Google Power Search Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Google Power Search is a brief but direct book(let) on how to exploit Google's various search engine features. Althoug the things discussed in the first two chapters may be readily available in various blogs and forums, the contents of the rest of the book are very valuable. Some advanced and not-so-well-known features are also introduced.
I am glad to have found the book as the section on common operators help me immediately in avoiding frustration in looking for what I really want. Finding what I need on the first page of results rather than on the third page is really great.
Highly recommended for those who do a lot of searching on the internet, especially those who want to find them quickly.
[Disclaimer: I got this book for free as part of the Oreilly blogger review program I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 : "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."]

Click Here to see more reviews about: Google Power Search


Behind Google's deceptively simple interface is immense power for both market and competitive research—if you know how to use it well. Sure, basic searches are easy, but complex searches require specialized skills. This concise book takes you through the full range of Google's powerful search-refinement features, so you can quickly find the specific information you need. Learn techniques ranging from simple Boolean logic to URL parameters and other advanced tools, and see how they're applied to real-world market research examples.

Incorporate advanced search operators such as filetype:, intitle:, daterange:, and others into your queries
Use Google filtering tools, including Search Within Results, Similar Pages, and SafeSearch, among others
Explore the breadth of Google through auxiliary search services like Google News, Google Books, Google Blog Search, and Google Scholar
Acquire advanced Google skills that result in more effective search engine optimization (SEO)

Click here for more information about Google Power Search

Read More...

A Better Pencil: Readers, Writers, and the Digital Revolution Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)A slim book, but not an easy read. Lots of repetition of ideas and content, as if the book had been written as separate essays and then stitched together without the aid of a good editor. He goes off on tangents within chapters which often had me re-reading pages to see if I had missed a transition.
Pitched as a book about how people have reacted to and adopted new communication technologies, it is really more a light historical overview of the topic. Disappointing. If you like technology and history you've already read most of this book elsewhere. Lots of rehashing of Petroski's book on the pencil and on Thoreau. Chapters on handwriting and Wordstar don't really add much. The last few chapters begin to get at what I thought the book was about -- how people react to and adopt new writing/communication technologies. The illustrations are also not the best, although some are at least interesting. The early Photoshop ad showing Marilyn Monroe holding Abraham Lincoln's arm is something I had not seen before.
If you haven't any background in the history of technology and want a very brief overview, this might be of interest. For me there are better sources and better edited books written in a more engaging style.I expected a lot more than I got.

Click Here to see more reviews about: A Better Pencil: Readers, Writers, and the Digital Revolution

Computers, now the writer's tool of choice, are still blamed by skeptics for a variety of ills, from speeding writing up to the point of recklessness, to complicating or trivializing the writing process, to destroying the English language itself. A Better Pencil puts our complex, still-evolving hate-love relationship with computers and the internet into perspective, describing how the digital revolution influences our reading and writing practices, and how the latest technologies differ from what came before. The book explores our use of computers as writing tools in light of the history of communication technology, a history of how we love, fear, and actually use our writing technologies--not just computers, but also typewriters, pencils, and clay tablets. Dennis Baron shows that virtually all writing implements--and even writing itself--were greeted at first with anxiety and outrage: the printing press disrupted the "almost spiritual connection" between the writer and the page; the typewriter was "impersonal and noisy" and would "destroy the art of handwriting."Both pencils and computers were created for tasks that had nothing to do with writing. Pencils, crafted by woodworkers for marking up their boards, were quickly repurposed by writers and artists. The computer crunched numbers, not words, until writers saw it as the next writing machine. Baron also explores the new genres that the computer has launched: email, the instant message, the web page, the blog, social-networking pages like MySpace and Facebook, and communally-generated texts like Wikipedia and the Urban Dictionary, not to mention YouTube.Here then is a fascinating history of our tangled dealings with a wide range of writing instruments, from ancient papyrus to the modern laptop. With dozens of illustrations and many colorful anecdotes, the book will enthrall anyone interested in language, literacy, or writing.

Click here for more information about A Better Pencil: Readers, Writers, and the Digital Revolution

Read More...