From the publisher:

Long ago, Susan Rodriguez was Harry Dresden’s lover-until she was attacked by his enemies, leaving her torn between her own humanity and the bloodlust of the vampiric Red Court. Susan then disappeared to South America, where she could fight both her savage gift and those who cursed her with it.

Now Arianna Ortega, Duchess of the Red Court, has discovered a secret Susan has long kept, and she plans to use it-against Harry. To prevail this time, he may have no choice but to embrace the raging fury of his own untapped dark power.

I rate Turn Coat 8 out of 10 and Changes as a 10 out of 10 for those who have read the preceding books.

In the last year I set a goal for myself to write a short book review every week. I love to read and go through almost a book a week either in print, on an electronic device, or as an audio book.

I also decided to focus the first half of the year on non-fiction books and the second half of the year reading fiction. Many of the fiction books I have written reviews for are part of a series and the reviews are for more than one book in the series.

I really enjoyed these books and look forward to even more reading in 2011.

Non-Fiction Books

• The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook by Ben Mezrich 8 out of 10
• Boundaries by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend 10 out of 10
• Creative Black & White by Harold Davis Unrated
• Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus: The Classic Guide to Understanding the Opposite Sex by John Gray 9 out of 10
• The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson 9 out of 10
• Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? by Seth Godin 4 out of 10
• No More Mondays: Fire Yourself — And Other Revolutionary Ways to Discover Your True Calling at Work by Dan Miller 8 out of 10
• 97 Things Every Programmer Should Know 8 out of 10
• How the Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In by Jim Collins 8 out of 10
• A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson 8 out of 10
• Around the World in 80 Days by Michael Palin 7 out of 10
• Storming Las Vegas: How a Cuban-Born, Soviet-Trained Commando Took Down the Strip 8 out of 10
• iWoz: How I Invented the Personal Computer and Had Fun Along the WaY 7 out of 10
• Blink: The Power of Thinking Without by Malcolm Gladwell 5 out of 10
• Andrew Carnegie by David Nasaw 4 out of 10
• The Blessing of a Skinned Knee: Using Jewish Teachings to Raise Self-Reliant Children by Wendy Mogel, Ph.D. 10 out of 10
• Influencer: The Power to Change Anything 7 out of 10
• National Geographic Photo Books 8 out of 10
• iPad: The Missing Manual by J.D. Biersdorfer 7 out of 10
• High Performance JavaScript by Nicholas C. Zakas 8 out of 10
• Firebug 1.5: Editing, Debugging, and Monitoring Web Pages by Chandan Luthra and Deepak Mittal 8 out of 10
• The Unofficial LEGO Builder’s Guide by Allan Bedford 8 out of 10
• Cooking for Geeks: Real Science, Great Hacks, and Good Food By Jeff Potter 8 out of 10

Fiction Books

• Maximum Ride: Books 1, 2, and 3 by James Patterson Unrated
• Ender’s Game: Special 20th Anniversary Edition by Orson Scott Card 9 out of 10
• The Callahan Chronicals by Spider Robinson 9 out of 10
• Doctor Who: The Sands of Time By Justin Richards 8 out of 10
• A Hat Full of Sky, An Adventure of Tiffany Aching and the Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett 9 out of 10
• Doctor Who: The Taking of Chelsea 426 by David Llewellyn 8 out of 10
• Dresden Files: Storm Front & Fool Moon by Jim Butcher 9 out of 10
• Dresden Files Book 3: Grave Peril by Jim Butcher 8 out of 10
• Dresden Files Books 4 through 8 by Jim Butcher 8 out of 10
• Dresden Files: Books 9 "White Night" and Book 10 "Small Favor" 8 out of 10
• Doctor Who: Night of the Humans By David Llewellyn 8 out of 10

Cooking has never been interesting to me, after reading this book I am still not very interested, but I do want to learn how to cook well enough to feed my family a nice balanced meal.

I read this book using Safari Books Online an iPad, a MacBook, and an iPhone. Reading using HTML view in mobile Safari works ok, it is not as good an experience as a proper eBook that is correctly formatted, but it is a lot better than trying to read a PDF that is formatted with all the wasted space of a print book.

Cooking for Geeks approaches cooking from a scientific and computer geek point of view. I enjoyed the information about what makes food taste the way it does, why we like the taste, how to bring out the best taste, how our taste buds work, and some of the basic recipes to get me started cooking.

I used the information in the book to buy kitchen tools like a non-stick frying pan, an iron skillet, probe and oven thermometers, and a kitchen scale. I look forward to using them to cook my family some great meals.

One of my favorite features of this book are the vignettes from celebrity chefs, celebrity geeks, and food scientists. From Adam Savage talking about cooking eggs to Jeff Varasano of Atlanta’s Varasano’s Pizzeria hacking his home oven to get temperatures hot enough to cook a proper pizza they were all great.

From the publisher:

More than just a cookbook, Cooking for Geeks applies your curiosity to discovery, inspiration, and invention in the kitchen. Why is medium-rare steak so popular? Why do we bake some things at 350° F/175° C and others at 375° F/190° C? And how quickly does a pizza cook if we overclock an oven to 1,000° F/540° C? Author and cooking geek Jeff Potter provides the answers and offers a unique take on recipes — from the sweet (a “mean” chocolate chip cookie) to the savory (duck confit sugo).

I rate this book an 8 out of 10. I highly recommend this book to any geek that has an interest in cooking. It is not the only book needed to go from a non-cook to a great cook but I think it is a great first step.

P.S.
My next cooking book is Alton Brown’s “I’m Just Here for the Food: Version 2.0” or “How to Cook Everything” by Mark Bittman from which I hope to learn basic kitchen skills.

I am currently in the process of reading How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman and am really enjoying it. Bobbie has already used three of the recepies to make meatloaf and a coconut cake.

The more I read about cooking from different chefs the more I hear about this book. It sounds like every chef has this book and has used it extensively.

The book is broken into different types of food and each section begins with great information and tips about that type of food and how to prepare it. I feel like I am learning a lot from this book and hope to put it to good use.

Ten months ago I purchased an Audible.com AudibleListener® Platinum Annual Membership which gave me 24 “credits” to buy audio books with. All of the books I purchased were only one credit but there are books that cost more. Buying 24 credits at once lowered the cost to under $10 a book, which is a great deal when most audiobooks are $25 or more. The subscription is meant to last a year, but I used all my credits in 10 months. I could buy another 24 credits right now but have decided to listen to podcasts for a little while.

I downloaded the “Enhanced” format for most books and imported them into iTunes then listened to them using my iPhone. This worked really great for me as my car has an auxiliary jack that I am able to use to play audio directly from the iPhone through the car stereo system. The enhanced format is such a high quality that I am able to hear the edit points in the audio of many of the books.

The only really big problem I have when listening to audio books is not an issue with Audible but the TERRIBLE iPod interface on the iPhone. The next and previous chapter buttons are really close to the play/pause button and I regularly click them by accident, which is horrible when on a motorcycle, driving in traffic, or working in the garage. Recovering from jumping a chapter or two forward in a book is a real pain that can spoil a twist in the story.

Since January 2009 I have listened to 59 different books from Audible, they have ranged from terrible to incredible and my wishlist always has more books waiting for me to purchase and listen to.

Over the past year I have to say that the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher and narrated by James Marsters have been my favorite books. James Marsters is an incredible actor that brings every character to life and draws me into the books in a way that reading print would not. The next best book was Storming Las Vegas by John Huddy and narrated by Stefan Rudnicki. It is a great account of armored car robberies in Las Vegas.

If you like audiobooks, have a long commute, like to jog/walk/exercise, or would like to read books in the dark I highly recommend Audible.com as a source of great audiobooks.

In August I read Taking of Chelsea 426 also from David Llewellyn, which I really enjoyed, and now after a lot of starts and stops I have finally finished Night of the Humans. The time it took me to finish the book is no fault of the writing it is because I have so many books and projects going on, oh yeah, and a new baby at home.

Night of the Humans puts the eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond on a planet made of trash inhabited by a team Sittuun and a camp of Humans. The Sittuun have come to destroy the planet before it is hit by a comet that would result in the destruction of many surrounding planets and the loss of millions of lives. The humans believe they are living on Earth and wont listen to the Sittuun declaring them enemies.

Like all of the new Doctor Who books, Night of the Humans is paced like an action movie without adding a lot of depth to the characters. The nail biting ending is very “Doctor Who” and stays very true to the history of the series. David Llewellyn has a lot to be proud of with this story.

From the publisher:

”This is the Gyre – the most hostile environment in the galaxy.’ 250,000 years’ worth of junk floating in deep space, home to the shipwrecked Sittuun, the carnivorous Sollogs, and worst of all – the Humans. The Doctor and Amy arrive on this terrifying world in the middle of an all-out frontier war between Sittuun and Humans, and the clock is already ticking. There’s a comet in the sky, and it’s on a collision course with the Gyre…When the Doctor is kidnapped, it’s up to Amy and “galaxy-famous swashbuckler” Dirk Slipstream to save the day. But who is Slipstream, exactly? And what is he really doing here? A thrilling, all new adventure featuring the Doctor and Amy, as played by Matt Smith and Karen Gillan in the spectacular hit series from BBC Television

I rate this book an 8 out of 10 and think all Doctor Who fans would love it.

I am working my way through the Dresden Files books purchased from Audible.com and narrated by James Marsters. Book 9 is named “White Night” and book 10 is “Small Favor.”

The pacing in these books is very similar, there is a lot of great action with a little bit of character building in each one to keep them growing. I really appreciate that about this series, none of the characters have become stale for me and I am still interested in each character’s life and want to see how they evolve.

The only thing getting on my nerves the number of times the basics are explained and re-explained in the books. I understand that it is important for each book to be accessible to a new reader who has not read the previous books, but does the entire system for how magic works really need to be explained in great detail in every book?

From the author’s web site for White Night:

Someone is targeting the city’s magic practitioners, the members of the supernatural underclass who don’t possess enough power to become full-fledged wizards. Many have vanished. Others appear to be victims of suicide. But the murderer has left a calling card at one of the crime scenes–a message for Harry Dresden, referencing the book of Exodus and the killing of witches.

Harry sets out to find the killer before he can strike again, but his investigation turns up evidence pointing to the one suspect he cannot possibly believe guilty: his half brother, Thomas. Determined to bring the real murderer to justice and clear his brother’s name, Harry attracts the attention of the White Court of vampires, becoming embroiled in a power struggle that renders him outnumbered, outclassed, and dangerously susceptible to temptation.

Harry knows that if he screws this one up, a lot of people will die–and one of them will be his brother.

For Small Favor:

No one’s tried to kill Harry Dresden for almost an entire year, and his life finally seems to be calming down. For once, the future looks fairly bright. But the past casts one hell of a long shadow.

An old bargain has placed Harry in debt to Mab, monarch of the Winter Court of the Sidhe, the Queen of Air and Darkness-and she’s calling in her marker. It’s a small favor he can’t refuse…one that will trap Harry Dresden between a nightmarish foe and an equally deadly ally, and one that will strain his skills-and loyalties-to their very limits.

It figures. Everything was going too well to last…

I rate these books an 8 out of 10 and look forward to listening to the next books in the series.

I found The Unofficial LEGO Builder’s Guide on Amazon on a Tuesday night, on Wednesday I decided I wanted to buy the book during lunch hour. I was on a full impulse need to buy and read the book ASAP.

After searching borders.com and finding the local stores did not have the book I searched barnesandnoble.com who had the book online for about $18 and a local store had it in stock. Wahoo!

So I hopped into the car and ran of to the store where I found the book along with two other Lego themed books. Sweet! After perusing through the other two books I headed to the cashier with a copy of The Unofficial LEGO Builder’s Guide in hand with a big smile on my face.

At the cash register I was told the book was going to cost me $27! What the Frak! I was ready to pay $5 or $6 dollars more due to taxes and such but how could I be expected to pay $10 more than the online price for the same book from the same store.

I said “no thank you” and left the book on the counter in front of the sales clerk and walked out of the store.

In the car on the way back to work I ordered the book from Amazon via my iPhone and the Amazon app for $17 and it arrived at my house on Thursday two days later.

I am afraid that retail brick-and-mortar book stores are now dead to me. I expect I will continue visiting thrift stores and use book stores from time to time, but Barnes & Noble and Borders are dead to me.

With an Amazon Prime subscriptions, an iPad with eReader, Stanza, Kindle, and the iBook app I have no reason to put up with the prices that retail book stores are asking. At some point I will rant more about the ridiculous prices that are being asked for eBooks and the childish games that the publishers and eBook vendors are playing with each other.

I have really gotten into Lego lately. I am an AFOL (Adult Fan of Lego) and really enjoy putting the kits together as a way to wind down and relax. I also like the challenge of taking a handful of bricks and creating something totally original.

The Unofficial LEGO Builder’s Guide is a great starting point for someone getting into Lego building with tips on how to build solid and stable structures with a minimum of bricks, how to calculate scale so your models look “real” or at least recognizable, tips on sorting and storing, and a brickopedia to help with describing and categorizing different bricks.

With what I learned in this book I hope to build bigger and better models that include more realistic details. It has already helped with ideas for my current project, a chassis dynamometer that spins the wheels of other models so you can watch the internals moving.

Although I do like this book and feel that I got my money’s worth from it, I feel like there is a lot missing for a book with 344 pages. There was a lot of content I have no interest in, like how to build models of large pieces and how to build a sphere, and the sections I was interested in were not very satisfying.

I did like this book, but I guess the reviews and testimonials on Amazon hyped it up to a point that no one book could ever actually be that good.

I rate this book an 8 out of 10 for those who are interested in building with Lego.