It's an important book and if you're interested in the man you should read it. The book was hard to read in the sense that Isaacson's detachment and "...moreIt's an important book and if you're interested in the man you should read it. The book was hard to read in the sense that Isaacson's detachment and "objectivity" had the opposite effect. It made Isaacson look like he really didn't like the guy, instead of a neutral observer. They say that people remember you, when your still alive, by more of the bad than the good. While the book presents his good side, his vision and passion, how much of jerk he was seemed to overshadow that. Like, if he really was that tactless, how did he accomplish what he accomplished? Hey, nobody likes their boss. But this guy was a major pain even to his family. It's not just disgruntled Apple employees that were trying to demystified the great keynote speaker.
Yes, Steve Jobs, the person was a huge turd ball when it came to human relationships, but Steve Jobs the man behind Apple and a key figure in the tech industry was insanely great. (less)
Another quitting smoking book that has helped me through the grind. It's a pretty decent book, though I started reading it when I've been a week witho...moreAnother quitting smoking book that has helped me through the grind. It's a pretty decent book, though I started reading it when I've been a week without smoking. The author really goes out of his way to teach you to despise smoking and tobacco. I highly recommend it for someone who's considering quitting smoking. The book is a practical, as well as insightful, quitting program book. (less)
This was an impulse buy. I decided to quit. Again. But what's funny is that I have tried everything except a book. Believe it or not. The book gives m...moreThis was an impulse buy. I decided to quit. Again. But what's funny is that I have tried everything except a book. Believe it or not. The book gives more information than you would need for quitting. It goes too much in depth on the history of tobacco, the tobacco industry and things of that sort. But this book has really kept me on track for the past five days. (less)
Wonderful book on the art of memory. Joshua Foer volunteers as guinea pig in this book starting from average forgetful man to someone who can memorize...moreWonderful book on the art of memory. Joshua Foer volunteers as guinea pig in this book starting from average forgetful man to someone who can memorize a random deck of cards. He shows that the art of memorizing or remembering is not only something that "geniuses" are able to do, but that any average person can do it if they take the time to practice. The whole trick is to first understand how we remember and then remember how to remember.(less)
Reading in the Brain is by the author and cognitive psychologist Stanislas Dehaene. I read his previous ...moreReview adapted from Tape Noise Diary
Reading in the Brain is by the author and cognitive psychologist Stanislas Dehaene. I read his previous book, The Number Sense, and like that book, this one is a bit heavy on brain research and brain mapping. But once you get past the heavy region name dropping like the occipito lobe and the temporal lobe, you’ll see that this is a wonderful book about the amazing ability we humans are lucky to have: reading.
One the main thesis of the book is that it’s a “miracle” we can read. Dehaene postulates his theory of neuronal recycling of how the brain region we use today for reading was probably used for something different. In the short period of 2000 years or so since the invention of reading and writing, our brains have recycled and fine tuned neurons to recognize symbols as signifying speech sounds and meaning.
Dehaene takes you on a journey on how it all works. From how the eyes see words to were they go in your brain to be processed. He gives a brief history of writing. A big part of the book deals with dyslexia and “mirroring” errors when reading. This is important to understand reading in the brain because it reveals a great deal on what’s happening, particularly before we become fluent readers. One of Dehaene theories is that if it wasn’t for the brains’ plasticity, we would all be mild dyslexics and make mirror errors (confusing b with d) more frequently.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves reading and to parents and teachers. (less)
Like Gilbert's Stumbling on Happiness, I see myself reading this book many times through the years. This is not a self-help book that gives advice and...moreLike Gilbert's Stumbling on Happiness, I see myself reading this book many times through the years. This is not a self-help book that gives advice and tips to follow. This is a serious psychology book that dives into the concept of flow and how many people from different walks of life achieve being in this state. (less)
This was a quick one. I'm surprised at how quickly I finished it. The book is short, clocking at around 150 pages or so, but I just couldn't put it do...moreThis was a quick one. I'm surprised at how quickly I finished it. The book is short, clocking at around 150 pages or so, but I just couldn't put it down. Or more like I couldn't close the Kindle app. It' very, very good. One of the best books on creativity that I've read. And while in the last part of the book Pressfield gets a bit to mystical and hippie for my tastes, it's still a wonderful book.(less)
It remains to be seen if this book will help me in passing the exam 9L0-062, but all Peachpit Press books so far have done their job. It's the way to ...moreIt remains to be seen if this book will help me in passing the exam 9L0-062, but all Peachpit Press books so far have done their job. It's the way to go when it comes to Apple authorized training material. (less)
From what you can see on the actual book's table of contents there are some differences from the the names of the tools and how it's divided by parts, but it's still the same basic 50 tips. It takes you from the basics of grammar, to the more advance story telling techniques like "saving string" and "foreshadowing". It's a writing exercise book. Every tool ends with a "Workbench" section which are a series of suggestions to practice what you just learned.
I highly recommend it if you want to improve your writing. Here's a great review from Snarkmarket if you still need more convincing.(less)
Cognitive Surplus is written by the author Clay Shirky. He is also a teacher at New York University, where he teaches “New Media” at the Interactive T...moreCognitive Surplus is written by the author Clay Shirky. He is also a teacher at New York University, where he teaches “New Media” at the Interactive Telecommunications Program. His previous book is called Here Comes Everybody where he tackled the subject of the power of the web for groups to organize. Shirky has also written for publications like The New York Times and Wired.
My first exposure to Clay Shirky was a talk he gave about the so called problem of information overload. In the talk he explained that the problem is not really information overload. We have had an over abundance of information for centuries. The problem, he said, is a filtering issue. He explains that since the cost of publishing on the web is zero, there’s no loss if you don’t filter for quality. In traditional publishing the costs are high thus the need to filter for quality before taking that risk. In this book he writes about this subject when he gets to the history of the printing press.
My first impulse to read this book was because I wanted to hear the good news first. What I mean by that is that it was either Nicholas Carr’s The Shallows or this one. For the last couple of months, there’s been this debate going on on how the web is doing x to us. Mostly negative. How it’s robbing our attention, our ability to concentrate, etc. Now that I read Cognitive Surplus, I wouldn’t say the it has an opposing view to The Shallows. Carr’s is about psychology and the web and Shirky’s is about sociology and the web. But one is definitely viewing the glass half empty, and the other is viewing the the glass half full. While Clay Shirky is definitely a techno optimist, don’t confuse him with a social media 2.0 guru enthusiast.
If I could sum up the book with one idea it would be this: “The stupidest possible creative act, is still a creative act.” This quote comes from the first chapter of the book we’re he discusses LOLCATS. Here Shirky is acknowledging that sure, there’s a lot of crap on the web, but it’s better than having nothing. And it’s not just about a content creator making something for an audience, but about creating something to share with a community. For that purpose, the quality is secondary.
The key idea in the book though is free time and television. Television is so embedded in our culture that we don’t realize how much time we actually spend on it. Shirky started looking at this because of the frequently asked question, “Were do people find the time.” The time has always been there since industrialization and the 40 hour work week. It’s that for the last 50 plus years or so, we have spent that free time passively staring at a light emitting box. The so called boob tube. Shirky’s conclusion is that the people who have opted to watch less television have made Wikipedia possible, as well as LOLCATS.
Through out the book Shirky also answers why we’re doing this for free and what motivates people to do it. The short answer: because we can. The opportunity is there. People just don’t want to be a passive consumer anymore. They also want to create and more importantly, to share with people. Now we can. He also writes about the impact and the potential that social media can have with civic service.
This is a big deal. It’s an interesting time to be in. We still watch a lot of television, but while we’re watching it, we look up info on IMDB from our smart phones. We listen to music, but look for what people are saying and we rate them. We are no longer just an audience, we are the people formerly known as the audience.(less)
The reason I've read this book is because I'm planning on taking the exams for the ACMT(Apple Certified Macintosh Technician) certification. This book...moreThe reason I've read this book is because I'm planning on taking the exams for the ACMT(Apple Certified Macintosh Technician) certification. This book and other Apple Training Series books are the only books out there authorized by Apple as training material for the exams. This one in particular is to prepare you for the 9L0-008 exam, which is one of the two exams you have to take to get the ACMT certification.
I knew beforehand that this book was going to be dated. It's last revision was done in 2007. So that was something that I expected and willing to deal with. But I wasn't expecting it to point to so many extra reference material. It sends you to read Apple Knowledge Base articles, there are extra chapters to download, and 5 service manuals you'll be using throughout the book. At times it felt like the book is extra reference material for each of the Mac models' service manuals.
The first 8 chapters, or lessons, deal with stuff like using the resources Apple provides, safety precautions, tools to use, and some general networking theory. The rest of the book deals with 5 of the Mac family computers: The iMac, the Mac Mini, and the Mac Pro on Desktops, and the MacBook and Macbook Pro on Portables. There are no MacBook Airs. Each of the models follow a four lesson format. The first lesson is a quick and short intro, an upgrading lesson, a taking apart lesson(in these lesson you might as well read the service manuals) and a troubleshooting lesson. The troubleshooting lessons are a series of symptoms and the steps to take to fix the problem.
It still remains to be seen if the book will do it's job. I'm hoping on taking the 9L0-008 exam before the year ends. There's still some extra material I have to read. There are lessons on iBooks and PowerBooks still waiting to be read. All this extra material is available to download when you register the book at Peachpit. The problem is that this extra material which include the service manuals you're going to need, are for late 2006 Macs. The importance of the service manuals is that they have the detailed taking apart instructions for each of the models, and these service manuals are only available to authorized Apple service providers, AASP's.
So if you already have a background repairing PC's, this will be a piece a cake. For someone starting out I would first recommend to take the Applecare Training . The second option would be to wait for a new revision of the book, which it must be coming out soon. I mean, Mac OS X Support v10.6, which is for the second exam needed, is currently current. For the rest of the people who just likes to dabble with computers it's still a great reference to have and there's always iFixit.(less)
Excellent book on the psychology of change. The authors did an amazing job in showing how change works, why it doesn't work sometimes, and why it's fr...moreExcellent book on the psychology of change. The authors did an amazing job in showing how change works, why it doesn't work sometimes, and why it's freaking hard. Their "switch framework" is a very helpful road map. This is one of those books I see myself coming back to a lot.(less)
This is one of those books that always comes up in those "books every writer should read" lists. Everything you need to know about any compl...moreThis is one of those books that always comes up in those "books every writer should read" lists. Everything you need to know about any complex subject cannot be neatly packaged on a numbered list. So I'm not a big fan of that. However, I'm certain that this book will help tremendously. Bradbury's passion and enthusiasm is something that will surely inspire you. (less)
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