BestTechBooks

You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto

admin — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 23:00:00 +0000

Author : Jaron Lanier
Jaron Lanier, a Silicon Valley visionary since the 1980s, was among the first to predict the revolutionary changes the World Wide Web would bring to commerce and culture. Now, in his first book, written more than two decades after the web was created, Lanier offers this provocative and cautionary look at the way it is transforming our lives for better and for worse.

The current design and function of the web have become so familiar that it is easy to forget that they grew out of programming decisions made decades ago. The web’s first designers made crucial choices (such as making one’s presence anonymous) that have had enormous—and often unintended—consequences. What’s more, these designs quickly became “locked in,” a permanent part of the web’s very structure.

Lanier discusses the technical and cultural problems that can grow out of poorly considered digital design and warns that our financial markets and sites like Wikipedia, Facebook, and Twitter are elevating the “wisdom” of mobs and computer algorithms over the intelligence and judgment of individuals.

Lanier also shows:
How 1960s antigovernment paranoia influenced the design of the online world and enabled trolling and trivialization in online discourse
How file sharing is killing the artistic middle class;
How a belief in a technological “rapture” motivates some of the most influential technologists
Why a new humanistic technology is necessary.

Controversial and fascinating, You Are Not a Gadget is a deeply felt defense of the individual from an author uniquely qualified to comment on the way technology interacts with our culture.

Price & avaiability
List Price : $24.95 , Buy from Amazon.com for $16.47
Amazon Link : You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto

Excel 2007 For Dummies

admin — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 17:00:00 +0000

Author : Greg Harvey
One look at Excel 2007, with its new Office Button, Quick Access toolbar, and Ribbon, and you realize you’re not in Kansas anymore. Well, have no fear— Excel 2007 for Dummies is here!

If you’ve never worked with a computer spreadsheet, or if you’ve had some experience with earlier versions of Excel but need help transitioning, here you’ll find everything you need to create, edit, format, and print your own worksheets (without sacrificing your sanity!). Excel 2007 for Dummies covers all the fundamental techniques, concentrating on only the easiest, most user-friendly ways to get things done.

You’ll discover how to:

Rearrange, delete and insert new information
Keep track of and organize data in a single worksheet
Transfer data between the sheets of different workbooks
Create a chart using the data in a worksheet
Add hyperlinks and graphics to worksheets
And more!

Plus, in keeping with Excel 2007’s more graphical and colorful look, Excel 2007 for Dummies has taken on some color of its own, with full-color plates in the mid-section of the book illustrating exactly what you’ll see on your screen. Whether you read it from cover to cover or skip to the sections that answer your specific questions, the simple guidance in this book will have you excelling at home or in the office no time.

Price & avaiability
List Price : $21.99 , Buy from Amazon.com for $15.83
Amazon Link : Excel 2007 For Dummies

World of Warcraft: Stormrage

admin — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 23:00:00 +0000

Author : Richard A. Knaak

When the world of Azeroth was young, the god-like titans brought order to it by reshaping its lands and seas. Throughout their great work, they followed a magnificent design for what they envisioned Azeroth would become. Although the titans departed Azeroth long ago, that design endures to this day. It is known as the Emerald Dream, a lush and savagely primal version of the…

WORLD OF WARCRAFT

Many are the mysteries surrounding the Emerald Dream and its reclusive guardians, the green dragonflight. In times past, druids have entered the Dream to monitor the ebb and flow of life on Azeroth in their never-ending quest to maintain the delicate balance of nature.

However, not all dreams are pleasant ones. Recently the Emerald Nightmare, an area of corruption within the Emerald Dream, began growing in size, transforming the Dream into a realm of unimaginable horror. Green dragons have been unexpectedly caught up in the Nightmare, emerging from it with shattered minds and twisted bodies. Druids who have entered the darkening Dream lately have found it difficult — sometimes even impossible — to escape.

Nor are these the Nightmare’s only victims: more and more people are being affected. Even Malfurion Stormrage, first and foremost of the druids on Azeroth, may have fallen victim to this growing threat. As uncontrollable nightmares spread across the world, a desperate quest begins to find and free the archdruid.

Soon nature’s enemies will learn the true meaning of the name

STORMRAGE

Price & avaiability
List Price : $25.00 , Buy from Amazon.com for $16.50
Amazon Link : World of Warcraft: Stormrage

Microsoft Office 2007: Introductory Concepts and Techniques, Premium Video Edition (Shelly Cashman)

admin — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 17:00:00 +0000

Author : Gary B. Shelly
In Microsoft Office 2007: Introductory Concepts and Techniques, Premium Video Edition you’ll find exciting videos, which correlate to the Table of Contents and mirror the step-by-step pedagogy of the Microsoft Office 2007: Brief Concepts and Techniques text to reinforce the skills taught in each chapter.

Price & avaiability
List Price : $126.95 , Buy from Amazon.com for $96.35
Amazon Link : Microsoft Office 2007: Introductory Concepts and Techniques, Premium Video Edition (Shelly Cashman)

Final Fantasy XIII: The Complete Official Guide

admin — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 23:00:00 +0000

Author : Piggyback
· The Final Fantasy XIII collector’s edition guide will be a pristine coffee table book, printed on highest-quality, 100# paper and encased in a hard cover. It will be limited to just one print run and each copy will be sequentially numbered.

· Exclusive additional 16-page section featuring an overview and analysis of the Final Fantasy XIII story

· The 100% complete guide to FINAL FANTASY XIII

·   Every secret, every side-quest, every mini-game, every bonus, every Achievement and every Trophy revealed and explained in a dedicated Extras chapter

·   Dedicated walkthrough charts the most rewarding path through this epic adventure

·   Strategy & Analysis chapter exposes hidden mechanics, advanced battle tactics and techniques for obtaining optimal rewards

·   All-encompassing Inventory and Bestiary chapters feature exhaustive lists and tables covering all enemies, weapons and shops

·   Bears all the hallmarks of a Piggyback guide, including annotated maps, hi-res screenshots and a wealth of exclusive, official artwork

·   Carefully designed to avoid unnecessary story spoilers

Price & avaiability
List Price : $34.99 , Buy from Amazon.com for
Amazon Link : Final Fantasy XIII: The Complete Official Guide

Presentation Zen Design: Simple Design Principles and Techniques to Enhance Your Presentations

admin — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:00:00 +0000

Author : Garr Reynolds
In his internationally acclaimed, best-selling book Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery, presentation master Garr Reynolds gave readers the framework for planning, putting together, and delivering successful presentations. Now, he takes us further into the design realm and shows how we can apply time-honored design principles to presentation layouts.

Throughout Presentation Zen Design, Garr shares his lessons on designing effective presentations that contain text, graphs, color, images, and video. After establishing guidelines for each of the various elements, he explains how to achieve an overall harmony and balance using the tenets of Zen simplicity. Not only will you discover how to design your slides for more professional-looking presentations, you’ll learn to communicate more clearly and will accomplish the goal of making a stronger, more lasting connection with your audience.

Price & avaiability
List Price : $34.99 , Buy from Amazon.com for $23.09
Amazon Link : Presentation Zen Design: Simple Design Principles and Techniques to Enhance Your Presentations

Spam Kings: The Real Story behind the High-Rolling Hucksters Pushing Porn, Pills, and %*@)# Enlargements

admin — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 07:00:00 +0000

Author : Brian S. McWilliams
“People are stupid”, Davis Wolfgang Hawke thought as he stared at the nearly empty box of Swastika pendants on his desk. So begins Spam Kings, an investigative look into the shady world of email spammers and the people trying to stop them.

More than sixty percent of today’s email traffic is spam. In 2004 alone, five trillion spam messages clogged Internet users‚ in-boxes, costing society an estimated $10 billion in filtering software and lost productivity.

This compelling exposé explores the shadowy world of the people responsible for today‚s rapidly spreading junk-email epidemic. Investigative journalist Brian S. McWilliams delivers a fascinating account of the cat-and-mouse game played by spam entrepreneurs in search of easy fortunes and those who are trying to stop them.

McWilliams chronicles the activities of several spam kings, including Davis Wolfgang Hawke, a notorious Jewish-born neo-Nazi leader who began his spamming career 1999. The book traces this twenty-year-old neophyte’s rise in the trade, where he became a major player in the lucrative penis pill market–a business that would eventually make him a millionaire and the target of lawsuits from AOL and others.

Spam Kings also tells the parallel story of Susan Gunn, a computer novice in California who was reluctantly drawn into the spam wars and eventually joined a group of anti-spam activists. Her volunteer sleuthing put her on a collision course with Hawke and other spammers, who sought revenge on their pursuers. Other intriguing anti-spam cyber-vigilantes appear throughout the book, as well as a cast of quirky characters who comprise Hawke’s business associates.

The book sheds light on the technical sleight-of-hand and sleazy business practices that spammers use–forged headers, open relays, harvesting tools, and bulletproof hosting. It also explores the work of top anti-spam attorneys, the surprising new partnership developing between spammers and computer hackers, the ominous rise of a new breed of computer viruses designed to turn the PCs of innocent bystanders into secret spam factories, and the troubling advent of cell phone spamming.

Brian McWilliams is a veteran investigative journalist who has covered business and technology for Web magazines including Wired News and Salon as well as the Washington Post, PC World, Computerworld, and Inc. magazine. The author of hundreds of articles about spam, Internet security, and online consumer protection, McWilliams gained international attention in 2002 when he wrote about the contents of Saddam Hussein’s email inbox for Wired News. He has appeared on NBC Nightly News, Fox News, BBC Radio, NPR’s “Here and Now” and PRI’s “Marketplace” programs, and has been quoted by the International Herald Tribune, the Boston Globe, and the New York Times.

Price & avaiability
List Price : $22.95 , Buy from Amazon.com for $15.61
Amazon Link : Spam Kings: The Real Story behind the High-Rolling Hucksters Pushing Porn, Pills, and %*@)# Enlargements

CISSP All-in-One Exam Guide, Fifth Edition

admin — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:00:00 +0000

Author : Shon Harris
Get complete coverage of the latest release of the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) exam inside this comprehensive, fully updated resource. Written by the leading expert in IT security certification and training, this authoritative guide covers all 10 CISSP exam domains developed by the International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium (ISC2). You’ll find learning objectives at the beginning of each chapter, exam tips, practice exam questions, and in-depth explanations. Designed to help you pass the CISSP exam with ease, this definitive volume also serves as an essential on-the-job reference.

COVERS ALL 10 CISSP DOMAINS:

Information security and risk management
Access control
Security architecture and design
Physical and environmental security
Telecommunications and network security
Cryptography
Business continuity and disaster recovery planning
Legal regulations, compliance, and investigations
Application security
Operations security

THE CD-ROM FEATURES:

Hundreds of practice exam questions
Video training excerpt from the author
E-book

Shon Harris, CISSP, is a security consultant, a former member of the Information Warfare unit in the Air Force, and a contributing writer to Information Security Magazine and Windows 2000 Magazine. She is the author of the previous editions of this book.

Price & avaiability
List Price : $79.99 , Buy from Amazon.com for $50.39
Amazon Link : CISSP All-in-One Exam Guide, Fifth Edition

New Perspectives on Microsoft Office Excel 2007, Comprehensive

admin — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:00:00 +0000

Author : June Jamrich Parsons
Following the critical thinking, problem-solving approach of the New Perspectives Series learners will gain a comprehensive understanding of Microsoft Excel 2007, including the new features of the software. The case-based tutorials challenge learners to apply what they are learning to real-life tasks, preparing them to easily transfer skills to new situations. With the New Perspectives Series approach, learners understand why they’re learning what they’re learning, and are better situated to retain skills.

Price & avaiability
List Price : $111.95 , Buy from Amazon.com for $84.82
Amazon Link : New Perspectives on Microsoft Office Excel 2007, Comprehensive

Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening: Prima Official Game Guide

admin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:00:00 +0000

Author : Mike Searle
* Complete maps for every town and dungeon.
* Detailed walkthroughs to master all quests, puzzles, and pivotal story choices!
* Full equipment lists to gear out your character!
* Detailed class strategies will reveal every new ability as well as build tree recommendations.
* Learn the location of every side quest and the steps to complete each of one.
* Includes walkthroughs for the “Return to Ostagar” DLC.

Price & avaiability
List Price : $19.99 , Buy from Amazon.com for $13.49
Amazon Link : Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening: Prima Official Game Guide