Reviews (61)

The Antithesis of Winner-Take-All
If you became hopelessly depressed after reading "The Winner-Take-All Society" by Frank and Cook, then "The Long Tail" will provide you with some solace. Nothing ever reaches its logical conclusion, and economic rewards will not aggregate to the top ad infinitum. The ability to make an infinite number of copies of the "best" song or movie or book contrasts with the infinite shelf space available on the internet. "The Long Tail" demonstrates why that shelf space will be a highly democratizing force. People are always looking for something new, and the traditional, monopolistic channels (or gatekeepers) are under siege, even now.

Pop-science goes marketing
The big thing these days seems to be science writers like Malcolm Gladwell coming up with best-sellers that, charitably put, are very light on facts and very long on sometimes outlandish assertion. Chris Anderson, editor in chief of Wired magazine, joins the parade with his silly - yes, silly - claim that businesses like music and movies are no longer driven by hits, but by the "long tail." That it is the thousands of titles that people buy or rent infrequently. Somehow, according to Anderson, the idea of web merchants making a zillion titles available and some of those titles being sold or rented once or twice will be the "transformation . . . coming to just about every industry imaginable." Uh, no it ain't. Nowhere in the book does Anderson factor in the reality that someone pays for the production of all those videos and music tracks that rent or sell infrequently. Nor does he account for the reality that not every web merchant can acheive the volume of an Amazon or eBay. In other words, Anderson has discovered the obvious: if you make 30,000 movies available for rental, let's say, through a Netflix, many of the cult titles and dogs will be rented. Anderson pounds on this "long tail" effec while glossing over the fact that the neighborhood video rental store won't carry 30,000 titles. The profits from the occasionl rental of the 30,000th item on the list won't match the cost of acquiring and keeping it in stock in a store, while it makes little difference to a Netflix.
Insights that influence Google's strategic thinking.
98 Rule: Netflix reckoned that 95 percent of its 25,000 DVDs rented at least once a quarter. Amazon using an independent academic research on its book sales suggested that 98 percent of its top 100,000 books sold at least once a quarter.Digital space cost per DVD is very cheap and represent almost no physical inventory space excepting magnetic medium storage.In the sale of one or two DVDs, the traditional retail runs out of steam because it can turn inventory fast enough to pay for physical space, but the economics of online retail keep going.Eventually, Amazon will localize and print digital media using high-speed printers producing a book in seconds from an electronic catalog, the birth of a book replication. DVDs will be replaced by wireless iPods, who are paying subscribers to iTunes, will increase the speed of distribution and volume of sales of the media they prefer. The 80/20 rules are changing.
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Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Consumer Behavior - General    5. Economic Conditions    6. Economics (General)    7. Economics - General    8. Internet marketing    9. Market segmentation    10. Marketing    11. Marketing - Research    12. Sales & Selling - General    13. Technological innovations    14. Business & Economics / Economic History   

Reviews (12)

the nice guy finaly finishes first
I just read the book iWoz. If you are a Mac-head, or just a computer geek who is intrigued by the origins of the PC industry, thisbook is definately a must-read. It gives a great, human approach to the subject of Steve Wozniak, inventor, and the people in his life who helped draw him out and create the Apple I, the computer that really signified the true arrival of small, affordable computers for the masses. The prose is written in a very informal and relaxed style, as if Steve is sitting across from you and telling you his story himself. I found it very engaging. I am a very tough critic, but this is definately a book I will read again.

Gives you a great sense of the Woz.
This is an excellent book about a truly interesting and innovative man. It provides real insight into his work, his style and his personality. I had the pleasure of seeing Steve on his speaking tour and I was really impressed by how the book captures his style, tone and spirit. Steve has a real childlike quality to him which shows through alternatively as playfulness, humor, goofiness and innocence.He also has a long history with promoting education and teaching.
Great Promise but Poor Delivery
The real problem with the book is that it's packaged and sold as an adult book but it's actually a children's book. Stories are toned down for the child audience and at one point, even self-censored, as not being appropriate for a "family audience," as though Woz imagines the family drawn up around father's easy chair to listen to the evening reading. As if... The book ends, as all good children's books do, with the ending that he hoped his twelve-year-old audience will be as lucky as he was...sort of a go though and do likewise.
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Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography And Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Business    7. Computer engineers    8. Computer industry    9. Computers - General Information    10. History    11. History Of Technology    12. Industries - Computer Industry    13. Inventors    14. Personal Memoirs    15. United States    16. Computers / History    17. Miscellaneous Items   

Reviews (20)

Best Excel development book to date
The depth of Excel development knowledge of the authors can be readily seen a few pages into the Introduction.If you have been frequent visitors to Excel/VBA programming newsgroups like myself, you will notice immediately that all three authors are well-recognized experts in this domain, and have answered countless tricky questions on the topic of Excel/VBA.In my opinion, the particularly valuable chapters include:
Looking to take your Excel to the next level?BUY THIS BOOK!!!!
I've been working with Excel for years...
Goes Beyond my Expectations
This book is a fantastic edition to any programmer's skillset.
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Subjects:  1. Business    2. Computer Books: Spreadsheets    3. Computer programs    4. Computer software    5. Computers    6. Computers - Spreadsheets    7. Development    8. Electronic spreadsheets    9. Microcomputer Spreadsheet Software    10. Spreadsheets - Excel    11. Spreadsheets - General    12. Computers / Spreadsheets / General    13. Excel    14. Software engineering   

Reviews (3)

Working on your MCSE? Then get this set of books
This was my sole study guide for the MCSE Server 2003 based certification path, and I was not disappointed.The format is clear and easy to read.The books do a fantastic job of outlining WHY you are learning something, not just WHAT you need to know to pass the exam.I think this is what sets MS Press books apart from the competition: the book itself is structured to the best LEARNING format, and NOT to just passing the exam.I came away from these books with a much greater appreciation for Microsoft's Server and AD technologies (I come from a Linux background since 1995 and I'm the first to knock MS), and these books will be on your reference shelf for years to come -- or at least until the next version of Server ships.
Well Done.
I've belonged to the Unix world since 1993, working with low level stuff as kernel, device drivers, virus, assembly, C, etc.. and now I'm trying to learn Windows a bit and have enough conditions to take all tests (290, 291, 293, 294). No problems. This a very good kit about MS Windows 2003, well written,well organized and deserve 5 stars.
Pretty Good
I would recommend that anyone buying this looks at the publication date as a lot of errata has been corrected in the most recent editions.Orin Thomas has a very useful forum http://www.certtutor.net/
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Subjects:  1. Certification Guides - General    2. Computer Books: Languages    3. Computers    4. Computers - General Information    5. General    6. Microcomputer Operating Environments    7. Operating Systems - Windows    8. Programming - Software Development    9. Software Engineering    10. Computers / General    11. Computing and Information Technology    12. Microsoft Windows   

Features

• Illustrated

Reviews (150)

Fast and painless way to learn Design Patterns
This is the first book of the Head First series that I've read, and I have to say that I love it! I think their teaching approach is very very efficient. Each concept is presented to you in many different ways and at the end your brain finds its way to metabolize it. Sometimes it's a picture that catch your attention, sometimes it's just a joke but at the end the concept sticks in your head and is gonna be there forever (at least I hope so :-))) ). Moreover this book is so easy to read. I recommend it to anybody that wants to learn Design Patterns (in Java) in a painless and fast way.

A fun way to learn Patterns
Patterns are boring. This book makes them fun. How they did it, I'll never know.

Number one!!!
So far i bought about 30 computer books from amazon. This is the BEST!!!!!! First book that explains something real good but doesn't assume that you (the reader) actualy understood it so they re-explain it and attack the problem from a deferent point of view. I bought steven mezger's design patterns with c# book and read it cover to cover. It doesn't even come close to this piece of art although this is wrriten for java programers. I read "decorator" pattern in mezger's book more than 5 times and didn't actualy understand it. First time i read it in this book and i feel like a design patterns master! I'm thinking a lot about their teaching style. Its briliant!If you realy want to understand design patterns even if you are a c# or c++ programmer, By this book!
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Languages    2. Computer software    3. Computers    4. Computers - General Information    5. Design    6. Development    7. General    8. Internet - Web Site Design    9. Java (Computer program language)    10. Computer Programming    11. Computers / General    12. Computers / General Information    13. Computers / Programming / Software Development    14. Head First, Design Patterns, Object oriented programming, OOP, Java, Kathy Sierra, Bert Bates, Eric Freeman, Elisabeth Freeman, programming, software engineering,   

Reviews (127)

By far the BEST book for CISSP certification
I have been teaching the CISSP certification for IT Mentor for the last 5 years.This is the book I use for all of my students.I must say, this is the best book you can buy.I have over 20 CISSP books in my library, but I always recommend this one.
Good book, though some turn offs
The book has a good coverage on most of the topics. I think if you already have Telecom and Crypto background, you'll be fine with this book, as those don't seem to be done well enough though they are important fot the exam.
How to study and pass the CISSP.
Three weeks after I took the CISSP exam, I received an email telling me I had passed. I came out of the exam fairly confident I'd pass but one can never be too sure with the CISSP - the questions are quite ambiguous and quite often you are making an educated guess in picking out what you think is the best among the 2 choices you have narrowed down to. It has often been said that the CISSP is an exam that is an inch deep and a mile wide. You'd be lucky if you use more than half of what you studied for this exam. I am a software engineer and I know I will never have to choose which fire extinguisher to use for which kind of fire, unless I am actually struck in one!
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Subjects:  1. Certification Guides - General    2. Computers & Technology    3. Computers - Certification    4. Education    5. Security    6. Security - General    7. Computers / Technical Skills    8. Systems management   

Reviews (12)

helped me to get my green belt
if you are taking your green belt then buy this book

a six sigma implementation caravan
This book is a complete reference of implementing six sigma. It does not focus that much on preparation or building infrastructure of six sigma, however, it is good to have it while implementing six sigma.

Great Six Sigma Book
This is my first Six Sigma book, but from my other research, this covers about every subject you would expect for this subject matter. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Entrepreneurship    5. Handbooks, manuals, etc    6. Management - General    7. Production management    8. Quality Control    9. Six sigma (Quality control standard)    10. Statistical methods    11. Business & Economics / Quality Control    12. Production & quality control management    13. Project management   

Reviews (30)

This is practical money-making info, unlike most internet marketing BS...
I've spent thousands (ok probably tens of thousands) of dollars on information about how to make money online. If you're like me, you already know that 99% of the stuff out there is garbage.
One Thumb Up
This text was good in providing elementary facts of adsense. Most of the content is filler, though. It's published on cheap, thick paper. I implemented several things, though.

Very Few People Really Want to Tell you Their Adsense Secrets.
Hi Adster, ,
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Subjects:  1. Advertising & Promotion    2. Business & Economics    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Business/Economics    5. E-Commerce - Internet Marketing    6. Business & Economics / Advertising & Promotion    7. Business & Economics-E-Commerce - Internet Marketing    8. Business & Economics/E-Commerce - Internet Marketing   

Reviews (49)

Key book on enterprise patterns
Even if you find enterprise stuff immensely dull, dealing with databases and web pages is a pretty common task, most of the action in software development revolves around it, and who wants to be completely ignorant of the the alphabet soup of various technologies the IT blogs, books and websites are floating in?
A must-read for tech leads and architects
Martin Fowler is making a name for himself as a luminary in the area of Software Development. He writes very practical books that have a wonderful blend of theory (e.g. design patterns, UML, refactoring etc.) with experience as you can tell he has applied many if not all of these patterns in real-life projects. This book is an exposition into architectural building blocks that will help every architect and tech lead / senior developer build code that is more extensible and easily maintained (among other things). I found the chapters on O/R structural and behavioral patterns particularly enlightening. By reading this book your "toolbox" of solutions rapidly expands and you get to focus more on the business problem at hand rather than infrastructural "plumbing" things (e.g. how do I build my objects when my data is in a relational table). Very highly recommended - and definitely one of the top 5 software books I have *EVER* had the pleasure to read.

Patterns for Business Applications
I loved this book!It was exactly what I was looking for when I went searching for patterns that would help with a new business application.It provides alternative solutions to the typical implementation problems associated with business systems, both from a design standpoint and from the perspective of the implementation.The alternatives are compared and weighed in light of the execution environment and cost of implementation, with a comparison of advantages and disadvantages, along with Martin's recommendations.I had the feeling that the comparisons and recommendations were made not based purely upon a theoretical optimum, but also based upon practical and real-world experience with these patterns. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Application software    2. Business    3. Business Enterprise    4. Computer Architecture - General    5. Computer Books: General    6. Computer Books: Languages    7. Computer architecture    8. Computers    9. Computers - Languages / Programming    10. Development    11. Hardware - Personal Computers - General    12. Microcomputer Application Software    13. Programming - Object Oriented Programming    14. System design    15. Computer Communications & Networking    16. Computers / Programming / Object Oriented    17. Software engineering   

Reviews (12)

From a network administrator's perspective
I read this book as part of my first course in a Ph.D.-MIS program. I thought it was a great overview and history of MIS, and provided insight into alternative IS management styles and strategies. The case studies were relevent, current, well written and interesting. I recommend this book for all network and systems administrators. It gives insight into what thought processes should be occurring at the CIO and IS manager levels.

Great paperweight, good consolidation of other people's work
This book provides various sources of information but no analysis by the book's authors.It is a patch work of case studies, excerpts, and paraphrasing of other texts to which I hope the original authors are getting paid royalties for. Ideal for learning about IS management
I bought this book for my MSc in Analysis, Design and Management of Information Systems and I consider that it was extremely helpful. The chapter about the perspectives of IS and the role of the CIO are very interesting. In the chapter about Information Systems Planning, they included lots of concepts related to strategy, linking IS Planning with six different approaches/techniques: Stages of Growth, Critical Success Factors, Competitive Forces Model, Value Chain Analysis, Internet Value Matrix and Linkage Analysis Planning. The chapters about managing systems development are really instructive also. I strongly recommend the book for those IT practitioners whom are seeking a managerial position. It is very useful to managers and strategists as well. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business/Economics    3. Computers - General Information    4. Information Management    5. Information Technology    6. Information Technology (Engineering)    7. Information resources management    8. Management Information Systems    9. Business & Economics / Information Management    10. Business information systems   

Reviews (11)

Credible, but I'll have to see for myself.
The Scrum principle is simple. It starts with some common observations: that projects generally succeed when someone sidesteps the formal process and gets the job done anyway, and that big teams spend more time tripping over each other than typing code. Scrum starts with the radical idea of announcing that we're going to do what we were going to anyway, then mixing in big handfuls of eXtreme Programming.
Real agile development
It's very hard to part with the practices accepted for generations. Many companies talk about a new, better way of a project planning, developments' ehgagement and other agile techniques. When trying to apply these techniques, these companies immediately hit the wall of a management looking for traditional ways they've been using for life and with a success (at least, in their estimate). This book makes a Scrum approach very clear and very compelling. You can read chapters from this book to your manager (by the way, I'm a manager myself) and move him/her, step-by-step, to the better understanding how a new approach works.
Common sense, immediate application.
This book, coupled with Schwaber and Beedle's other Scrum book, are a complimentary package. This book in particular? Common sense.Immediate application.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer software    3. Computers    4. Computers - Languages / Programming    5. Development    6. Industrial Project Management    7. Operating Systems - General    8. Programming - General    9. Programming - Software Development    10. Project Management    11. Scrum (Computer software devel    12. Scrum (Computer software development)    13. Software Development    14. Computers / Programming / Software Development    15. Project management software   

Reviews (19)

Very fast and professional
Well covered by cushion and a book was in very good condition as the seller described.No complaint.

A comprehensive, original work
An excellent resource, which not only covers all the relevant ground regarding conceiving and implementing an SEM program, but discusses the necessary approach one must take to make your program happen in the business environment. I've never seen a such a "how to" resource include -- and in such thorough and accuate detail -- these circumstances. A welcome approach which was very helpful to me in my day-to-day work.
Finally all ends covered for SEO and SEM
This book covers all angles.
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Subjects:  1. Computer - Internet    2. Computer Books: Web Programming    3. Computers    4. Internet - Web Site Design    5. Internet marketing    6. Web search engines    7. Business & Management    8. Computers / Internet / Web Site Design   

Editorial Review

Good software starts with a good design, and the subtitle of Read more

Reviews (104)

Wanna master OO Design for real?
I had a degree in Computer Science from a respectable university when I read the book. Still, I learned from the book so much that I realized I barely scratched the surface of OO design before reading it.
Great introduction to OOAD
This book is a great introduction to OOAD, agile development, Patterns and UML. It goes from the basic concepts to real world applications. It is has lots of content though but it is worth reading it from beginning to end.

Balanced Real-World Advice For Best Practices Software Development
I read the first edition of this book years ago when I was making the transition to objects.It was about the tenth book on the subject that I had read, but it was the first one that consistently anticipated the questions that came up when I was actually trying to build something using UML, long after the hype and "objects will save us" party atmosphere had died down.Craig Larman has carefully remembered, or has taught this enough to have been reminded of, the kinds of questions software practitioners actually encounter on the way to building systems using UML.This 3rd edition is twice as big as the first, and it is twice as good only because it is twice as much of Larman's excellent teaching.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - Languages / Programming    2. Computer Books: Languages    3. Computers    4. Computers - Languages / Programming    5. Object-Oriented Programming    6. Object-oriented methods (Compu    7. Object-oriented methods (Computer science)    8. Programming - Object Oriented Programming    9. System analysis    10. System design    11. UML (Computer science)    12. Computer Programming    13. Computers / Programming / Object Oriented   

Reviews (18)

Could be 10 pages long
It does get the point of scrum across.
Lightweight process, built-in feedback
People aren't very good at seeing into the future. If we do foresee what is going to happen, we often get the "when" of it wrong. And even if we get the what and the when right, we rarely predict the "what else" - all those unpredictable events that inevitably upset any plan. So why are so many software methodologies built so solidly around precise, complex, long-term plans? The only reason such methodologies appear to work at all is that everyone, their fondest proponents included, spend a lot of time running around behind the scenes, bolstering them each time the predictably unpredictable kicks another prop out from under.
A practical book on the scrum process
If you're the kind of person who demands technical books that weigh 15 pounds, with beautify layout and tons of white space, this book isn't for you.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Science    3. Computer software    4. Computers    5. Computers - Languages / Programming    6. Development    7. Programming - Software Development    8. Scrum (Computer software devel    9. Scrum (Computer software development)    10. Software Development    11. Computers / Programming / Software Development    12. Software engineering   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (219)

Required reading for your blue belt
Everyone who wants to write OO code needs to read this book.No, let me re-phrase, *must master* this book.
An approach to this software classic
"Design Patterns" (GoF = Gang of Four) is a signicant and, in many ways, a difficult work for the modern reader (me) to digest.The material in this book is highly self-referential: to understand a particular design pattern, it is important to be familiar withmany similar, if not all, design patterns.
A classic for OOP - truly a Gem - not much else to say
Like many of the typical Computer Science classical texts, you've got to read it, if only to say you read it :-)
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books And Software    2. Computer software    3. Computers    4. Computers - Languages / Programming    5. Object-Oriented Programming    6. Object-oriented programming (C    7. Object-oriented programming (Computer science)    8. Programming - Object Oriented Programming    9. Reusability    10. Software patterns    11. Computers / Computer Vision    12. Object-oriented programming (OOP)    13. Software engineering   

Reviews (7)

Six Sigma and MINITAB
Excellent reference to assist Six Sigma users with an invaluable tool.Provide easy desktop reference to how to use MINITAB in the context of Six Sigma.

Not bad
There was definitely some helpful information in this handy guide.I especially liked the summaries and review questions in the back of each section.

The New "Pocket Guide" for Six-Sigma Black Belts.
This is a much more powerful resource for making good use of Minitab and Six-Sigma than many people may realize.However, a highly experienced statistician or someone with extensive experience in a Six-Sigma culture may find this book to be fairly basic.This is likely the case in a technical or manufacturing environment.In contrast, a new Six Sigma practitioner or someone working in a service environment in which process analysis might not be as sophisticated will consider this book an absolute gem!