Review of Lessons in Grid Computing: The System Is a Mirror (Hardcover)

Here are a few ideas that I kept after speed reading this book. In Information Technology (IT), we, the people are the resources. Our teams can exist only if we maintain the relationships and we can communicate among ourselves with pleasure and no constraints. If we reuse code and interfaces, we must first use them to begin with. We are the platform to build services and applications, not the operating systems and the chips..

But to say the few things like those described above, the author delves in exuberant verbose. It is obvious he has a deep love for writing fiction. There are too many words and too many stories. In a nutshell, we are told that without humans, IT systems are useless. And as humans, we must read Proust (great French writer - more quoted by others than read -) and Jung (the psychologist who described the collective unconsciousness)to understand ourselves.

This has some value. Many people think mechanical effects solve our life problems: sex techniques bring happiness, or success means selecting MacOS or Linux or Solaris. Computing, like medications prescribed by top doctors, can not bring the happiness via science and technology only.

Why writing 357 pages to say all this? This is a useful book in need to be condensed to about 10% of the book size. In each chapter , a short 5 line summary will be great.

Also the name of Grid Computing is confusing. Sure we believe one day the entire Information Technology will become a grid delivering units of compute power, the same way we have electricity today. We will not need operating systems and CPUs in our offices and homes, we will have a plug in the wall and a meter to read the computing energy used.

The book, that alludes to computing as a service delivery, does nothighlight this meaning of grid computing well enough. Once we have a product eliminating the need to know technicalities like system administration, we willunderstand ourselves as humans first. Then we canmake computer applications and services that are as natural as speech in everyday use.

I work in grid computing,I know many engineers who bought this book, thinking this is about a hands-on lesson on Grid Computing programming. They were disappointed, because the title is misleading. It attracted theaudience which had totally different expectations. The real audience - IT leadership - might have overlooked the book, because of the title.



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Review of Human-Computer Interaction: Developing Effective Organizational Information Systems (Hardcover)

The experience was was good. The book arrived in time and was also in excellent condition.



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Review of Adobe Acrobat 8 PDF Bible (Paperback)

Over a thousand pages and the type is small -- just like a real Bible. This book is everything you could possibly have wanted to know about Adobe Acrobat 8. And beyond Acrobat 8 itself, the book discusses and includes on a CD a number of third party add in packages that further extend what Acrobat will do.

Most people who have only Acrobat Reader to read .pdf files will be surprised to find that the program that produces the .pdf file is a huge and powerful software system. This book has everything you could possibly want to know about Acrobat. As with the Acrobat software itself, the book covers both the Windows and the MAC operating environments. In general these are the same, but in several cases where they are different screen shots off of both computers are included.

The book is designed as a reference book where you will jump to just the section containing the information about what you want to do rather than reading straight through like a mystery book. As such it has a pretty good table of contents and a 45 page index at the end of the book.

Product Description
"The Adobe Acrobat 8 PDF Bible is the comprehensive guide to Acrobat for novices and power users alike. With a concise, easy-to-read format, you will be creating interactive XML forms, enabling streamlined document review processes, and publishing high-impact electronic documents in no time."
-Rick Brown, director of product management, Adobe Acrobat

The book you need to succeed with Adobe Acrobat!

Why do readers turn to the Adobe Acrobat Bible again and again? Because whether you're already experienced with Adobe Acrobat or you're learning to use this powerful tool for the first time, you'll find exactly what you need to know in these well-organized pages. Packed with helpful tips and step-by-step instructions, this latest edition will guide you through both basic and advanced features, enabling you to take full advantage of everything Acrobat 8 has to offer.

• Create, collect, and distribute forms with LiveCycle® Designer
• Work seamlessly with Microsoft® Office applications
• Convert AutoCAD® and Visio® files to PDF
• Discover new ways to edit PDFs and remove sensitive data
• Explore enhanced Shared Reviews tools with easy-to-use Wizard
• Collect form data by exporting it directly to Microsoft Excel®
• Combine files and create PDF Packages using new Acrobat 8 tools

What's on the CD-ROM?

You'll find valuable, author-developed sample files including PDF documents, Adobe Designer forms, and Acrobat PDF forms with JavaScripts-all arranged in folders according to chapters in the book, so you use them along with the book's tutorials. The CD also includes:

• Adobe Reader software
• Entire book in searchable PDF with embedded index
• Windows demonstration plug-ins

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