Book Review - Cooking for Geeks
I learned to cook when I was very young, and it always seemed easy and natural to me. I couldn’t figure out why my father never learned to cook, since he was a highly educated man and cooking was so easy. I figured out later on that people need to have things explained to them in a way that makes sense, and apparently cookbooks didn’t make sense to my dad. Now there’s a book called Cooking for Geeks. Do "geeks" (which in this case means people who think more in scientific and technological terms) really need their own cookbook? As someone who understands both technology and cooking, I was very interested to find out.
By Marte Brengle on 11/09/2011
We are very proud to have published our first book: 
WordPress is one of many popular platforms for blogs, and its support site confidently says that it’s one of the easiest to set up and run. If that’s really the case, is there any need for a book to explain how it works? The editors at Wiley think so. Let’s see whether WordPress for Dummies is a book a blogger needs to read.
There’s an old saying, "When all else fails, read the directions." Unfortunately, software and hardware don’t come with much in the way of "directions" these days. Help files are often not helpful, and if you have to read the manual on your computer, what happens when the computer doesn’t work? There are several series of self-help books that claim to fill the void left by the disappearance of printed manuals. Are they worth reading? Are some better than others? Let’s see in this battle of the books, which series is better: For Dummies from Wiley or Step by Step from Microsoft Press?
The more Microsoft improves their software, the more features each program has. The added features may mean the software is easier to use, or it may mean that there are just that many more things to click on and get confused by. Or both those statements can be equally true. Especially when one’s talking about Microsoft Office 2010. Because of its features and complexity, there are a lot of books that claim to explain Office 2010, and Microsoft Office 2010 for Dummies is among them. It shares the lighthearted tone and clear explanations found in all the For Dummies books, but is it the one you should buy to help you find your way around Office 2010?
Nearly every home computer is attached to a network of some kind these days. While it has gotten much easier to set up and connect to a network than it used to be, it still feels like a difficult and mostly incomprehensible area of "mystery computing" to a lot of people. Since most of us have to deal with networks, a guide that makes the whole subject easy to understand can be a real lifesaver. We’ve reviewed other networking books and found them very helpful. Will Home Networking All-in-One Desk Reference for Dummies be another good book to add to your reference library? Let's find out.
As you can probably tell from my previous reviews, I am a visual learner and I like simple, step by step instructions. This is why the idea of reviewing Laptops Simplified appealed to me. What’s not to like about a lavishly illustrated book that promises to be "Simply the Easiest Way to Learn?" As someone who recently bought a netbook (the first brand new mobile computer I’ve ever owned) I was hoping to learn all kinds of useful things that would enhance the portable-computer experience. Did that happen? Let me tell you.
Years ago, when I fixed computers at an electronics store, I rather enjoyed being viewed as some kind of magician. Other people didn’t know just how easy many computer repairs can be, which kept me very busy in the repair shop. And from what I’ve seen in my Internet travels since then, people are still wary of trying to fix computer problems themselves.
Not everyone learns best in the same way. Some people like to see demonstrations. Some people like to have someone else explain new concepts. Some people like to read instructions and see everything laid out in illustrations. Since I’m in that last group, I’ve always been a fan of the Visual QuickStart Guide series of books from Peachpit Press. I was delighted to discover that Wiley Publishing has a series of Visual Quick Tips books, including the subject of this week’s review, Windows 7 Visual Quick Tips. Was this book a welcome addition to my "visual quick" library? Let’s find out.
A lot of the people I went to school with, have grandchildren (I myself am far too youthful for that, of course). And as I browse through technology-oriented blogs and websites, I have noticed that a lot of them use "grandma" as shorthand for "technologically hopeless and clueless." What does that have to do with anything? This week’s book is Computing with Windows 7 for the Older and Wiser. Given the perception of older people as hopeless and clueless, does this book make sense? No matter how old you are, read on.
As the old saying goes, the journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. (OK, nowadays it’s more likely to begin by starting the car, but you get the idea.) Complex things are made simple if you take them one step at a time. Microsoft Office Professional 2010 is the most full-featured version of Office that’s offered to the general public today, and it may seem overwhelmingly complex at first. That’s why a book like Microsoft Office Professional 2010 Step By Step can smooth the way to mastery. Let’s see in this review if it manages to be a truly helpful guide or not.
There’s a saying that goes something like "To err is human. To really mess things up requires a computer." I think just about anyone who’s ever used a computer has occasionally felt like, well, a dummy—especially when confronted with something that only makes sense to computer programmers or high level hardware geeks. And that’s why the For Dummies series of books is so popular. These books exist for one very good reason: to explain things in a way nearly anyone can understand, without talking down to the reader or going overboard with high-level tech stuff that’s outside the scope of the average user. Windows 7 for Dummies does exactly that, using the same lighthearted formula that’s become standard for the series. To find out more about this book, read the rest of this review.