Average Rating:

.

The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Amazon
by: Nassim Nicholas Taleb

February 28, 2008
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
A highly disappointing text from an erudite and capable author. The book is fallacious, mislaeding and mischievious. The abuse of simple statistical distributions alone warrants not taking it seriously. It is oversold by the blurb and does not do what it says on the cover. Extremely disappointing.

Average Rating:

.

Discovering Statistics Using SPSS (Introducing Statistical Methods series)

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Amazon
by: Andy Field

2005-03
If you are needing to learn both SPSS and statistics at the same time and intimidated at all by the math, this is a great book to help take you through the quagmire of both the SPSS software, the principles of statistics and make sense of it all too! Andy Field has done an excellent job at taking much of the mystery out of how and why to use the various tests. The book is comprehensive but the analysis of my research and study is focussed primarily on correlation, t-tests and regression. There are chapters in the book I will probably never read as I cannot foresee ever needing to read them. But, the book is very useful for referencing particular areas and providing a tutorial as you are working.

I love the way Andy has created and inserted ... Read More:

Average Rating:

.

The Digital Photography Book

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Amazon
by: Scott Kelby

August 31, 2006
I have just bought this book and only really to get my free postage on my order - but what a great book! I only have a passing inerest in photography but often wondered how people got shots like they do. This book is presented in an easy to understand format and don't take any notice about the negative remarks about humour - it's there for a reason, to fix the ideas in your memory. I'm going to order the second volume as well.

Average Rating:

.

The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Book: The Complete Guide for Photographers

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Amazon
by: Martin Evening

August 14, 2008
Having bought and enjoyed the Scott Kelby Lightroom 1 book I thought, variety being the spice of life, that for Lightroom 2 I would buy the Martin Evening book.

Having seen the Evening LR1 book in shops I was surprised to see that the pages in the LR2 book are smaller but to compensate the book is about 50% thicker. For me this has a handling disadvantage but more importantly the screen shots have to be smaller. This means that with many examples I struggle to see what the screen shot is trying to convey. Indeed the text on many of the screenshots is unreadable.

There is also a big difference in styles and approaches between the two authors. Evening tells you at length what every module, button and slider is for. Kelby tells you how ... Read More:

Average Rating:

.

Nikon D40/D40x Digital Field Guide

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Amazon
by: David D. Busch

September 25, 2007
Firstly - dump the manual that came with your D40 in the drawer - it is next to useless if you are new to a dSLR.

Then open this book and find your way around the extensive features that this 'beginners' dSLR offers. The book is well written with multiple supporting illustrations. It quickly unravels some of what seem at first complicated menus and sub menus.

I quickly found out as an example how to limit the ISO rating the camera uses on ISO Auto, I won't tell you here, you'll have to buy the book!!! but it solved for me the issue of noise that had crept into some of my pictures when using ISO auto.

Again quickly found out how to switch off the graphic representation of the shooting settings and get it to a 'classic' setting ... Read More:

Average Rating:

.

The Photographer's Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Amazon
by: Michael Freeman

June 11, 2007
I have always been skeptical about buying books that deal with photography either because there exist too many online tutorials which cover many aspects in detail or simply because the techniques each book covers are more or less the same rewritten in a different format.

This book by Michael Freeman though is trully a gem and a "must-have" in the library of every photographer.
It covers most photographic composition aspects in a great detail with perhaps images of excellence regarding composition, including schematic figures outlining and justifying the choice of the composition which exactly hit the point the writer is trying to make. It is printed in premium, relatively thick, paper with high quality images.

- The book is well structured ... Read More:

Average Rating:

.

The Naked Trader: How Anyone Can Make Money Trading Shares

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Amazon
by: Robbie Burns

December 10, 2007
This book has full of practical trading tips and summarises the top ten mistakes made by traders. The book is written in plain English, so it's easy to understand and good fun to read too. I have found this book is very useful in my trading.

Average Rating:

.

Database Systems: A Practical Approach to Design, Implementation and Management (International Computer Science Series)

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Amazon
by: Thomas Connolly, Carolyn Begg

May 24, 2004
I first used this book alot (second edition) when I had to teach a course to HNC and HND students at South East Essex college in 1999. It it the main book I used to put together my notes

Generally an excellent text-book. It doesn't quite carry the clout or precision of C. J Dates book on database systems, but it is far more practical. Not only are the explanations simpler, but there are more practical examples. Also because it is a newer book it is a little more up-to date. The fact that it includes examples in ACCESS as well is an added bonus for teachers and students who have no choice but to use ACCESS.

Certainly the best text for students at the HNC/HND level.

Average Rating:

.

The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Book for Digital Photographers (Voices That Matter)

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Amazon
by: Scott Kelby

September 18, 2008
Mr. Kelby always does a good job with all his books, but this is his best yet.Written in a clear, and concise manner, and the screen captures this time are readable without the aid of a magnifying glass. The book follows a good workflow throughout, and proves what a comprehensive programme Lightroom is. This is not evident at first or even second glance, and yet Mr. Kelby makes it all appear so easy, which few writers manage to attain with so called technical books, this is his big secret.
The book is also a valuable reference.

Average Rating:

.

Don't Make Me Think!: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Amazon
by: Steve Krug

September 08, 2005
One of the best book I have read this year. Gives you all the basics on usability, how to understand people and how they use websites. It's a must buy as it will be useful for almost everything in business. Don't make people think, due to internet we switch attention so quickly!