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Great for kids! - Rating: 4 / 5

This dictionary is easy to use, has great pictures, and is written is simple language that is easy for children to understand. I got it for my granddaughter who is in second grade. It has been very useful to her and to me as I help her with her homework. So far, every word we have attempted to locate has been found in the dictionary. So I vould say the dictionary is very inclusive. I would recommend it to anyone wanting their child to get familiar with the use of a dictionary.

More than enough - Rating: 5 / 5

This dictonary is so full of wonderful pictures. It is just what I wanted for my girls. I looks more like an interesting book rather than a reference book.

Nice dictionary but paper quality isn't that good - Rating: 4 / 5

I have a 6 year old daughter in 1st grade and she's enjoying this dictionary a lot. Now whenever she asks me what a word means we go in and look for it and have it read her self. The book has a lot of illustrations and a lot extra information. My daughter loves it and keeps it close by as she reads lots of books. My only complain is that the paper is of low quality which seems will tear up easily. I was expecting something like a thicker glossy paper for the price.

Fantastic Resource - Rating: 5 / 5

This childrens Dictionary is fabulous. We bought it for my childs 7th birthday and she absolutely loves it, as do we. Just the right amount of pictures and text to keep their attention and certainly a dictionary to grow into. I envision her using this for at least the next three years and hopefully a lot longer.

Great Dictionary For Kids!! - Rating: 5 / 5

This dictionary has great illustrations for kids to understand what the word means. It guides them on how to use the dictionary properly. I would highly recommend this dictionary.

what exactly is linux good for? - Rating: 5 / 5

What is linux good for? That is the question that the authors of this book set about explaining. They tell you all of the wonderful things that you can make linux do with a little bit of effort. It could use a new edition but otherwise a very good read.

PS A station wagon packed with hard drives has more bandwidth in most instances than dsl or cable internet.

Linux (+ open source tools) as a swiss army knife - Rating: 4 / 5

Technically, Linux is the name for the operating system kernel at the heart of "Linux" distributions such as RedHat and Debian. When most people "use" Linux, they are in fact using the shell, the web server, or any other of the zillions of open source programs that (1) are available for, (2) are distributed with, or (3) can run atop the Linux kernel.

It used to be that there were only a few things you could do with a Linux box (namely run a Unix box as a web server) but the open source community has come a long way in providing (1) applications and (2) hardware support, so that you can now do a lot of things w/ your Linux box that used to only be doable on a Windoze box.

Schwarz et al have put together a smorgasbord of things you can do with your Linux box. These projects range from things you would tend to do on a Unix box (eg IP Masquerade, SSH, system security, even a chapter on writing Apache modules!) to stuff you would expect to need to do on a Windoze box (eg burning CDRs, syncing with Palm devices, and audio/MIDI/image/video processing).

The level of detail in the chapters (as well as the required level of Linux familiarity on the part of the reader) varies considerably -- a hazard of multiple authors and the breadth of the topics covered -- but each chapter starts off with a "Difficult-o-Meter" which more or less accurately states the level of Linux proficiency required.

That said, there are some real gems to be found in this book. There are some pretty hefty howto-like treatments in this book of topics such as system security, "undernets" (collaborative web sites), and setting up a web/IMAP/mail server.

There's a chapter on "Tools You Should Know", which lists the tools a typical Unix hacker should know: regular expressions, vi, dd, sed, diff, etc. Like some other parts of the book, this chapter doesn't give you a lot of information on these individual tools, but it brings them to your attention, so you at least know what to look for.

This book by itself won't turn a newbie into a Linux ninja after one reading, but it is a good overview of many different things that can be done with open source tools on a Linux box. I would highly encourage the prospective reader to take a look at the Table of Contents of this book. If you see a topic you're interested in, then this is a worthwhile book to buy. (I suspect that most folks running Linux at home at a beginner to intermediate level will find several bits of interest in this book.)

WOW!! Linux, here I come! - Rating: 5 / 5

I've been curious about Linux for some time now. But, the only books that I could find, are all on installing, administering, configuring. Every one rehashing what the other said. None of them sold me on diving in.

When I discovered this book, I was apprehensive, but I went for it and purchased it. All I have to say is WOW! I never realised how flexible Linux is, or how much you could do.

I was thouroughly impressed on the variety of this book. I've finally been inspired to dive right in to Linux.

A must-have for Linux users - Rating: 5 / 5

Are you a new Linux user, and want to learn more?

Are you an experienced Linux user, but are wondering what other interesting things you can do?

This book will teach you fun things. This book will teach you useful things. This book takes you on a tour you can't help but enjoy. At the end of the day, you'll find yourself not only entertained, but more knowledgeable about what you can do with Linux. It's probably more than you think!

This book helped me discover new interests and new possibilities, all in easy to read and entertaining prose. With that in mind, I'm giving this book the highest rating possible.

Great material. - Rating: 5 / 5

I highly recommend this book to anyone getting started in scripting or wanting to go futher with thier understanding of PHP. The book is layed out in a visual format so most people will have little if any trouble understanding what they are coding. You get to see the script, how it works and then what the outcome should be. If you are looking into scripting in PHP get this book! Also check out the other books in the visual blueprint series. I have enjoyed each and everyone and learned more than if I would have stubbled along seeking this information on the Internet.

If you're not familiar with programming already, steer clear. - Rating: 2 / 5

Despite the fact that this book is marketed as an easy, fun "visual learning" tool, the truth of the matter is that if you're a beginning programmer or even someone who just knows their HTML and CSS and was wondering what all this server side scripting was about, you should give this book a wide berth.

As a student and a web developer, I have often been thrown at one programming language or another and been expected to hit the ground running. The result is that while I know how to use certain languages, the why or how is often fuzzy for me. Thus, I was hoping PHP 5 would clarify for me just what it is php is doing with that mysterious Apache.

Unfortunately, the author(s) simply thrust you into installing Apache and PHP, then telling you that you can use echo statements to insert data into the output stream, something like so:

$time = 'Wednesday';
echo 'It is $time.'

That's great, but...
a) What do echo statements actually DO?
b) What is the output stream?
c) So if I want to display the value of a variable, I just stick the name into the string argument of an echo statement?
d) IS that a string I'm supplying to the echo statement?
e) I'm assuming this means I need to escape any $ characters in case php decides whatever comes after it is a variable name?
f) What happens if it doesn't find any variable named $time?

All this from one innocuous little screenshot. This is fine for people who already know what they're doing, but if you're not prepared to puzzle out the answers to these questions and more, or if you have no idea what those questions even mean, I'd suggest waiting for Head First's take on PHP, as the Head First series is much, much more friendly to beginners:

Head First PHP & MySQL

Makes it easy to learn! - Rating: 5 / 5

This book may not give every detail of the PHP language, but that's not the point. The idea is to give many very focused lessons on how to perform various programming techniques with PHP in very clear language and well-designed screenshots walking you through each step.

This title makes for both a great reference for old-timers, and has proven to me to be very helpful for learning even the most basic to some advanced techniques. Myself having a mid-level experience with PHP, it has really helped polish my fundamental skills.

I am waiting for the JavaScript Blueprint book, I hope it's as good as this one!

Hard to follow - Rating: 2 / 5

I learned ASP and Mysql with great ease and quick progress with 'the visual blueprint' books, the delivery were clear and concise.
But things have changed in this new series. The writing style is difficult to understand: instead of explaining the topic first, the writer jumps right into 'you can do this and that'. I have to read each chapter several times in order to grasp what he means. The screen shots are now arranged on top of one another. Which is by itself ok if the text are not reduced even smaller making it more difficult to read.
I am quite disappointed by this 'new' approach. I hope the publisher has not changed the 'your visual blueprint series' into
just a reference book instead of being a teaching book which it was so good at.

Stop looking. This is what you need. - Rating: 5 / 5

So satisfied with their first book - "PHP", I had to see if the second could be as informative and it was. The method of explaination in these books should be the model for all computer books. Nothing is over or under explained. While this book does not cover all that PHP has to offer, it does what it intended - making PHP easy for beginners to learn visually.