Koncocoo

Best Desktop Publishing

Marijuana Grower's Handbook: Your Complete Guide for Medical and Personal Marijuana Cultivation
With 500 pages of full color photos and illustrations, the book delivers all the basics that a novice grower needs, as well as scientific research for the experienced gardener. All aspects of cultivation are covered, from the selection of varieties, setting up of the garden, and through each stage of plant growth all the way to harvesting. Ed Rosenthal has been teaching for more than 30 years.
Reviews
"This book is like a 100 or 200 level college course book."
"Even if you dont grow, This book is an interesting read... lots of pictures with good information on several aspects of this fascinating subject."
"The overall theory was very informative, but for the beginner, like myself, would have liked to have more day to day care, especially related to hydroponic management."
"I recommend other books for specifics breeders and growers bible, lets grow a pound, and some others for specific topics, but this one is definently jam packed with info on all aspects."
"A very necessary addition to furthering knowledge."
"Ed’s got it all covered, from first seed all the way to enjoying your finished product...and everything in between!"
"Just started reading the book but it seems to have all the information needed to grow your own healthy plants."
Find Best Price at Amazon
Logo Design Love: A Guide to Creating Iconic Brand Identities, 2nd Edition
Best practices for extending a logo into a complete brand identity system Why one logo is more effective than another How to create your own iconic designs What sets some designers above the rest 31 practical design tips for creating logos that last. Written in a reader-friendly, concise language, with a minimum of designer jargon, Airey gives a surprisingly clear explanation of the process, using a wide assortment of real-life examples to support his points.
Reviews
"I found the parts on pricing and the process more useful than the "how to design a logo" part."
"If you design logos or ever plan to, this book is for you."
"This is a great source of reference material."
"It covers a lot of ground, starting at basic visual thinking revolving around logo exposure to business protocol to self worth as a designer."
"The book guides the reader through what is required to create an iconic brand identity - i.e. it should be memorable, timeless, simple and relevant."
"Wonderful book condition, great advices and information about brand identity, logos, and so much more!"
"Book in great condition, fast shipping."
"It's perfect for the designers who are getting into the business world and it could be useful for experienced designers too like me, because you never stop learning, and I found some good tips there and reaffirmations of what I do."
Find Best Price at Amazon
Thinking with Type, 2nd revised and expanded edition: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students
This revised edition includes forty-eight pages of new content, including the latest information on style sheets for print and the web, the use of ornaments and captions, lining and non-lining numerals, the use of small caps and enlarged capitals, as well as information on captions, font licensing, mixing typefaces, and hand lettering.
Reviews
"4/5, only because a lot of what is in this book can be found in other design books that provide general overviews of this discipline."
"This is absolutely the most informative and engaging book on design I have ever read."
"This is a great reference."
"The book itself is very well designed and helpful for my Typography class that I am taking this semester."
"Fantastic book, one of the most fundamental and underrated introductions to working with type and applied to the screen and beyond as well as the printed page."
"Bought this book brand new and it arrived with an inch long tear on the front cover."
"If you really like designing this is the book for you!"
"I was in a hurry to read a book that connected design work with typography that I overlooked many previous reviews posted for this book."
Find Best Price at Amazon

Best Adobe InDesign Guides

Adobe InDesign CS6 Classroom in a Book
This completely revised CS6 edition covers the new tools for adding PDF form fields, linking content, and creating alternative layouts for digital publishing. Everything you need to master the software is included: clear explanations of each lesson, step-by-step instructions, and the project files for the students.” –Barbara Binder, Adobe Certified Instructor, Rocky Mountain Training. The Adobe Creative Team of designers, writers, and editors has extensive, real world knowledge of Adobe products.
Reviews
"What I don't like about the Classroom in the Book series these days (I have been using Adobe software for over two decades and buy a CIB book every few upgrades when things change drastically) is that they don't treat you like a beginner. I have looked at many other software books over the years and find the Classroom in a Book series to still be the best."
"Great Buy... Will order this item again."
"You can 'work' on the starting point and follow along and perform each task in a particular chapter."
"I have had numerous times when "the stupid instruction didn't work" or "didn't make sense" to me... obviously those instances were just my failure to read carefully or to understand what they were trying to get me to do."
"The course was using the Adobe Indesign CS5 book but, the material covered in the course online was actually Adobe Indesign CS6."
"Definitely be sure you get the CD of lessons included with your copy."
"At first I found the approach taken by the authors very pedantic and slow but things improved with time as I became used to the book and the programme."
Find Best Price at Amazon

Best Computer Graphic Design

Don't Make Me Think, Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability (Voices That Matter)
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
"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."
Find Best Price at Amazon

Best Branding & Logo Design

Logo Modernism (English, French and German Edition)
In soaring glass structures or minimalist canvases, we recognize a time of vast technological advance which affirmed the power of human beings to reshape their environment and to break, radically, from the conventions or constraints of the past. Eight designer profiles and eight instructive case studies are also included, with a detailed look at the life and work of such luminaries as Paul Rand, Yusaku Kamekura, and Anton Stankowski , and at such significant projects as Fiat, The Daiei Inc., and the Mexico Olympic Games of 1968 . Jens Müller was born in Koblenz, Germany in 1982 and studied graphic design in Düsseldorf.
Reviews
"Beautiful book."
"This is the mother of all logo design books."
"Great book - a gift for my artist daughter, and she loves it."
"For trendy flashy alternatives go for the taschen Logo books ( three so far)."
"Very very good book!"
"Lots of info, and do dads."
"it's just a great book !"
Find Best Price at Amazon

Best Graphic Arts

Show Your Work!: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered
In chapters such as You Don’t Have to Be a Genius ; Share Something Small Every Day ; and Stick Around , Kleon creates a user’s manual for embracing the communal nature of creativity— what he calls the “ecology of talent.” From broader life lessons about work (you can’t find your voice if you don’t use it) to the etiquette of sharing—and the dangers of oversharing—to the practicalities of Internet life (build a good domain name; give credit when credit is due), it’s an inspiring manifesto for succeeding as any kind of artist or entrepreneur in the digital age. His 10-step journey in this beginner’s guide to self-promotion emphasizes audience building and explains the how and why of such approaches as thinking about process rather than product, sharing something each day, teaching what you know, learning to take a punch, and developing staying power. Kleon’s use of artists’ quotes, photographs, and organizational diagrams enhances the text as he reminds readers of how interested people are in the creative process. --Whitney Scott "[Show Your Work is] timeless; readers can return to it repeatedly throughout life and still glean useful ideas and tips... In this creatively designed pocket-sized book, Kleon offers the latter group effective strategies that allow them to share their work without leaving their comfort zone . Fast Company Kleon addresses with equal parts humility, honesty, and humor one of the quintessential questions of the creative life: How do you get discovered ? In some ways, the book is the mirror-image of Kleon s debut rather than encouraging you to steal from others it offers a blueprint to making your work influential enough to be theft-worthy.
Reviews
"Here is some of the advice you'll receive: - Put your work out there, share it with others regularly. - Meet up with people in real life, not just on the Internet. - Don't be afraid to make money off your creative work. - Keep going. - Maintain an e-mail list. - Give proper credit when you refer to other people's work. I won't spoil the rest--if you do read the book, you'll see that I'm not simplifying anything in that list. I will probably still buy his next book, but I hope I won't have to return it like this one."
"Full of logic and wisdom: not much we don't already instinctively "know" but the information organized in a fun, easy to understand way which makes us think about how we manage our creativity and our lives."
"The reasons for this are many: you gain followers, you build a portfolio of sorts, you find like-minded artists, and you establish a presence. Even if you aren’t planning on becoming a writer, there is enough good advice in here to help any sort of career — musicians, content creators, photographers, journalists, all, I believe, will find something helpful in these pages."
"Austin is exploring the issue of showing your work through internet, and particularly social media. Some examples to the uniqueness of the book: It’s giving good advice about the need to compromise between perfectionism and neglecting quality or over-sharing. Mostly, I don’t think this chapter belongs in this book, because mostly it’s not about “SHOW your work” but about DO your work. It gives fantastic advice, but I think it belongs in a separate book."
"The book is artistic in every way, has the friendly and easy style of passing a load of information lightly, and has the humour that brings a smile on your face!"
Find Best Price at Amazon

Best Office Management

The 4-Hour Work Week: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich
This new updated and expanded edition includes: More than 50 practical tips and case studies from readers (including families) who have doubled their income, overcome common sticking points, and reinvented themselves using the original book as a starting point * Real-world templates you can copy for eliminating email, negotiating with bosses and clients, or getting a private chef for less than GBP5 a meal * How lifestyle design principles can be suited to unpredictable economic times * The latest tools and tricks, as well as high-tech shortcuts, for living like a diplomat or millionaire without being either. His podcast, The Tim Ferriss Show, was one of iTunes's "Best of 2015," typically among the top 30 out of more than 300,000 podcasts.
Reviews
"Don't get me wrong, Ferriss makes some excellent points and he's got some really great tips and tricks in here, I'm just not sure how universal they really are. I thought he was just talking about ways to spend less time working, but that "The 4-Hour" just sounded good (since he now has a whole line of books with titles that start that way). I never did understand the point of retirement, so Ferriss's plan sounds much more appealing to me. Granted, that would make my job a whole lot more portable, but I could never get away with only working four hours per week (at least not until after I sell that bestselling novel, which is such a realistic plan!). I, too, thought I could get another job within a few months, but that did not turn out to be the case. So, if I go spend all my money on a mini-retirement now, and then come back only to find that I can't get a job for another year, I'll be screwed. I love them, but they have enough to deal with right now, and the last thing I want to do is burden the people around me because I decided to go globe-trotting for a few months."
"I was a fan of Tim Ferris before I read this book so my opinion may be a little biased."
"Got me thinking in ways that I wasn't thinking before."
"It's opened my mind to what's possible, and has actionable items to make things happen."
"I've known about this book since its release but have delayed reading for fear of "drinking the Koolaid", falling prey to the wiles of wishful thinking, unintentionally joining a cult, etc."
"Tim ferris shares great ideas that anyone can grab ahold of."
"Seriously, he begins by admitting he first made his fortune selling (allegedly) nutritional supplements that cost almost nothing to make and weren't based on science, but were then hyped to the point the uninformed public was paying through the nose to get it. This gave him ideas on how to further hype his message to an even larger audience, without bothering to sell anything tangible. He then gives advice about "paraphrasing and combining points from several books," borrowing from the public domain, and/or compensating some other "expert." Apparently, not knowing a damn thing is a virtue he calls "Cultivating Selective Ignorance." If having an educated and well-informed populace is fundamental to having a flourishing democracy, this is how we'll end up with a plutocracy where the stupidest few prey on the desperate and stupid masses, while outsourcing all the jobs they might create. Outsource everything -- including your brain -- to a 3rd World Country: He hires virtual assistants in various 3rd World Countries, especially India, who are then given fabulous access to all of his personal information to the point they can pretend to be him and make all of his personal and business decisions. Hey, what could possibly go wrong by hiring complete strangers and giving them all information about you in order to think for you, do your work and run your errands? Just tell him you're too busy and further kill morale by then asking those other suckers - aka, co-workers - for a quick breakdown of what happened."
"Several chapters in, Ferriss recommends that you not be hesitant to walk out of a bad movie or to put down a book you are not enjoying - - so I did."
Find Best Price at Amazon

Best Adobe FrameMaker Guides

Tony Northrup's Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 Video Book: Training for Photographers
Combining the benefits of video training and book learning, this video book gives you over 12 hours of video and dozens of free presets and raw images to practice with. If you learn better with video, watch the video training and refer to the book for quick reference. You can learn more about Tony by following him on Twitter (@TonyNorthrup) or emailing him at tony@northrup.org.
Reviews
"I watched many YouTube videos and either learn nothing out of it, or learn how to perform very specific tasks. Adobe Photoshop LR 5 by Tony is easy read, takes you through all steps of digitally developing photos, using plain English."
"If you are time compressed, and want to learn light room in two hours, just watch the “development“ video from start to finish. I just pull files from my windows folders, and import them into light room if I want to work on them, then export them as JPEGS or different file types back into my folders ). Tony explains the whole file management system well, and it’s benefits, and I’m probably missing something, but I remain not a fan of it."
"So far, have learned lots about the program thanks to this book."
"This book is a must have for the digital photographer!"
"This book really covers the software in detail i wish i had it the first i open light room really would have saved me hours of time."
"The book is a little short on the library aspect of Lightroom and organizing your photos."
"It is worth buying to support the Northrup's and all of the AMAZING work product they put out for free but I was disappointed in the book as I found it as much more of a reference manual than any sort of tips and tricks and/or step by step manual."
"I can read for a while and then go to the video to see exactly what I am reading about and how it works."
Find Best Price at Amazon

Best Media & Communications Industry

All You Need to Know About the Music Business: Ninth Edition
“The industry bible” ( Los Angeles Times ), now updated, essential for anyone in the music business—musicians, songwriters, lawyers, agents, promoters, publishers, executives, and managers—trying to navigate the rapid transformation of the industry. Now if you’re reading this and trying to decide whether the music business will disappear and if you’d be better off putting the price of this book into your stamp collection, there actually is a beautiful weather forecast. As we’ll discuss, streaming has the potential to make the music business bigger than it’s ever been in history. People who never would have gone into a record store are listening to streams, and the numbers are growing fast. As these new ways to exploit music take hold, you might wonder how artists get paid. And at no extra charge (if you act RIGHT NOW), there’s an update of what’s happening with traditional music business deals—recording, songwriting, merchandising, touring, and so forth.
Reviews
"I'll definitely refer back to it as my journey continues, but no matter your "stage" or "status" in the industry, do yourself a favor and read this book!"
"You dont buy this book... YOU dont take your craft seriously."
"Amazing book."
"This has become my bible for working in the music industry and has allowed me to have a clear understanding of the industry for running my record label."
"Great book to learn the ropes, it should be a must have if your in the music world."
"Bought it for my godson and he loved it."
"Great book, well worth the reading, from novice to expert, you will get something of value out of this book."
"It's a very good book for those interested in hearing a bit of the nitty gritty that goes on in our wonderful but hectic world of music (behind the scenes)."
Find Best Price at Amazon