Best Computer & Video Game Strategy Guides
Look for the sequels to The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia , with The Legend of Zelda: Art & Artifacts and the upcoming Legend of Zelda Encyclopedia due out April 24th 2018. He is the series producer and manager of The Legend of Zelda and won the Golden Joystick Awards’ Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The opening letter from Shigeru Miyamoto sets a wonderful, celebratory tone for the rest of the book. The first third of the book, entitled "The Legend Begins: The World of Skyward Sword" is devoted to said title, the most recently released Zelda game we all played and loved. It's filled to the brim with the concept and official art that inspired Skyward's Sword brilliant aesthetic style. As one who views Skyward Sword as one of the most beautiful and brilliantly inspired video games ever made in terms of its art design and visuals, this is just fine with me. There's tons here, including a lot of really interesting ideas for characters that didn't make it into the game, like a floating Fi in a massive suit of armor or Zelda designs that are decidedly more elegant and fancy. There's also a good amount of location art that is simply gorgeous and really captures your imagination, just like the settings in the game did. What is even better about this section is the following 70 or so pages that actually chronicles, in great detail, the events of each timeline in chronological order. Sprinkled liberally through all of this are nice screenshots and art, as well as fascinating tidbits, like boxes that fully decipher the various Hylian/Hyrulean dialect text that appear in the games. This section closes with a very nice letter from Eiji Aonuma, arguably the second most important man behind the Legend of Zelda, after Shigeru Miyamoto of course. The lay-outs are nice, the printing quality is vibrantly beautiful and sharp as a tack, and the pages are crisp and clean. The binding is also high quality, which is important because this is a big book that would fall apart relatively quickly if it wasn't bound well. There are few games that capture the sense of beauty, imagination, and adventure like the Legend of Zelda effortlessly does with each and every release."
"There's translations of some of the games in-game language systems and explanations for why certain things are as they are, for example hinting that timeshift stones and the ocarina of time are made of the same time-travel capable material. If I had to say anything negative, it would be that perhaps learning about the development decisions made during other games would have been nice, particularly Majora's mask, instead of just showing Skyward Sword concept art."
"One thing that I wish this had, and I don't know why I assumed it would... but I have a Nintendo Power magazine of Zelda from the 90's that was pretty cool."
"I say, anything that will hold his attention for that long and he will read in it daily, I consider it a great buy."
"After going through Amazon in search of gift ideas, I came across this particular one and decided it might be a good gift to purchase for him."
T he Legend of Zelda™: Art and Artifacts contains over four hundred pages of fully realized illustrations from the entire thirty-year history of The Legend of Zelda™ including artwork from the upcoming The Legend of Zelda™: Breath of the Wild ! A few years later, the Gameboy and the Super Nintendo cemented Nintendo as one of the premier gaming companies in the world.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"First of all, if you're a die hard Zelda fan, nothing in this book is new as this book is essentially a collection of promotional and concept art for the series. You do get art from the entire series from the original Legend of Zelda to Zelda Twilight Princess HD or Zelda Tri Force Heroes."
"This is a must own to learn the history of one of the greatest franchises is video game history."
"The only unique part to the book is the final 40 pages or so that are full of interview Q&A's which are pretty interesting."
"Gorgeous to look at, came safely packaged, no wear and tear, protective plastic sleeve fits perfectly with the cover illustration."
"I bought this book as a gift and it is beautiful!"
"That said, I am an obsessive Zelda image hunter and have sought out most of this art in the past."
"I'm pretty obsessed with everything Zelda, so when I saw this book I had to get it."
"It is surprisingly thick, has tons of artwork from all the games, Breath of the Wild has like a page or 2 dedicated to it but I did not see anything spoilers (BotW only) so that's good, unless I haven't looked through the book enough."
Prepare a feast fit for a warchief with World of Warcraft: The Official Cookbook , a delicious compendium of recipes inspired by the hit online game from Blizzard Entertainment. A lifelong artist and fan of fantasy, Chelsea discovered her love of interesting food during a year living abroad in Turkey.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"My friend Nomi and I cooked every recipe in this book, but everything came out burned."
"All my life in Azeroth, Ive eaten many virtual meals."
"I cooked the Buzzard Bites tonight for my Husband, Son and I. My husband loved it and i deff loved it :) I will say, It is listed as a "side" and it tells you it would pair well with a Cheesy Pasta, DEFF make the pasta, By themselves they are tasty but can be a tad overwhelming after a couple of them."
"I recommend anyone who loves to cook or wants to learn; whether your a fan of the game it's inspired by or not, give this book a try and I guarantee you will be pleasantly surprised what your able to place on your table for any occasion year round."
"I was geeking out before I even made it to the recipe pages."
"This book is amazing!!"
"It has some interesting takes on beloved WoW cooking recipes, and most of the must-have favorites can be found."
"I haven't made anything in it yet but the recipes for the most part make my mouth water and make me want to cook."
Best Computer & Video Game Design
Good game design happens when you view your game from as many perspectives as possible. Game Nite ’s Editors’ Choice "… this book is considered by many to be the ‘bible’ of game design. … Much of the material has been updated … the introduction to probability … is a must read for aspiring game designers … engaging and thought provoking … a substantial book for someone looking to get serious about game design. … this book trains you to think as a designer …". ―James Portnow, Game Designer, CEO of Rainmaker Games, and Writer of Extra Credits. "This book was clearly designed, not just written, and is an entire course in how to be a game designer. "As indicated by its title, Jesse Schell’s The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses uses many different perspectives (the titular lenses), which each prompt their own important questions, ranging from ‘What problems does my game ask the players to solve?’ to ‘What does beauty mean within the context of my game?’ These distinct points are interwoven throughout a step-by-step analysis of the design process that begins with the designer and his or her basic idea, and builds successfully from there. "Easily the most comprehensive, practical book I’ve ever seen on game design." "Jesse Schell’s new book, The Art of Game Design , is a marvelous introduction to game design by a true master of the form. " The Art of Game Design describes precisely how to build a game the world will love and elegantly crank it through the realities of clients and publishers. "Packed with Jesse’s real-world experience and humorous insight, The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses is a tool chest crossed with a kaleidoscope. Like a chemistry set for making mental explosions, it’s an idea(l) book guiding the design process for both new and seasoned game designers. "On games industry desks, books tend to come and go, but they all seem to go on top of Jesse Schell’s The Art of Game Design , because that’s the one book that seems to stick around." "Ken Rolston, internationally celebrated game designer, recommends Jesse Schell’s The Art of Game Design both for smart people and for people who are learning how to be smart."
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Schell does a great job outlining the philosophy and process of game design."
"Best and most useful textbook to date."
"This is a great, straight-forward book on iterative game design created by someone active in the field."
"And he also covers methods that other entertainment industries use, giving anyone interested in designing games more options in creating better experiences."
"Fantastically good book on game design."
"This clear vocabulary is empowering, as it enables a designer to more easily think about the elements of their game, and in addition, to add to the foundation that Jesse has already put together."
"This is my second book about Game Design (first is LevelUP) and I absolutely happy to have it."
Best Game Programming
Good game design happens when you view your game from as many perspectives as possible. Game Nite ’s Editors’ Choice "… this book is considered by many to be the ‘bible’ of game design. … Much of the material has been updated … the introduction to probability … is a must read for aspiring game designers … engaging and thought provoking … a substantial book for someone looking to get serious about game design. … this book trains you to think as a designer …". ―James Portnow, Game Designer, CEO of Rainmaker Games, and Writer of Extra Credits. "This book was clearly designed, not just written, and is an entire course in how to be a game designer. "As indicated by its title, Jesse Schell’s The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses uses many different perspectives (the titular lenses), which each prompt their own important questions, ranging from ‘What problems does my game ask the players to solve?’ to ‘What does beauty mean within the context of my game?’ These distinct points are interwoven throughout a step-by-step analysis of the design process that begins with the designer and his or her basic idea, and builds successfully from there. "Easily the most comprehensive, practical book I’ve ever seen on game design." "Jesse Schell’s new book, The Art of Game Design , is a marvelous introduction to game design by a true master of the form. " The Art of Game Design describes precisely how to build a game the world will love and elegantly crank it through the realities of clients and publishers. "Packed with Jesse’s real-world experience and humorous insight, The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses is a tool chest crossed with a kaleidoscope. Like a chemistry set for making mental explosions, it’s an idea(l) book guiding the design process for both new and seasoned game designers. "On games industry desks, books tend to come and go, but they all seem to go on top of Jesse Schell’s The Art of Game Design , because that’s the one book that seems to stick around." "Ken Rolston, internationally celebrated game designer, recommends Jesse Schell’s The Art of Game Design both for smart people and for people who are learning how to be smart."
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Schell does a great job outlining the philosophy and process of game design."
"Best and most useful textbook to date."
"This is a great, straight-forward book on iterative game design created by someone active in the field."
"And he also covers methods that other entertainment industries use, giving anyone interested in designing games more options in creating better experiences."
"Fantastically good book on game design."
"This clear vocabulary is empowering, as it enables a designer to more easily think about the elements of their game, and in addition, to add to the foundation that Jesse has already put together."
"This is my second book about Game Design (first is LevelUP) and I absolutely happy to have it."
Best Minecraft Guides
Ultimate Minecraft Secrets: An Unofficial Guide to Minecraft Tips, Tricks and Hints You May Not Know
You can learn hundreds more fun, interesting and exciting tips and tricks like these, with this ultimate Guide to Minecraft Secrets.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"He *might* fight our 8 year old for computer time to play... he *might* have gotten so tickled with himself when he figured out how to turn Zombies into Villagers, he *might* have multisheet Minecraft spreadsheets full of data, project du jour analyses and formulae for computing how many tracks he needs to build a track from one village to the next... but he will *never* admit to any of it. I may have gotten this book for him for Christmas this year and he *might* have squealed-stifled-by-a-manly-throat clearing every few minutes as he "uninterestedly" perused it and made notes on what he wanted to try out..."
"Love it, easy to read and illustrated great for kids or adults that recognize this game as a logic and basic engineering game that even a 6 yr old will benefit from."
"Kids love anything minecraft, there were seveal 'secrets' that aren't so much."
"Seeing as how my son is obsessed with Minecraft, this was a great purchase, he enjoyed learning the tips and tricks, and now we know more about the game than we ever wanted to!"
"Some of the things I already know but there are lots of things that are new to me."
"Very helpful."
"My seven year old grandson loved it, and used the tricks right away."
Best Pokemon Guides
Inside, you'll discover: ·The video game that saved Nintendo from bankruptcy. ·The serendipitous story of Pac-Man's design. ·The misstep that helped topple Atari's $2 billion-a-year empire. ·The coin shortage caused by Space Invaders ·The fascinating reasons behind the rise, fall, and rebirth of Sega. ·And much more! In this rollicking, mammoth history of video games from pinball to Pong to Playstation II Kent, a technology journalist and self-professed video game addict, covers almost every conceivable aspect of the industry, from the technological leaps that made the games possible to the corporate power struggles that won (and lost) billions of dollars. Also addressed is the public backlash of the '80s, when video games were thought to distract students from homework, and the '90s, when Doom and other violent games were linked to the massacre at Columbine High School.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I am actually taking a class at the university about the history of video games."
"The early history, though, is solid and quite intriguing, a great book for history buffs and trivia fans of all persuasions."
"This book is hands-down one of the best ever written on the history of videogames."
"This is the only book I've read that covers video games history and my first and only gaming console was original Game Boy so I had poor knowledge in how video games industry started and progressed before reading this book."
"A fantastic tale of the beginnings of an industry that was viewed at times as a form of gambling, a pointless enterprise, and today a rival to cinema."
"Kent's book reads like more than a chronology of events. While the book ended back in the early 2000s, it hasn't aged at all. Lots of factoids about release dates and sales figures, but fewer of the compelling and entertaining tales and characters that the first part of the book offered."
"Great synthetized history of videogames.. too much atari at first and it fast forward soon to the rest of the golden ages of gaming!"
"If you grew up with video games--ESPECIALLY if you're a child of the 80's who was too young to properly appreciate the movements in the industry in the 8-bit and 16-bit days--this book is a must-read."
Best Computer & Internet Game Strategy Guides
COLLECTOR’S EDITION BONUS: Premium hardcover,extra-large map poster and dedicated 16-page art section. AT-A-GLANCE WALKTHROUGHS: Annotated maps and screenshots show you the way through every quest and dungeon.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This is an excellent buy."
"As beautifully illustrated as the Adventure Game it follows, this walk-thru has everything you need to know to enjoy new levels of RPG gaming."
"My only gripe is the font and print is so small it isn't always what I reach for to find things about the game sadly."
"I would highly recommend buying sticky tabs to mark numerous locations in the book (you WILL need them)."
"Delivered with slightly bent corners from shipping, so if someone is looking for pristine PRISTINE condition I'd recommend buying from a store, but honestly it's not too noticeable for someone who will be using the guide a lot."
"The quality is excellent and what I would expect from a Collector's Edition guide."
"Beautiful and helpful!"
Best 15-Minute Humor & Entertainment Short Reads
DASH as fast as you can! DODGE the oncoming trains!
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Its good but when you download it , it has you do a lot of things so you can download it if you play subway suffers."
"Great book for my kids we love to play and read it together before bed time each night."
"there's a lot of things to do in this game ."
"First of all, this is misleading: I know this is a guide, but that picture implies this is the game..."
"I wasted 3 dollrs on this book you probably wrote in 10 minutes."
"It was lame because it's only one page. I didn't like it because it wasn't that useful."
"never bought it but it kept popping up and somehow got purchased."
"This is pages long this is not book it has no cheats or hints sorry but this get 1 star I would like to get none."
Best Computer & Technology Certification Guides
Practice exams download for both exam 901 and 902 with hundreds of accurate practice exam questions More than an hour of online video training featuring Mike Meyers Online performance-based simulations that prepare you for the performance-based exam questions A link to Mike's favorite PC tools A PDF copy of the book. He is author of Mike Meyers’ A+ Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs and Mike Meyers’ Network+ Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting Networks .
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"My method of study i chose to read this textbook cover to cover, taking all practice tests at the end of each chapter, along with the included practice exams on the disc. In addition to this text i went further to find online practice exams and Professor Messer videos on Youtube as free self studying material. The book covered the objectives and even went beyond which is why this makes a great on-the-job reference."
"First off, let me say this, the author of this book is very informed on IT."
"Most importantly, I was looking for a book that could not only keep me engaged yet also provide the necessary educational materials. Presently I'm over a hundred or so pages in (the book is Bible thick) and have purposely slowed myself down at times to ensure lesson absorption but honestly could read this book like it was a spellbinding work of fanciful fiction. It really helps to have an actual, honest interest in the subject matter and there are times where you'll want access to several different operating systems."
"Just started, but it has been an easy to follow book so far."
"Nice book for those people who like to learn as they go."
"Must have to get certified."
"I found the CD to be the best part of the book, and definitely recommend not getting a version of this book without it."
"I know a lot about computers and learned a bit to go and write the A+, but it's very good I bought this books, learnt so many additional stuff, not even for the exams but for myself m. Thank you Meyers💪🔥."
Best Computer History & Culture
The second edition includes: A broad introduction to bitcoin--ideal for non-technical users, investors, and business executives An explanation of the technical foundations of bitcoin and cryptographic currencies for developers, engineers, and software and systems architects Details of the bitcoin decentralized network, peer-to-peer architecture, transaction lifecycle, and security principles New developments such as Segregated Witness, Payment Channels, and Lightning Network Improved explanations of keys, addresses and wallets User stories, analogies, examples, and code snippets illustrating key technical concepts. With experience ranging from hardware and electronics to high level business and financial systems technology consulting and years as CTO/CIO/CSO in many companies — he combines authority and deep knowledge with an ability to make complex subjects easy to understand. His expertise includes Bitcoin, crypto-currencies, Information Security, Cryptography, Cloud Computing, Data Centers, Linux, Open Source and robotics software development.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Deep complex book for programmers."
"This is an outstanding introduction to the technology behind Bitcoin and cryptocurrency."
"Good technical introduction to bitcoin."
"Fantastic book if you want to learn what Bitcoin is and how it works."
"detailed, comprehensive, and masterful."
"great book very technical."
"He also tackles ways one might lose their bitcoins, and the ideas that are quite different from the centralized payment systems and banks we've become familiar with: one of these being the transference back to the asset owner of the responsibility for security--with suggestions as to how to go about securing them, even providing ways of leaving them to the family even in the event of death of the owner."
"One of the best technical books about blockchain technology I have ever come across."
Best Computer Software
These texts cover the design of object-oriented software and examine how to investigate requirements, create solutions and then translate designs into code, showing developers how to make practical use of the most significant recent developments. Design Patterns is a modern classic in the literature of object-oriented development, offering timeless and elegant solutions to common problems in software design.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Should be required reading for graduation - but I found this to be much more relatable a few years into my career where I had seen these patterns out in the wild having used or written them without terminology to match."
"Depending on on how you think of programming, this book could be incredibly insightful, or horribly abstract and impractical."
"I have been using this book as a reference on Design Pattern."
"This book will forever stand as a foundation of software development."
"OK, so this title has become almost a bible for the software industry - it seems to get cited by every other author I read, so I thought it was about time I actually bought a copy."
"Even though I program in ABAP, it helps me to translate the pattern into that code."
"Great book for who want to understand each pattern deeply."
"Excelent book."
Best Computer Hardware & DIY
In Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words, things are explained in the style of Up Goer Five, using only drawings and a vocabulary of the 1,000 (or "ten hundred") most common words.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"In doing so, it makes you consider when and why it's actually important to use a special name for some things, and think harder about what your words are really telling people. But I sometimes ask my students to try explaining complicated stuff using only simple words, because when you do that, you find out whether you really understand it. So, this book shows us a way to pay special attention to how our own thinking bag works."
"...because the details of the diagrams do not translate well to the smaller Kindle."
"The thing about this book is that it only uses the ten hundred most used words by people to tell you about things that are hard to understand."
"Thing Explainer writes without expectation of understanding, prior knowledge of language, or any prior knowledge; it is one of the closest things to a window into someones thoughts. I hope to clarify for many potential buyers that saw the early "Up Goes Five": this book is more focused on explaining things in paragraphs rather than the pure labelling style of that early prototype. This book is great for me and my family to make connections between what we already know and the book, but I believe it will also be great for kids to easily learn new things, and get a grasp of complex ideas. A Thought: I'd love to see this style of writing carried across to genres beyond science, because I think it has the potential to make generally interesting yet charm-less writing far more fun; history books, biopics, even short stories."
"Intelligent and quirky, this book is everything you want for a conversation starter or actually to explain something technical in an amusing way."
"Pretty funny, pretty cool, but also written in such simple language that at times it's actually harder to read than you'd think!"
"Complicated concepts explained only using the 1,000 most commonly used words in the American English language."
Best Computer Science
And as such, I know what it's like to be asked to whip up brilliant algorithms on the spot and then write flawless code on a whiteboard. Learn how to uncover the hints and hidden details in a question, discover how to break down a problem into manageable chunks, develop techniques to unstick yourself when stuck, learn (or re-learn) core computer science concepts, and practice on 189 interview questions and solutions. Extensive coverage of essential topics, such as big O time, data structures, and core algorithms. At Google, she interviewed hundreds of software engineers and evaluated thousands of hiring packets on the hiring committee.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The DP solutions in this book are not actually tabular DP formulations--I recommend looking at the problems here http://people.cs.clemson.edu/~bcdean/dp_practice/ (Brian Dean's Dynamic Programming Practice Problems)."
"I got several offers and without doubt this book helped. The specific coding questions that I would have failed outright on had I not read the book include: breadth first search/shortest path, fundamentals of hash tables, and recursion (fibonacci)."
"Like this book, the material very well structured, with real life examples."
"Good paper quality, great questions organized into exercises covering most important basics like Data structures, programming languages, problem approach etc."
"The afternoon before I interviewed with Amazon for a scientist role, the HR said you should prepare for data structure and algorithm."
"I did many other things to prepare besides using this book, but I nailed my interviews and got a great offer so I can't complain!"
"I've been writing software for a long time, and I'm competent at my job. Because the presence of books like these create a vicious cycle: prep book gets written; interviewees study/memorize answers; interviewers make questions "harder" to compensate; new book gets written! The grinder continues to turn, and whereas ten years ago you could get a good job with some string or linked-list manipulation questions, now you've got people who consider whiteboard coding of topcoder elite questions to be the baseline measurement of programmer competency. You'll even run into lazy interviewers who take questions directly from this book, which is the ultimate in stupidity: if "good" candidates have prepared from the book, and you ask questions directly from the book, what are you really accomplishing, other than a test of memorization skills? I've seen it myself."
Best Computer Graphics & Design
If you’ve read it before, you’ll rediscover what made Don’t Make Me Think so essential to Web designers and developers around the world. Steve Krug (pronounced "kroog") is best known as the author of Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability , now in its second edition with over 350,000 copies in print.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"As the subtitle, "A Common Sense Approach", and Krug's consultancy's name, "Advanced Common Sense" ([...]) convey, many great design considerations today involve some simple approaches to dramatically improve your web user experiences."
"This should be required reading by ALL marketing execs, ALL web designers and developers, ALL graphic designers, ALL product designers and inventors, and ALL copywriters."
"Krug breaks the issues of usable web design into simple, digestible form for anyone who depends on a website for promotion or income."
"That fact makes this book a good read for anybody who is involved in any aspect of a websites operation, Web Developer, Marketing, Sales and Management (from mid level to upper level)."
"Many of the ideas and resources in the book have been incredibly valuable to me in my work, and it's almost always the first book I recommend to anyone asking questions about User Experience related topics."
"Unlike a boring text book, Krug makes the book really fun with helpful (yet obvious) examples that bring some concepts to life."
"This book was on the "suggested" reading lists for an interface design class that I took in college."
"But how is though to follow common sense when building a website! I use it on my daily work, to guide my business partners in the construction of the websites for my B2B Clients, and after reading it, is quirte amazing how you can immediatelly spot in the web the websites that follow its principles and those that don't."
Best Computer Programming
And as such, I know what it's like to be asked to whip up brilliant algorithms on the spot and then write flawless code on a whiteboard. Learn how to uncover the hints and hidden details in a question, discover how to break down a problem into manageable chunks, develop techniques to unstick yourself when stuck, learn (or re-learn) core computer science concepts, and practice on 189 interview questions and solutions. Extensive coverage of essential topics, such as big O time, data structures, and core algorithms. At Google, she interviewed hundreds of software engineers and evaluated thousands of hiring packets on the hiring committee.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The DP solutions in this book are not actually tabular DP formulations--I recommend looking at the problems here http://people.cs.clemson.edu/~bcdean/dp_practice/ (Brian Dean's Dynamic Programming Practice Problems)."
"The main reason I bought the book is that it closely reflects the status quo of the technical interviews in large tech companies. For many of the problems, unless you know the solutions beforehand, there is no way you can code up a decent one within an hour. The book mentions an example, a good candidate whom the author knows very well but just cannot pass the coding interviews. I am guessing the assumption is that the coding problems we do nowadays on the interviews somehow achieve minimal number of false positives. One solution reduces the problem to checking for substrings. The author claims the time complexity is O(m+n), which I believe for Java is actually O(mn). Overall this is good book for preparing for coding interviews."
"I've been writing software for a long time, and I'm competent at my job. Because the presence of books like these create a vicious cycle: prep book gets written; interviewees study/memorize answers; interviewers make questions "harder" to compensate; new book gets written! The grinder continues to turn, and whereas ten years ago you could get a good job with some string or linked-list manipulation questions, now you've got people who consider whiteboard coding of topcoder elite questions to be the baseline measurement of programmer competency. You'll even run into lazy interviewers who take questions directly from this book, which is the ultimate in stupidity: if "good" candidates have prepared from the book, and you ask questions directly from the book, what are you really accomplishing, other than a test of memorization skills? I've seen it myself."
Best Computer Security & Encryption
And as such, I know what it's like to be asked to whip up brilliant algorithms on the spot and then write flawless code on a whiteboard. Learn how to uncover the hints and hidden details in a question, discover how to break down a problem into manageable chunks, develop techniques to unstick yourself when stuck, learn (or re-learn) core computer science concepts, and practice on 189 interview questions and solutions. Extensive coverage of essential topics, such as big O time, data structures, and core algorithms. At Google, she interviewed hundreds of software engineers and evaluated thousands of hiring packets on the hiring committee.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The DP solutions in this book are not actually tabular DP formulations--I recommend looking at the problems here http://people.cs.clemson.edu/~bcdean/dp_practice/ (Brian Dean's Dynamic Programming Practice Problems)."
"The main reason I bought the book is that it closely reflects the status quo of the technical interviews in large tech companies. For many of the problems, unless you know the solutions beforehand, there is no way you can code up a decent one within an hour. The book mentions an example, a good candidate whom the author knows very well but just cannot pass the coding interviews. I am guessing the assumption is that the coding problems we do nowadays on the interviews somehow achieve minimal number of false positives. One solution reduces the problem to checking for substrings. The author claims the time complexity is O(m+n), which I believe for Java is actually O(mn). Overall this is good book for preparing for coding interviews."
"I've been writing software for a long time, and I'm competent at my job. Because the presence of books like these create a vicious cycle: prep book gets written; interviewees study/memorize answers; interviewers make questions "harder" to compensate; new book gets written! The grinder continues to turn, and whereas ten years ago you could get a good job with some string or linked-list manipulation questions, now you've got people who consider whiteboard coding of topcoder elite questions to be the baseline measurement of programmer competency. You'll even run into lazy interviewers who take questions directly from this book, which is the ultimate in stupidity: if "good" candidates have prepared from the book, and you ask questions directly from the book, what are you really accomplishing, other than a test of memorization skills? I've seen it myself."
Best Mobile & Wireless Computing
Practice exams download for both exam 901 and 902 with hundreds of accurate practice exam questions More than an hour of online video training featuring Mike Meyers Online performance-based simulations that prepare you for the performance-based exam questions A link to Mike's favorite PC tools A PDF copy of the book. He is author of Mike Meyers’ A+ Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs and Mike Meyers’ Network+ Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting Networks .
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"My method of study i chose to read this textbook cover to cover, taking all practice tests at the end of each chapter, along with the included practice exams on the disc. In addition to this text i went further to find online practice exams and Professor Messer videos on Youtube as free self studying material. The book covered the objectives and even went beyond which is why this makes a great on-the-job reference."
"Most importantly, I was looking for a book that could not only keep me engaged yet also provide the necessary educational materials. Presently I'm over a hundred or so pages in (the book is Bible thick) and have purposely slowed myself down at times to ensure lesson absorption but honestly could read this book like it was a spellbinding work of fanciful fiction. It really helps to have an actual, honest interest in the subject matter and there are times where you'll want access to several different operating systems."
"the author does not drift off to complicated things when starting to learn the basics."
"While this was required material for my IT class, the writing is easy to follow and the information is clear."
"Pros: Packed with so much knowledge that I think Mike Meyers may be Thoth."
"Very informative, most chapters are easy enough to read, a little too heavy on the jokes some times, but I suppose I'd rather that than it being dry."
"It is packed with everything I need to know for passing the CompTIA A+ exam, and as a matter fact I almost gave it four stars because it is so packed it is too heavy to hold up when I’m laying down reading it!"
"Great book when it comes to questions in each."
Best Digital Audio, Video & Photography
Stunning Digital Photography is much more than a book; it's a hands-on, self-paced photography class with over 12 hours of online training videos and free help from the author and other readers. In this book, beginner photographers will master: * Using composition to take great photos with any camera. * Adjusting exposure to control the brightness of your photos. * Setting your shutter speed to freeze action or blur motion. * Controlling your aperture to blur or focus the background. * Setting your ISO for bright and dark environments. * Finding beautiful natural light for landscapes and portraits. * Using flash without the ugly effects. * Troubleshooting blurry, dark, and bad pictures. * Taking great pictures of pets * Wildlife photography (mammals, birds, insects, fish, and more). * Taking pictures at night, including fireworks, stars, and meteors. * Photographing sunrises, sunsets, landscapes, cityscapes, flowers, forests, waterfalls, rivers, fireworks, and more. Advanced photographers can skip forward to learn the pro's secrets for: * Posing men and women, with checklists. * Taking candid, casual, formal, and underwater portraits. * Using RAW files. * Using HDR to overcome lighting challenges or create art. * Macro/close-up photography. * Using diffusers, reflectors, and other light modifiers. * Remotely triggering multiple flashes for inexpensive studio lighting. * Building a permanent studio in your home. * Using studio lighting on any budget. * Shooting your first wedding. * High speed photography. * Location scouting/finding the best spots and times. * Planning shoots around the sun and moon. * Creating star trails using two techniques: long exposure and image stacking. * Light painting. * Eliminating noise. * Focus stacking for infinite depth-of-field. * Underwater photography. * Getting close to wildlife. * Using electronic shutter triggers. Tony studied photography at the New England School of Photography and the Massachusetts College of Art and Design.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"What I love about it is that when you buy the book you get access to community forum and the Facebook page which is very nice, It has loads of useful information to improve your photography, I would highly recommend the book to anyone starting out in photography, very very useful."
"I have recently purchased a Nikon 3100 and bought the corresponding "dummies" book, which about matches my photography expertise. The embedded links and videos, as well as the ability to grab the sample photos and enlarge for detailed study (need an Internet connection for the latter two items) is invaluable to rank photography newbs like me. The videos are stuck in the appropriate place in the book, which leads to excellent learning flow as you build on the lessons. This is a refreshing change to the "quick scan, make a buck and forget" mentality that the big publishers follow. Tony has evidently not subscribed to the overpriced ebook mentality that has been the source of thousands of complaints on Amazon."
"I've learned a lot through the Stunning Digital Photography Facebook page, as well as Chelsea and Tony's live show, podcasts, and Youtube videos."
"I do know that it is is not just the "mechanics" that one can learn from a book that makes better photographs, but I think the concepts that have been outlined are extremely valuable to keep in ones repertoire and will make anyone a better photographer (maybe incrementally!)."
Best Networking & Cloud Computing
Now you can keep important website addresses, usernames, and passwords in one convenient place!
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Book #1 is the red one I personally own and love, (this one is not currently available here but for comparisons, this is it) The Personal Internet Address & Password Logbook - Red If you want to read my review with photos, you can do so here, http://www.amazon.com/review/R35K16WUNGUFH6/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=1441308148. Book #2 is similar to my own and is currently available here, The Personal Internet Address & Password Log Book (Like mine, it has cut out tabs in the pages, two letters per tab.). Book #3 is the smaller but thicker, spiral bound, white book, BookFactory® Password Journal / Password Diary / Mini Pocket Passwords Notebook, 120 Pages - 3 1/2" x 5 1/4", Durable Thick Translucent Cover, High Quality Wire-O Binding (JOU-120-MCW-A-(Password)) (This one is handy if you want the ability to hold it in one hand while writing on either side. Book #4 is the larger book with a bright geometric cover, Password Journal: Password Keeper / Music Gifts ( Internet Address Logbook / Diary / Notebook ) (Password Journals - Music (Carnvial)) (This one has noticeably lighter ink inside but definitely stands out on a bookshelf.). Book #5 is the larger black book with butterflies on it, Password Log: (An Internet Address and Password Journal) (I like that the ink is printed nice and dark so I gifted this one to my mom since her eyesight is not what it used to be.)."
"Our banks are always sending us notices to change our passwords every 3 months if not they lock you out."
"Gave this to my father as a stocking stuffer since he always asks me what his passwords are (why would I know?)."
"I like this - however, a person needs to remember to write down the passwords, addresses for log-in."
"I love how there are multiple slots per letter, it makes it easy for updates. Definitely a good book to have and makes me feel more secure than storing everything on my phone."
"I bought this Black Logbook as a copy for my safe deposit box."
"The inside the book is fine, but there is a huge sticker on the back of the book that states: "Warning----To avoid danger of suffocation, keep away from babies and children."
"Having a notebook where all the login information can be alphabetically organized for easy access was wonderful. Not the kind of binding you would expect in a reasonable well bound notebook. I am not sure if the paper in this book will withstand frequent erasures and re-writes without showing eraser marks or getting faded. It has a spiral bound inside (visible in the last picture) that is not very smooth. If you desire a quality notebook, you will be disappointed after mild usage, if not on first sight."
Best Internet & Social Media
You will see the powerful and deceptive methods of manipulation that affect us all, as numerous organizations and political activists cunningly plot to have their stories seen, heard, and believed by as many people as possible. The depths of lies, distortions, and omissions from traditional mainstream media will shock you; and now they’re colluding with the top tech companies trying to maintain their information monopolies. Mark's YouTube channel has over 1 million subscribers and more than 400 million views, and his viral videos have been mentioned on the Fox News Channel, CNN, the Drudge Report, TMZ, the New York Daily News , the Washington Times , and other media outlets around the world.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I believe a person that is not ready to be awakened may experience severe soul pain and Mark forgot to put "Trigger warning" on the cover but still I believe for awakened people this is going to be great laugh and joy to read pages and see how death of media complex is unravelling and humanity awakening while people that still caught in nets of news manipulators may feel really bad but after few weeks I believe healing effects of truth will be refreshing."
"The book mentions how our leftists media is trying to persuade us to accept insanity like there being more than 2 genders, and how the media is pushing fake hate crimes committed by leftists in attempt to frame Trump supporters as Nazis,white Supremacists,KKK members, and racist."
"A lot of people don't know history and how much the media has been involved with the CIA and FBI and the rest of our federal gov't to create stories, manipulate events, etc."
"The news media has become so untrustworthy, the majority of sane Americans have seen this before even reading Marks book!"
"Great book and well written!!!!"
"Excellent book; this will not disappoint."
"A must read."
"Awesome work once again by Mark Dice as he exposes the nature of propaganda - otherwise known as the mainstream news in America."
Best Operating Systems
Practice exams download for both exam 901 and 902 with hundreds of accurate practice exam questions More than an hour of online video training featuring Mike Meyers Online performance-based simulations that prepare you for the performance-based exam questions A link to Mike's favorite PC tools A PDF copy of the book. He is author of Mike Meyers’ A+ Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs and Mike Meyers’ Network+ Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting Networks .
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"My method of study i chose to read this textbook cover to cover, taking all practice tests at the end of each chapter, along with the included practice exams on the disc. In addition to this text i went further to find online practice exams and Professor Messer videos on Youtube as free self studying material. The book covered the objectives and even went beyond which is why this makes a great on-the-job reference."
"First off, let me say this, the author of this book is very informed on IT."
"Most importantly, I was looking for a book that could not only keep me engaged yet also provide the necessary educational materials. Presently I'm over a hundred or so pages in (the book is Bible thick) and have purposely slowed myself down at times to ensure lesson absorption but honestly could read this book like it was a spellbinding work of fanciful fiction. It really helps to have an actual, honest interest in the subject matter and there are times where you'll want access to several different operating systems."
"Just started, but it has been an easy to follow book so far."
"Nice book for those people who like to learn as they go."
"Must have to get certified."
"I found the CD to be the best part of the book, and definitely recommend not getting a version of this book without it."
"I know a lot about computers and learned a bit to go and write the A+, but it's very good I bought this books, learnt so many additional stuff, not even for the exams but for myself m. Thank you Meyers💪🔥."
Best Databases & Big Data
If you’ve read it before, you’ll rediscover what made Don’t Make Me Think so essential to Web designers and developers around the world. Steve Krug (pronounced "kroog") is best known as the author of Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability , now in its second edition with over 350,000 copies in print.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"As the subtitle, "A Common Sense Approach", and Krug's consultancy's name, "Advanced Common Sense" ([...]) convey, many great design considerations today involve some simple approaches to dramatically improve your web user experiences."
"This should be required reading by ALL marketing execs, ALL web designers and developers, ALL graphic designers, ALL product designers and inventors, and ALL copywriters."
"Krug breaks the issues of usable web design into simple, digestible form for anyone who depends on a website for promotion or income."
"That fact makes this book a good read for anybody who is involved in any aspect of a websites operation, Web Developer, Marketing, Sales and Management (from mid level to upper level)."
"Many of the ideas and resources in the book have been incredibly valuable to me in my work, and it's almost always the first book I recommend to anyone asking questions about User Experience related topics."
"Unlike a boring text book, Krug makes the book really fun with helpful (yet obvious) examples that bring some concepts to life."
"This book was on the "suggested" reading lists for an interface design class that I took in college."
"But how is though to follow common sense when building a website! I use it on my daily work, to guide my business partners in the construction of the websites for my B2B Clients, and after reading it, is quirte amazing how you can immediatelly spot in the web the websites that follow its principles and those that don't."
Best Web Development & Design
As you work through Python Crash Course you’ll learn how to: –Use powerful Python libraries and tools, including matplotlib, NumPy, and Pygal. –Make 2D games that respond to keypresses and mouse clicks, and that grow more difficult as the game progresses. –Work with data to generate interactive visualizations. –Create and customize Web apps and deploy them safely online. –Deal with mistakes and errors so you can solve your own programming problems. Eric Matthes is a high school science and math teacher living in Alaska where he teaches Introduction to Python.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I purchased this book with a book on Machine Learning in Python as well."
"but not with this book. Like i said, I started this book AFTER going through all those other materials so I'm not sure how it would fair with someone who is starting at absolute zero, but my honest opinion is that if i had started here and moved on i would have perhaps been a bit further at this point."
"This book is a must have for Python Learning."
"This book is one of the clearest, most concise books I've ever read on a technical subject."
"I am about half way through this book."
"Well this is a very good book for beginner may or may not have previous programming experience."
"learned a lot."
"Great start into python; this will give you the foundation."
Best Business Technology
In studying the leaders who've had the greatest influence in the world, Simon Sinek discovered that they all think, act, and communicate in the exact same way-and it's the complete opposite of what everyone else does.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"It reads a little bit like he took articles from his blog, stuck them in a large word-processing document, did some minor editing, and submitted the thing as-is for publication in order to create this book. As far as I can tell, if you're reasonably intelligent you can glean pretty much everything essential to Sinek's idea based on his TED Talk together with this understanding that "HOW" means something different in each of the two contexts he contrasts. What you WON'T get from that is his rather in-depth, incredibly clear exposé of why the "WHAT --> HOW" communication pattern requires manipulating people to some degree or another and why that is by necessity unsustainable in the long run. So in short, the book is a reasonable buy, certainly at the Kindle price, but do consider benefitting from Sinek's wisdom for free in 20 minutes first by watching his TED Talk."
"This book has inspired many thoughts as I read it, but it has helped me to truly put into perspective the age-old advice to follow your passion."
"The author was trying so hard to make a many-page book out of the message and it was excruciating to go through this repetition.. Save your money and (most importantly) your time and just watch the TED talk on YT.."
"As he drags out the book to whatever number of words he needed to fulfill book contract, he re/illustrates his thesis with different examples. This book should have been a column in a weekend newspaper, or, at best, a chapter in another book about leadership."
"This book was awful."
"I bought this book upon the recommendation of a friend, hoping to find tips or checklists or questionnaires on how to redefine my WHY, but I found nothing to help define (or re-define) WHY. The book is full of meaningless stories you have most likely heard or read (about the turn around of Continental and the fun stuff about Southwest Airlines, Apple Computers, etc)."