Writing Skills for Social Workers (Social Work in Action series) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This is an excellent resource for the social worker that writes. It is comprehensive, descriptive and useful. I recently wrote an article for a class and this book helped me organize the paper. Well worth the money.


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Writing Skills for Social Workers aims to raise the profile of writing skills in social work practice, and to enhance social workers' written communication skills. The book adopts a logical progression, and each chapter identifies and contextualizes the practical skills needed at specific points in training and practice. Overall it encourages the development of writing skills and techniques which will stand the reader in good stead throughout their professional career. By adopting a practical approach the authors have included a number of pedagogical features such as reflective exercises, writing tips for specific tasks, and guidelines for further reading.

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Synergized Middle School Chemistry: Elements and Interactions (Volume 2) Review

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(More customer reviews)Recently I was asked to sub in in a middle school science classroom for a number of days. I was left with no lesson plans and do not have a strong science background. This book was instrumental in helping me develop lessons that really engaged the kids. The lessons were easy to follow and the labs worked wonderfully. By the end of the week, other science teachers were asking me if they could borrow the book to use in their own classes. This would be a great resource for any school and for anyone trying to develop a science curriculm that is both engaging for the students and develops a high level of understanding for kids.

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Synergized Middle School Chemistry (SMSC) offers a unique approach for teaching middle school science. This book synergizes or puts together lesson sequences using the best practices of science instruction: inquiry-based learning, literacy integration (nonfiction reading and writing, using science notebooks, science mathematics connections) and embedded assessments (effective design, real world applications). SMSC students are active participants in the learning process. Lessons are engaging hands-on and relevant. Students read, write, calculate, and communicate in the context of science. Student assessment is continuous and ongoing. SMSC includes practical advice for teachers from background information to material preparation to literacy and assessment strategies. To help save time and money SMSC investigations use safe and economical supplies found in supermarkets and discount stores.

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Computing for Seniors in Easy Steps - Windows Vista Edition: For the Over 50's Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a great book for people with little computing experience , its easy to use just put it at the side of your computer and the pictures help you to do lots of things that you would probably not attempt .
This is my third book in this range and I find them all very good

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This easy-to-use, full-color book helps the older generation enjoy all the benefits of using a PC with Windows Vista. Featuring a larger font size and plenty of illustrations, the book covers the mouse, playing and storing music on PC, creating a personal letterhead, surfing the Web, keeping in touch by e-mail, buying and selling on eBay, installing antivirus software, shopping safely on the Internet, ordering groceries online, playing games, money management, transferring images from a digital camera, and more.

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Cisco Routers for the Desperate: Router and Switch Management, the Easy Way Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)'Cisco Routers for the Desperate' (CRFTD) is the book Cisco should package with their routers -- assuming author Michael Lucas makes a few tweaks. I've always been amazed by Michael's uncanny ability to include details that matter to administrators, especially in his earlier books 'Absolute BSD' and 'Absolute OpenBSD'. CRFTD is no exception; the book is chock full of life-saving Cisco tips. I suggest you buy one to keep by your router, just as the author recommends.
CRFTD is not supposed to be comprehensive, but it is designed to answer many if not most of the questions facing the average small router administrator. If you're responsible for multiple routers or have complex requirements, this book is not for you. If you are stuck sitting if front of the router connected to your ISP, and don't know how to proceed, CRFTD is for you.
Although this book weighs in around 120 pages, it features material seldom discussed in other Cisco-related books. For example, Michael provides good advice on how to interact with your ISP to troubleshoot connectivity issues. He explains WAN circuits and the equipment responsibilities of ISPs and end users. Most impressively, he dedicates 25 pages in chapter 7 to Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) and Cisco's Host Standby Router Protocol (HSRP) -- two topics I did not expect in a book this size. I also appreciated mention of enabling usernames and passwords (beyond the usual 'password' and 'enable' methods) and activating secure shell services.
I like CRFTD because it cuts to the chase and tells the reader what he or she needs to know to properly configure a router. There is not a lot of theory here, but there are some explanations. In some cases, the syntax is not exactly in synch with Cisco's latest expectations. For example, the company recommends using 'copy running-config startup-config' to save the running configuration to flash memory. This does not mean Michael's syntax is wrong, but his approach may harken to an earlier time.
The book has some minor errors which forced me to provide a four star rating. The first issue is the lack of recommending the 'no shutdown' command when configuring interfaces. Having just sat through a week of Todd Lammle's CCNA class, I can personally attest to the number of times router admins forget to enable interfaces. I did not see Michael mention this -- so remember to enter 'no shutdown' when configuring interfaces. Second, Michael mixes up the use of the console port and the AUX port; console is usually for rolled-cable access, while AUX is typically for modem access. At the bottom of p. 31, omit the term 'netmask' from the 'ip address' command; it's not needed. On p. 109, 'timeout' should be 'time-out' in the syntax.
Overall, I really enjoyed CRFTD. I think a second edition will easily make the necessary changes. I heartily recommend buying a copy of this book for router admins at your corporate remote locations. They will thank you for simplifying the administration of their routers. Those looking for a quick, hands-on CCNA refresher will find working through Michael's examples a good way to reinforce key configuration concepts.

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Cisco routers and switches are the cornerstones of many networks. But when things break, repairs can intimidate even the most competent administrator. Luckily, just knowing the "in case of emergency" basics will take you far.

Just like the original, this second edition of the highly acclaimed Cisco Routers for the Desperate is written for the administrator in crisis mode. Updated to cover switches and the latest Cisco terminology, with a tighter focus on the needs of the small network administrator, this second edition gives you what you need to know to provide reliable network services and fix problems fast. You'll find coverage of:

Installation—how to get your router and network connections up and running right the first time
Troubleshooting routers and switches, so that you can determine whether your hardware or the Internet is broken
Security concerns, like how to keep your network equipment safe from hackers and install a private network between two offices
How to implement basic network redundancy to reduce the risk of network downtime

Cisco Routers for the Desperate, 2nd Edition is designed to be read once and left alone until something breaks. When it does, you'll have everything you need to know in one easy-to-follow guidebook.

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The Lobbying Strategy Handbook: 10 Steps to Advancing Any Cause Effectively Review

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(More customer reviews)I don't usually review books on lobbying, but that has more to do with the fact that there are few good books written on this important act of advocacy. I have been a lobbyist for a trade association for over 25 years and I would have loved to have been given a resource like Pat Libby's book when I started out in the business. Don't get me wrong, there is considerable material out there on the political process, it is just that it is not very usable to the average person interested in promoting a legislative cause or agenda.
What I like about The Lobbying Strategy Handbook is that it gives a fairly sound foundation in the basics of law making, the governmental budgeting process and lobbying. The most important part follows with a clear, "how to", ten-step advocacy campaign procedure, with some real life case studies.
The author created and directs a university institute for non-profit education in California and previously ran several non-profits, lobbying for their key issues. She clearly knows what she is writing about from first hand experiences. The reader might not qualify for a degree reading this book, but they will certainly know how to develop and promote a legislative strategy.
Lobbying is not just for the "high rollers" working the corridors of power in Washington. Pat makes this whole advocacy procedure accessible to everyone, especially on the local level. And isn't that what our democratic process is really all about - giving every citizen the abilities to make changes in the way our government works.


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The Lobbying Strategy Handbook shows how students with passion for a cause can learn to successfully influence lawmaking in the United States. The centerpiece of this book is a 10-step framework that walks the reader through the essential elements of conducting a lobbying campaign. The framework is illustrated by three separate case studies that show how groups of people have successfully used the model. Undergraduate, graduate students, and anyone interested in making a difference, can use the book to guide them in creating and conducting a grassroots campaign from start to finish.

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YouTube 4 You Review

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(More customer reviews)I have come across this book in my local Borders bookstore just today and as a huge fan and frequent user of YouTube I must say that I like it a lot. The book is perfectly suitable for beginners and I believe that it was written with them in mind. However, because of its pretty comprehensive character, it can serve well as a basic reference manual for all other readers as well. I highly recommend it to everyone who wants to learn more about YouTube.

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VIEW. UPLOAD. SHARE. That's what YouTube is all about–viewing,uploading, and sharing your favorite videos. And the book you hold inyour hands will help you get the most out of this hot website. You'lllearn how to find the latest viral videos, share your favorite videoswith friends and the YouTube community, and shoot and upload your ownvideos to the YouTube website. YouTube 4 You is the first bookto take you inside YouTube, show you how the site works, and providetips and tricks for becoming a more successful YouTuber!


You'll Learn How To

• Find and watch the latest videos
• Manage and share your favorite videos
• Download and save YouTube videos to your computer or iPod
• Upload your own YouTube video creations
• Get more out of the YouTube community
• Troubleshoot viewing and uploading problems

Contents

Introduction 1
Part I YouTube 4 Everyone
1 Welcome to YouTube 7
2 Getting Around the YouTube Site 13
Part II YouTube 4 Viewers
3 Finding Videos to Watch 27
4 Watching YouTube Videos 39
5 Managing and Sharing Your Favorite Videos 49
6 Downloading YouTube Videos to Your PC–and Your iPod 61
Part III YouTube 4 Video Makers
7 What Type of Videos Do You Want to Upload? 75
8 Creating Videos 4 YouTube 89
9 Uploading Videos to YouTube 99
10 Managing Your Uploaded Videos 109
11 Who Owns What: Legal Issues with YouTube Videos 117
Part IV YouTube 4 Advanced Users
12 Joining the YouTube Community–and Creating Your Own Channel 133
13 Adding YouTube Videos to Your Own Site or Blog 153
14 Profiting from Your YouTube Videos 163
15 Getting More Out of YouTube–With Third-Party Tools 175
16 Troubleshooting YouTube Problems 183
Index 191

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Six-Week Start-Up: A Step-By-Step Program for Starting Your Business, Making Money, and Achieving Your Goals Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)So, can you get a business started in six weeks? I think the answer is yes, but it's going to depend on the type of business you want to start. If you're planning on starting an amusement park or oil refinery, it's going to take longer. But Abrams says in the introduction that this book is for more typical entrepreneurs who are planning to start a small business (retail or service company).
There are certainly plenty of other books on the market about starting a business (I've read many of them, and looked at many more in the bookstore), but what led me to buy this one was the week-by-week approach. Abrams starts each week with a checklist of things to get finished in that week. The first week focuses on business concept-oriented tasks (defining goals for the business, strategic position, etc.) and developing an "identity" (name, logo, etc.).
The later weeks go into things like setting up an accounting system, incorporating, finding office space, doing market research, and hiring employees.
The book has a lot of worksheets you can use to handle issues such as developing a marketing plan or personnel policies. Many of the worksheets are useful, although I wish I hadn't written in the book itself (tip: xerox the worksheets, and write on those! that way you'll have "backups" if you need to start over! Wish I had!).
So, after six weeks will I have my doors open for business? Yes--no question. But since I'm starting a consulting company and setting up a home office, I don't have huge organizational issues to worry about (like building a warehouse or something similar). And I think the premise of this book will work for most people who are starting a similar *small* business. I give it five stars, though, because even if it takes more than six weeks, the information here is solid.

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Six-Week Start-Up offers entrepreneurs a quick-and-easy, proven formula for organizing the difficult details of a new business and getting it up-and-running--fast! Designed by America's foremost small-business advice guru Rhonda Abrams as a personal workbook.

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CompTIA Security+Study Guide: Exam SY0-201 Review

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(More customer reviews)The book is built on a clean language, the ideas are well organized inside each chapter, but you could perceive that chapters themselves are not in the optimal order...Sometimes you have to jump from one chapter to another to cover completely an idea exposed in this book.
On the other hand, you will have to buy additional simulations and practice questions to complete your preparation, because this book does not offer you practice questions with the appropiate level of complexity compared to the real exam.

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Comprehensive Coverage to Help You Prepare for the SY0-201 Exam and Beyond

This CompTIA Authorized Study Guide provides complete coverage of the objectives for CompTIA's Security+ Exam (SY0-201), with clear and concise information on crucial security topics. Learn from practical examples and insights drawn from real-world experience and review your newly acquired knowledge with cutting-edge exam preparation software, including a test engine and electronic flashcards. Find authoritative coverage of key exam topics like general security concepts, communication security, infrastructure security, the basics of cryptography and operational and organizational security.

Coverage includes:

General Security Concepts
Identifying Potential Risks
Infrastructure and Connectivity
Monitoring Activity and Intrusion Detection
Implementing and Maintaining a Secure Network
Securing the Network and Environment
Cryptography Basics, Methods, and Standards
Security Policies and Procedures
Security Administration

FEATURED ON THE CD:

Sybex Test Engine including an assessment test and practice exam
Chapter Review Questions
Electronic Flashcards
Entire book in a searchable PDF

Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

For Instructors: Teaching supplements are available for this title.

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Finding Community: How to Join an Ecovillage or Intentional Community Review

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(More customer reviews)To me, Finding Community was even more useful and entertaining than Diana Leafe Christian's previous book, Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities. It is full of inside information and tips for those of us interested in the possibility of joining an intentional community. The book is also witty and highly entertaining, with lots of anecdotes from specific communities. The book explains the variety of communities on the spectrum from income-sharing communes, to ecovillages, to co-housing, to Christian communities. It de-mystifies the financial issues and also the process of applying and actually joining. Particularly valuable to me, in light of global warming and peak oil, were the forward by Richard Heinberg and the appendix on ecovillages as lifeboat communities after the oil crash.

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Finding community is as critical as obtaining food and shelter, since the need to belong is what makes us human. The isolation and loneliness of modern life have led many people to search for deeper connection, which has resulted in a renewed interest in intentional communities. These intentional communities or ecovillages are an appealing choice for like-minded people who seek to create a family-oriented and ecologically sustainable lifestyle—a lifestyle they are unlikely to find anywhere else.

However, the notion of an intentional community can still be a tremendous leap for some—deterred perhaps by a misguided vision of eking out a hardscrabble existence with little reward. In fact, successful ecovillages thrive because of the combined skills and resources of their members.

Finding Community presents a thorough overview of ecovillages and intentional communities and offers solid advice on how to research thoroughly, visit thoughtfully, evaluate intelligently, and join gracefully. Useful considerations include:

• Important questions to ask (of members and of yourself) • Signs of a healthy (and not-so-healthy) community • Cost of joining (and staying) • Common blunders to avoid

Finding Community provides intriguing possibilities to readers who are seeking a more cooperative, sustainable, and meaningful life.

Diana Leafe Christian is the author of Creating a Life Together and editor of Communities magazine. She lives at Earthhaven Ecovillage in North Carolina.

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How to start a business in Bali: A practical guide to setting up and running a successful business in Bali Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Mike has gathered alot of great infomation here, the interviews in this book give alot of insight into this subject for anyone considering setting up a business in Bali.
I love theme running through the book, of working together with the Balinese people for a mutally beneficial situation.
If you are considering taking the plunge this is a great starting point.

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It can be difficult enough starting a successful business in your own country, let alone in a foreign country like Indonesia.The dream of running your own guesthouse or restaurant by the beach on a tropical island like Bali, doesn't stop people wanting to give it a try.This guide on how to start a business in Bali was written to help guide people through the ropes of setting up a company and establishing a successful business.The book goes beyond the author's experience by including interviews with successful expat entrepreneurs who have a combined experience of over 80 years in Indonesia.The advice is practical and to the point. While the guide focuses on Bali, the information could also be applied to other locations in Indonesia as well.

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The Letterboxer's Companion, 2nd: Exploring the Mysteries Hidden in the Great Outdoors Review

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(More customer reviews)I just finished reading the 1st edition of this book when I heard there was a 'new edition' that could be pre-ordered (only from Amazon). Needless to say I jumped on the band wagon and placed my pre-order. Much to my surprise I received notice the book came in ahead of schedule and I received my book appox. two weeks ahead of the quoted date.
As for the book.... I'm not to impressed with the updates. IF you have the 1st edition don't waste your money on this one... the updates aren't that great - especially if you are already do letter boxing and / or use Atlas Quest.
I'm still happy because I borrowed the 1st book from our library... now I have my own copy for a reference.

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From the day in 1854 when James Perrott placed a bottle for visitors' cards on a moor in Dartmoor, England, to the feature article in a 1998 issue of Smithsonian introducing the sport to a U.S. audience, to the thousands of letterboxes today scattered throughout North America, the quaint Old World pastime of letterboxing has come a long way. And it's not surprising. This fascinating, family-friendly sport-an intriguing mix of hiking, puzzle solving, treasure hunting, and rubber stamp artistry, topped off with the thrill of discovery-offers something for everyone.
The basic idea is simple enough: Clues, usually posted on a website, lead to the secret location of a "letterbox." And yet there is much more to know. The Letterboxer's Companion is a complete introduction that covers everything from a history of letterboxing to tips on writing and following clues, from instruction in carving personal stamps to letterboxing etiquette-in short, everything an aspiring letterboxer needs to get started.

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Someone's Watching You: From Micropchips in your Underwear to Satellites Monitoring Your Every Move, Find Out Who's Tracking You and What You Can Do about It Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Well, the telling of jokes is an art of its own, and it always rises from some emotional threat. The best jokes are dangerous, and dangerous because they are in some way truthful.
KV
This is an excellent book, well researched, creative documentation, and full of things to worry about. If you have tried but never achieved full paranoia this book will help you toward the full realization of your worrisome goal.
The author is a handsome, well-bred, rabble rouser who has a way with words.

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Somewhere in D.C., a vast computer complex churns through quintillions of data bytes about every American, living or dead. And one of them is you! Satellites circle in space, prying into your intimate family secrets, while underground groups plot how to clone your DNA. Your phone may be tapped, your office burglarized, your identity stolen. They're bugging your clothing and hacking your e-mail.There's no place to hide. Or is there?In this book, you'll learn about real, little-known secret programs run by both the public and private sectors. And once you're armed with that knowledge, you'll learn practical steps you can--and must--take to keep your private life private and lose Big Brother for good!

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Introducing the QR Code: the Reality & the Magic: A QR Code primer. Review

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(More customer reviews)The introductory QR information contains all the standard information you can find online. The only redeeming vale would be the list of 100 possible uses of QR codes. The list is not a revelation and can also be found on piecemeal online. But it's nice that they compiled such list.
This publication comes off as more of an attempt to create a quick QR book to capitalize on the hype. Not highly recommended.

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A QR Code primerA ‘starter kit' of information and application ideas for your use as we enter the new dimension of QR Codes.The reality of QR Codes is that they are matrix type codes (much like the barcodes in universal use today) primarily designed to be scanned by a mobile device. They were developed to accomplish four primary goals: *To provide immediate connectivity*To enable fast, multi-directional scanning *To provide high capacity storage within a small area *To put unlimited portable information at your fingertips The magic comes in as we get our heads - and imaginations - around this new technological paradigm; it seems that the virtual magic of this immediate interactive connectivity - held in the palm of our hands - has no limits; once we enter, it goes on and on and on . . . Take a look at the staggering potential for use in applications ranging from Mobile Marketing to Education and Entertainment, as well as into the worlds of Culture and Fashion as mobile phones and other hand-held devices proliferate globally. Get in on the ground floor with this handbook of practical information, resources, and applications - for fast and easy entry into this new dimension.

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Absolute FreeBSD: The Complete Guide to FreeBSD, 2nd Edition Review

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(More customer reviews)Almost five years ago I reviewed Absolute BSD, Michael Lucas' first book on FreeBSD. I gave that book five stars, back when several other BSD books provided competition. On the eve of 2008, I am happy to say that Michael Lucas is probably the best system administration author I've read. I am amazed that he can communicate top-notch content with a sense of humor, while not offending the reader or sounding stupid. When was the last time you could physically feel yourself getting smarter while reading a book? If you are a beginning to average FreeBSD user, Absolute FreeBSD 2nd Ed (AF2E) will deliver that sensation in spades. Even more advanced users will find plenty to enjoy.
One of the best aspects of AF2E is that it is modern and covers FreeBSD 7.x. The previous edition covered 4.x, and plenty has changed since then. I've used FreeBSD regularly since 4.1.1 (Aug 2000), and AF2E taught me a lot about my favorite OS. Michael's coverage of GEOM, NanoBSD, FreeSBIE, journaling, memory file systems, filesystems in a file, and other topics really opened my eyes. Michael delivers excellent line-by-line explanations of system output, using numbered references to guide the reader.
Another major reason I love AF2E is that it is a good system administration book that covers plenty of FreeBSD nuances. Michael shares many of his experiences running FreeBSD in production, and I always believe he is teaching the reader what he or she needs to use FreeBSD to support customers. For example, I liked the hint on p 221 about disabling hard drive write caching (hw.ata.wc=0 in /boot/loader.conf). I also liked hearing about netstat -m to see kernel memory used for networking.
The book is also very lively for a system administration title. One of my favorite lines appears on p 135:
"Ethernet has many device-like characteristics, and it's simplest for FreeBSD to treat it as a device. Leave this [kernel option alone], unless you're looking for a learning opportunity."
So far AF2E has received all positive reviews, but I'm sure there's some deficiency another reader will report. In an ideal world I would have read more on FreeBSD binary updates, especially those involving minor releases (say 6.2 to 6.3) and major releases (say 6.2 to 7.0). Those developments are too recent to have appeared in the book, but they appear in 7.0 and will provide exceptional power for many users. I think enough completely FreeBSD-specific chapters (performance tuning, /etc, and others) are present that it's easy to say this is an awesome FreeBSD book.
If you want more coverage of Pf (and found AF2E's material lacking), just buy a copy of the new title The Book of PF: A No-Nonsense Guide to the OpenBSD Firewall by Peter Hansteen. If you want more detail on installing certain applications on FreeBSD, buy Building a Server with FreeBSD 7 by Bryan Hong. Kudos to No Starch for publishing AF2E and these other BSD titles.

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FreeBSD—the powerful, flexible, and free Unix-like operating system—is the preferred server for many enterprises. But it can be even trickier to use than either Unix or Linux, and harder still to master.

Absolute FreeBSD, 2nd Edition is your complete guide to FreeBSD, written by FreeBSD committer Michael W. Lucas. Lucas considers this completely revised and rewritten second edition of his landmark work to be his best work ever; a true product of his love for FreeBSD and the support of the FreeBSD community. Absolute FreeBSD, 2nd Edition covers installation, networking, security, network services, system performance, kernel tweaking, filesystems, SMP, upgrading, crash debugging, and much more, including coverage of how to:

Use advanced security features like packet filtering, virtual machines, and host-based intrusion detection
Build custom live FreeBSD CDs and bootable flash
Manage network services and filesystems
Use DNS and set up email, IMAP, web, and FTP services for both servers and clients
Monitor your system with performance-testing and troubleshooting tools
Run diskless systems
Manage schedulers, remap shared libraries, and optimize your system for your hardware and your workload
Build custom network appliances with embedded FreeBSD
Implement redundant disks, even without special hardware
Integrate FreeBSD-specific SNMP into your network management system.

Whether you're just getting started with FreeBSD or you've been using it for years, you'll find this book to be the definitive guide to FreeBSD that you've been waiting for.

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Lies Salon Owners Believe: And the Truth That Sets them Free Review

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(More customer reviews)At one time it seemed that everthing I touched turned to gold. I was motivated also, like the author, by an impoverished childhood. As a successful adult, I had everything I wanted and needed. I now find myself rising out of the ashes of a number of devastating life changes that I had no control over. I previously loved being in the beauty industry. So I started out on the road again to improve my technical skills. Mission well accomplished. I tried working for a handful of owners and felt myself critical of the way they ran thier business...I ended up with a "bad attitude"! Meanwhile, they were experiencing NO GROWTH, and/or producing NO FRUIT. I really learned what not to do, but I felt that there had to be more to learn (I'm an artist, not a business person.) This book, for me, crystalized, in my mind, a big picture for how to approach building my business. It adressed the easy to overlook mistakes I saw owners making. Especially helpful to me has been the advice to "Create and structure your spa business in a way that is emotionally and financially rewarding to you." So simple...and it was the way I made money in the past, but I never applied this to my work in hair. THIS is how we can avoid the burnout that plauges so many owners. Now I work for myself, and I'm starting small, but this advice and many other simple concepts promoted in this book have already paid dividends. I appreciate that Mr. Lok came from humble beginings and worked "smarter." I apologize to the negative reviewer...I must politely disagree. This book is an easy to reference gem. I will read it more than once. I rarely save books, but this one is staying.

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Foreword by Jay Conrad Levinson, The Father Of Guerilla Marketing, 21 million copies sold worldwide





• Have you lost the passion, the drive and the fire you once had for your business? • Are you tired of riding the financial roller coaster, where sometimes your appointment book is overflowing with a waiting list and sometimes it's empty as a desert? • Are you hitting the "glass ceiling" of success that virtually every salon or spa owner hits - where income peaks, plateaus, and eventually goes down? • Is your salon/spa business sucking the life out of you? Physically draining and preventing you from having a normal life, such as family get-togethers, time with your friends, your children's sports day, dance performances, and so on. • Are you sick and tired of wasting money on advertising that doesn't get you new clients? • Are you looking to expand to a bigger space or add another location but you are afraid to make the move? • Are you sick of struggling, taking all the risks and putting in "sweat equity" that you're about ready to throw in the towel and get a "regular job" with regular work schedule and regular pay? • Do you want to continue running your salon/spa and have a great "lifestyle" with plenty of money to pay your bills, your mortgage, your car loan and to build a nest egg of cash while having the freedom to work less and when you want? If you answered "YES!" to one or more (maybe all) of these questions, then Lies Salon Owners Believe is the book for you. In this book, Dan Lok and DJ Richoux shatter the seven lies that are holding your business back. Next, they reveal the truth behind why most salon businesses don't work - and what to do about it. They also share with you strategies and techniques you can utilize to increase your odds of success. Now is the time to take control of your destiny and to take action. Use the strategies in this book to achieve the life you've always wanted. Now is the first time that you have a chance to stop hoping for a better life and start creating it.

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Wicket in Action Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I don't normally review books on Amazon but this is one of the best technical books that I've read in a while. The authors do a great job of organizing and presenting the material. The book is easy to read and I was able to get through it in about two evenings. I'm now using it as a reference while I work on my first major Wicket application. It might help that Wicket itself is well structured which makes the concepts that much easier to understand.
That being said, there are a few short-comings:
1) The cheese and lasagna examples get really old really quickly. The authors could have used different concepts or something a little more relevant or interesting to most developers.
2) The book is somewhat short. While they covered the core topics well, I felt that a few things we missing. I was surprised to see that the publisher trimmed the book and put an extra chapter online but not in print.
3) Some fundamentals like what DTD to include in an HTML page or what the Wicket web.xml should look like would be nice. You can find these answers online with a quick search but this book should really cover it.
But these faults don't hurt the overall usefulness of the book. It would be nice if most/all of this documentation was available in the Wicket project itself, but no such luck which makes this book even more valuable. I don't know if it will be in all copies, but my copy had a coupon for a free version of the digital book (PDF I suppose)... nice touch.
I recommend buying this book and learning about a very reasonable alternative to JSF.

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There are dozens of Java frameworks out there, but most of them require you to learn special coding techniques and new, often rigid, patterns of development. Wicket is different. As a component-based Web application framework, Wicket lets you build maintainable enterprise-grade web applications using the power of plain old Java objects (POJOs), HTML, Ajax, Spring, Hibernate and Maven. Wicket automatically manages state at the component level, which means no more awkward HTTPSession objects. Its elegant programming model enables you to write rich web applications quickly.

Wicket in Action is an authoritative, comprehensive guide for Java developers building Wicket-based Web applications. This book starts with an introduction to Wicket's structure and components, and moves quickly into examples of Wicket at work. Written by two of the project's earliest and most authoritative experts, this book shows you both the "how-to" and the "why" of Wicket. As you move through the book, you'll learn to use and customize Wicket components, how to interact with other technologies like Spring and Hibernate, and how to build rich, Ajax-driven features into your applications.

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WordPress In Depth (2nd Edition) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)A representative of Pearson Education spotted me on the LinkedIn WordPress group and offered me a review copy of this book, and a second one to give away at the East Bay WordPress Meetup. That was more than a month ago, but I wanted to do justice to all 432 pages and actually read the book in as much depth as it had been written.
Not surprisingly, my fine-toothed comb revealed a handful of typos and printing errors, which I've pointed out to Pearson so they can be corrected in the next edition. They're all fairly minor and I won't mention them here.
There was only one omission really worth the name, and it made me wonder how many other experienced WordPress users might have overlooked this feature when it came out, because I'm pretty sure the authors aren't the only ones. More on that in a minute.
The book is detailed but not excessively technical. I wouldn't give it to my mom, but anyone who is computer-literate should find it accessible. The style is clear, the directions easy to follow, and the decisions about what to put in sidebars and callout boxes logical. There are plenty of illustrations and some impressively detailed tables. The book design, like the writing style, is workmanlike: it gets the job done effectively, without being especially beautiful or inspiring. (You want a WordPress book that's beautiful, go take a look at Digging into WordPress.)
The most important thing to know about WordPress in Depth is that the first 226 pages are dedicated to WordPress.com. As the authors point out, there are very few resources, online or off, devoted specifically to WordPress.com users. When I first began using WordPress in 2005, WordPress.com didn't even exist, so I never learned anything about it. But with a meetup to run, I thought it would behoove me to learn. After reading this book, I feel much more confident answering questions about the differences between WordPress.com and self-hosted WordPress (often referred to as WordPress.org).
I'm sure that any WordPress.com user will be able to get the most out of that service with the help of WordPress in Depth. Though, really, the more I learned, the happier I was that I'd always installed WordPress on my own site and had the full range of themes and plugins to draw on. Hosted services (I used Blogger before converting to WordPress) are incredibly limiting.
In moving from WordPress.com to installing the WordPress software on your own site, the authors take us right off the deep end: setting up a web development server on your own computer with XAMPP. It's great to have this tutorial here, though by no means everyone who uses the .org version of WordPress is going to need a development server. It's also good to show the steps of a manual WordPress installation. On the other hand, most popular web hosting companies offer a "one-click" installation process for WordPress through Fantastico or whatever their control panel software is, and it wouldn't have hurt to see a screenshot or description of that process, too, though of course it differs somewhat from host to host.
The next two chapters cover themes and plugins, and here is where that omission comes into play. Every time Smith and McCallister talk about installing a theme or plugin from somewhere other than the WordPress.org/extend/ repository, they tell you to download, unzip, and upload via FTP. It seems that neither of them ever noticed the "Upload" option under "Add New" in the Themes and Plugins sections of the WordPress dashboard, which lets you browse for a .zip file, upload it, and install it.
I use this all the time, and it works extremely well, except in those few cases where the real theme folder is actually a subfolder, in which case you have to go back and move things around with FTP. Everyone who manages a self-hosted WordPress site should know how to use FTP, but why make things harder on yourself than they have to be? This feature came in with WordPress 2.8, and it's a handy one.
Another feature the book never mentions--and which I only noticed myself a few weeks ago--is the ability to set the number of columns for your edit window. So you don't actually have to switch to full-screen mode (a thing I didn't know existed until they recommended it on page 86) in order to get a wider window for your content: just choose 1 column under Screen Layout. (I don't actually like this very much, because I have to scroll down in order to do anything, but then, I normally work on a 17" laptop, and I normally write my posts in Windows Live Writer. On my netbook, it might make a lot more sense to use the single-column layout.)s
The brief overviews of CSS, XHTML, and PHP are certainly not enough to make you expert in any of those things, but they're surprisingly helpful. (And Pearson publishes titles on all those subjects, if you want to learn more about them. Just search on their website.) You're not going to become a ninja-class theme developer just by reading what's here, but having it would have saved me a bit of trial and error in my earliest days of tweaking themes. And since I really knew nothing of PHP beyond what I'd cribbed from the Codex, I found the description in Chapter 15 illuminating.
The book concludes with some handy appendices: a comparison of WordPress.com and WordPress.org, an examination of the existing WordPress documentation, some examples of famous WordPress.org and WordPress.com blogs, a map of the official WordPress sites, and finally a guide to importing your content from other systems into WordPress.
I would recommend this book without reservation to WordPress.com users and to anyone who is about to make or has just made the transition from WordPress.com to self-hosted WordPress. If your main interested is in WordPress.org, however, you may find the first half of the book frustrating. While there are many things that work just the same for the two versions of WordPress, there are also quite a few differences, of the kind particularly likely to trip up beginners who are unfamiliar with the WordPress dashboard.
While not the best book for everyone, WordPress in Depth is a very good book for at least one segment of WordPress users.


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WordPress has grown into the #1 blogging tool in its category: several million bloggers have downloaded this powerful open source software, and millions more are using WordPress.com's hosted services. Thirty-two of Technorati's Top 100 blogs now use WordPress. WordPress InDepth, 2/e, is a comprehensive reference for everyone who wants to use either WordPress or WordPress.com more effectively -- regardless of their experience with WordPress or with blogging. It offers comprehensive guidance for every aspect of using WordPress -- from downloading, installing, and securing it through blog design, templates, themes, posting entries, working with comments and email, and managing WordPress blogs. WordPress software has moved from Version 2.9 to Version 3.0 and this new edition has been fully updated to reflect the changes, including: -New look. The software has a more sophisticated look. Some menu items have been moved around, and the font is different. -Menus editor. WordPress now allows users to create and manage menus -Graphics editor. -New default theme. The look and functionality of the default theme have changed -Merger of WordPress and WordPress Multi-User (WordPress MU) -Use of WordPress as a CMS.

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