Review List

If a man empties his purse into his head, no one can take it away from him. An investment of knowledge always pays the best interest.
—Benjamin Franklin, quoted in the A.Word.A.Day mailing list.

Categories

On the Side-table
On Deck
Personal All-Time Favourites
Books for Kids
Comic Collections
Fiction
- Law
- Pot Boilers
Non-fiction

Biographies
Business
Software Development
Photography
Other

On the Side-table

Work in Progress (Michael Eisner)
The head of The Walt Disney Co. describes his life so far.
Random Excess (Ross Laver)
Subtitled "The Wild Ride of Michael Cowpland and Corel"
The E-Myth Revisited (Michael Gerber)
Subtitled "Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It"
Alison Balter’s Mastering Access 97 Development (Alison Balter)
I’ve spent way too much on poor books about Access. This is the first one that’s worth the money!
The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail (Christensen)
How did IBM miss minicomputers and DEC miss PCs? They were attacked from below. Read how!

On Deck: Books we want to read next…

Office 2001 for Macintosh: The Missing Manual (Barber, Reynolds)
As on-paper documentation for software headed into extinction, David Pogue began a series of books called The Missing Manuals. Written or editted into Pogue’s breezy style, salted with light humour, they have been a delight to read or browse.
Direct From Dell (Michael Dell, Catherine Fredman)
Michael Dell tells how, starting from his dorm room, he built a hugely successful business in a ferociously competitive market.
Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies (Porras et al.)
What characteristics are common to companies that are long term front-runners instead also-rans?
The Official Dick Van Dyke Show Book
Author: Vince Waldron

Information on one of the original and best situation comedies ever produced.

Available at Amazon:

Personal All-Time Favourites

And Now Here's Max (Max Ferguson)

Hilarious autobiography of humourist and radio personality

Books for Kids

Broad range (2-15)
- Graeme Base books
  Graeme Base has a wonderfully inventive mind, a keen ear for rhythm and rhyme, and humourous artistic flair. His books are appealing to all age ranges, and are enjoyable to read, with or without a young audience, time and again.
  - Animalia
    A wild menagerie of letters! Absolutely fabulous for your own children or as a gift. Fun for years.
  - The Sign of the Sea Horse
    Lavishly illustrated, poetic story of undersea treachery and triumph.
- The I Spy series
  The I Spy books contain a series of carefully arranged and artfully cluttered photographs, each with a list of items to be found. Each picture has a clever theme, and often a theme runs through an entire book. A great pass-time for children starting at an early age, and delightful for adults to accompany.
  - I Spy Fantasy (Walter Wick photographer, Jean Marzollo)
    Ian’s favourite
  - I Spy [the original] (Walter Wick photographer, Jean Marzollo)
  - I Spy Spooky Night (Walter Wick photographer, Jean Marzollo)
- The Bungalo Boys series
  The Bungalo Boys (Johnny-Bob, Rufus, Curly, Little Shorty, and Projectile the Wonderdog) are bulbous-nosed adventurers. You’ll probably enjoy their antics as much as your children do because the books are cleverly written to appeal on several levels. (I believe I first saw Bianchi’s work in an NRC monthly, where his serious-looking scientists had quizzical mice poking out of their labcoat pockets.) It’s fortunate that they’re still fun after multiple readings because they are perennial favourites, enjoyed by all of our kids!
  - Flight of the Space Quester
    See Little Shorty saved by the BungleArm! (24pp)
  - The Last of the Tree Ranchers
  - Bungalo Boys III: Champions of Hockey
Younger (2-5)
- Jingle Bugs
- Richard Scarry
(4-7)
- Martha Speaks
  Author: Susan Meddaugh
  
  Fun for the kindergarten to Grade 2 set.
  
  Available at Amazon:
- Martha Blah Blah
  Author: Susan Meddaugh
  
  More fun for the kindergarten to Grade 2 set.
  
  Available at Amazon:
Middle (5-10)
- The Red Wall series

Comic Collections

The complete set of Calvin & Hobbes (Waterson)
The adventures of hyper-imaginative 7-year-old Calvin entertain on many levels

Fiction

JPod
Author: Douglas Coupland

The latest by the author of Generation X and Microserfs, dubbed Microserfs 2.0 by some wags.

Available at Amazon:

Law
- Presumed Innocent (Scott Turow)
  Gripping, compelling, smart, great characters: the most enjoyable book of this genre I’ve read! Rating: 5 (out of 5)
- Eyes of a Child (Richard North Patterson)
  The machinations of a manipulative husband drag two families into deep personal conflicts. Fast paced and involving. Rating: 4 (out of 5)
- The Final Judgement (Richard North Patterson)
  The same smooth writing style as Eyes of a Child but also has similar flaws (parts sound like a Harlequin Romance “bodice-ripper”). Similarities in plot structure to Eyes… bleed off much of the suspense. Centers on Caroline Masters’ personal history. Rating: 2 (out of 5)
- The Chamber (John Grisham)
  Another strong work by John Grisham, a tense narrative of a man condemned to die and the man who tries to save him.
- The Rainmaker (John Grisham)
  Fresh out of law school and linked up with a seedy law firm and down-trodden ambulance chaser...Rating: 3 (out of 5)
Pot Boilers
- The Hunt for Red October
- The Day of the Jackel
- A Drink Before the War (Dennis Lehane)
  I believe this is the first in a small number of books featuring Lehane’s Boston private detective Patrick Kenzie. A tortured past, three kinds of villains, and longing for the unattainable combine in a fast-paced thriller. A couple of gory (‘vivid’) passages. [12.Apr.01]

Non-fiction

Biographies
- iWoz: How I Invented the Personal Computer & Had Fun Along the Way
  Authors: Steve Wozniak, Gina Smith
  
  Autobiography of the gentle prankster and technical co-founder of Apple. (Due: Nov/2006)
  
  Available at Amazon:
- Becoming Justice Blackmun: Harry Blackmun’s Supreme Court Journey
  Author: Linda Greenhouse
  
  The life & changes of a US Supreme Court justice written from access to his personal papers.
  
  Available at Amazon:
  Paperback:
- Revolution in the Valley
  Author: Andy Hertzfeld
  
  Stories from the heart of Apple of how the Macintosh came to be what it is. Written by the cheerful and always candid Andy Hertzfeld, a key contributor to the Macintosh operating system.
  
  Available at Amazon:
- The Codebreakers: The Comprehensive History of Secret Communication from Ancient Times to the Internet
  Author: David Kahn
  
  Very comprehensive coverage of coding history up to and including the Internet era.
  
  Available at Amazon:
- To Russia with Fries
  Author: George Cohon
  
  A cheerful recounting by McDonalds Canada's CEO of his career including opening the first McDonalds restaurants in the Soviet Union. I enjoyed the book, but I felt he was being too kind to some of the people mentioned in his book. He had to overcome a number of barriers and sometimes they seem more conceptual than concrete people problems. It may be a reflection of the man, but it can leave you wondering how he dealt with difficult people.
  
  Available at Amazon:
- And Now Here's Max (Max Ferguson)
Business
- The e-Myth (Michael Gerber)
  Can you run a small business? Are you sure you want to?
- The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
- Crossing the Chasm (Moore)
- The Dilbert Principle (Scott Adams)
  Repackaged humour padded with predictable writing masquerading as a humourous business book. If you feel you must buy a Dilbert book, skip this and buy one of the early comic collections.
- The Macintosh Way (Guy Kawasaki)
- The Art of the Start: The Time Tested, Battle-hardened Guide For Anyone Starting Anything
  Author: Guy Kawasaki
  
  Another entertaining book from Kawasaki, this one on starting products, projects & companies.
  
  Available at Amazon:
  Updated edition coming:
- Small is the New Big and 183 Other Riffs, Rants, and Remarkable Business Ideas
  Author: Seth Godin
  
  One of Godin’s better books. He spins out lots of ideas, some good, some just hot air, but many a good source for inspiring your own ideas.
  
  Available at Amazon:
- Competing for the Future (Hamel and Prahalad)
  Popular book on the value of strategic planning. Excellent!
- Direct From Dell (Michael Dell, Catherine Fredman)
  Michael Dell tells how, starting from his dorm room, he built a hugely successful business in a ferociously competitive market.
- The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail
  Author: Clay Christensen
  
  How did IBM miss minicomputers and DEC miss PCs? They were attacked from below. Read how! Highly recommended.
  
  Available at Amazon:
- The Innovator’s Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth
  Author: Clay Christensen
  
  A follow-on, with Michael Raynor, to Christensen's acclaimed Dilemma
  
  Available at Amazon:
- Winning at New Products: Accelerating the Process from Idea to Launch
  Author: Robert G Cooper
  
  Available at Amazon:
- Everything I Needed to Know About Business...I Learned from a Canadian
  Author: Leonard Brody
  
  Available at Amazon:
- From Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap ... and Others Don’t
  Author: Jim Collins
  
  Available at Amazon:
- Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies
  Authors: Jerry Porras, Jim Collins
  
  What characteristics are common to companies that are long term front-runners instead also-rans?
  
  Available at Amazon:
Software Development
- Cross-Platform GUI Programming with wxWidgets
  Authors: Julian Smart, Kevin Hock, Stefan Csomor
  
  The book on WxWidgets.
  
  Available at Amazon:
- Practices of an Agile Developer: Working in the Real World
  Authors: Venkat Subramaniam, Andy Hunt
  
  Tips on becoming a real Agile developer.
  
  Available at Amazon:
- Learning Unix for Mac OS X Tiger
  Author: Dave Taylor
  
  Some things (like copying files) need to be done a little differently in OS X.
  
  Available at Amazon:
- Managing & Using MySQL - Open Source SQL Databases for Managing Information & Web Sites (2nd ed.)
  Authors: George Reese, Randy Jay Yarger, Tim King with Hugh E. Williams
  
  The main O’Reilly reference book on MySQL. Should be updated soon though.
  
  Available at Amazon:
- Cascading Style Sheets - The Definitive Guide (2nd ed.)
  Author: Eric Meyer
  
  You can always count on O’Reilly books.
  
  Available at Amazon:
- HTML & XHTML - The Definitive Guide (5th ed.)
  Author: Chuck Musciano, Bill Kennedy
  
  Decent reference book. Fortunately little has changed in HTML since 2002 when this book was published.
  
  Available at Amazon:
- Coder to Developer - Tools & Strategies for Delivering Your Software
  Author: Mike Gunderloy
  
  About the whole process, from product design to shipping.
  
  Available at Amazon:
- Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X (2nd ed.)
  Author: Aaron Hillegass
  
  Developing in Objective C using the Cocoa framework
  
  Available at Amazon:
- Several books by Steve McConnell:
  
  Code Complete - A Practical Handbook of Software Construction
  
  Available at Amazon:
  
  Rapid Development - Taming Wild Software Schedules
  
  Available at Amazon:
  
  Software Project Survival Guide
  
  Available at Amazon:
  
  Professional Development - Shorter Schedules, Higher Quality Products, More Successful Projects, Enhanced Careers
  
  Available at Amazon:
- Learning Unix for Mac OS X Panther
  Authors: Dave Taylor, Brian Jepson
  
  I would have preferred if there were an O’Reilly’s Nutshell reference book on the topic. Note that this is essentially a second edition - don't accidently buy the version without “Panther” in the title. Does this mean there’ll be a Learning Unix for Mac OS X Tiger soon?
  
  Available at Amazon:
- Practical PostgreSQL
  Authors: John C. Worsley, Joshua D. Drake
  
  The one O’Reilly book on PostgreSQL.
  
  Available at Amazon:
- The Mythical Man-Month (Brooks)
  The readable software project management classic that explains, among other things, why adding developers can make delivery slip even further.
- The Unified Modeling Language User Guide (Booch, Rumbaugh, Jacobson)
- The Invisible Computer: Why Good Products Can Fail, the Personal Computer Is So Complex, and Information Appliances Are the Solution (Don Norman)
- Alison Balter’s Mastering Access 97 Development (Alison Balter)
  I’ve spent way too much on poor books about Access. This is the first one that’s worth the money!
- ODBC 3.5 Developer’s Guide (Roger Sanders)
  There are a number of mediocre books about ODBC, but this one is excellent.
Photography
- Photography for the Joy of It
  Author: Freeman Patterson
  
  A terrific book. Rating: 5 (out of 5)
  
  Available at Amazon:
- Photography and the Art of Seeing
  Author: Freeman Patterson
  
  More inspirational text and photographs from Freeman Patterson. Rating: 4 (out of 5)
  
  Available at Amazon:
Other
- Great Gantt: How to Create Gantt Charts Anyone Can Follow
  Author: Judith Montgomery
  
  How to make much more readable Gantt charts.
  
  May become available at Amazon:
  
  Available at Books for Business and from the publisher.
- Say It With Charts
  Author: Gene Zelazny
  
  Making clearer charts of all kinds.
  
  Available at Amazon:
- Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
  Authors: Steven Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner
  
  Levitt is the economist, Dubner the journalist. The book is challenging, sometimes controversial, but entirely readable.
  
  Available at Amazon:
- Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
  Author: David Allen
  
  Title says it all.
  
  Available at Amazon:
- Blink - The Power of Thinking without Thinking
  Author: Malcolm Gladwell
  
  Gladwell wrote an interesting, and trend-setting, work when he authored The Tipping Point. This looks like another enjoyable & thought-provoking book.
  
  Available at Amazon:
- The Healthy Heart Miracle: Your Roadmap to Lifelong Health
  Author: Dr. Gabe Mirkin
  
  [review coming]
  
  Available at Amazon:
- Shadow the Hedgehog for Game Cube
  Author: Sega
  
  [review coming]
  
  Available at Amazon:
- New Moon
  Author: Stephanie Meyer
  
  [review coming]
  
  Available at Amazon:
- The Lincoln Lawyer
  Author: Michael Connelly
  
  [review coming]
  
  Available at Amazon:
- Into the Wild (Krakauer)
  What led to the death of 24-year-old Chris McCandless in remote Alaska?
- Into Thin Air (Krakauer)
  Krakauer’s firsthand account of a disastrous attempt on Mount Everest.
- Dave Barry’s Book of Bad Songs (Dave Barry)
  Fits one of my criteria for a great gift: something I’d love to have but might only buy for myself on sale! The title seemed like it would only be an article padded out to fill a book, but it sustains its humour for the entire book.
- Their Enduring Spirit - The History of Frontenac Provincial Park 1783-1990 (Christian Barber with Terry Fuchs)
  Interested in more information on Frontenac Park?

Amazon.com’s Discounts on the New York Times’ Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction (Amazon.com (U.S.) only)
Hardcover Non-Fiction (Amazon.com (U.S.) only)
Hardcover Advice & How-To Books (Amazon.com (U.S.) only)
Paperback Advice & How-To Books (Amazon.com (U.S.) only)
Paperback Fiction (Amazon.com (U.S.) only)
Paperback Non-Fiction (Amazon.com (U.S.) only)

The missing book covers.

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