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Resources - Book Bytes |
| by Stephen M.H. Braitman - NBMA Director of Communications Book Bytes announces new publications of interest to our members and community in multimedia, technology, business, and culture. First appearance of each Book Bytes column is in the NBMA email events newsletter. To subscribe, send a blank email message to: nbmaevents-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. If you have a recommendation for review — and, especially, if you have published a book — send the information to . |
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May 2004 THE BOOK BYTES SPRING GUIDE ///////// Digital Video EDITING WITH AVID XPRESS PRO AND AVID XPRESS DV Avid Educational Series 410 pages, $39.99 Avid www.avid.com/training Professional course-based instruction in the powerful digital video editing tools from Avid at the beginning- to-intermediate level. Plunges right into projects like Locating an Audio Edit Cue and Adding and Patching Tracks; learning through doing. Includes DVD with Avid projects and OMFI MediaFiles for both Windows and Macintosh formats. DIGITAL VIDEO WITH WINDOWS XP IN A SNAP Greg Perry 320 pages, $24.99 SAMS Publishing samspublishing.com Designed to get you up and running quickly with Window XP's Movie Maker. Plenty of directed tutorials and exercises, with useful sidebar tips and tricks. Keying the images to the text with numbered tags is a great help in making sense of on-screen functionality. This is the kind of book that expands your use of the system every time you reach for it next to your computer. MOTION GRAPHICS AND EFFECTS IN FINAL CUT PRO Kevin Monahan 454 pages, $44.99 Peachpit Press www.peachpit.com Even professional film editors will learn new powerful tools by cracking into Kevin Monahan's latest book on Final Cut Pro. More than 50 exercises cover everything from color corrections to motion paths to advanced filtering is covered, all with a wealth of unique "insider" insights that reflect his own trials and tribulations as a user and teacher. (He teaches Final Cut Pro at the Bay Area Video Coalition.) A newcomer to Final Cut Pro may be a bit intimidated, but someone who possesses even a little experience with the program will find themselves blossoming with assurance previously unrealized creativity. ///////// Photoshop DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY WITH PHOTOSHOP ALBUM IN A SNAP Jennifer Fulton and Scott M. Fulton III 424 pages, $24.99 SAMS Publishing samspublishing.com More action-oriented tutorials following the tried-and-true SAMS formula. Although this book is at its heart about the photo organizing software, it's also about digital photography in general. The key to successful album creation is having good photos to work with. For someone who wants to improve not only their photo artistry as well as their convenience of organizing and display, this is a superbly easy book to follow to success. ADOBE PHOTSHOP CS ONE-ON-ONE Deke McClelland 465 pages, $39.95 Deke Press/O'Reilly www.oreilly.com Sumptuous, comprehensive, beautifully designed, and interactive! The new One-On-One series from O'Reilly features excellently produced professional-level training in book form married to videos from the attached CD. The method produces the near-classroom experience of learning from a master Photoshopper by way of lectures and examples, then puts the practical spin on subjects by seeing the methods and techniques in action. Each chapter ends with a "What Did You Learn?" query that challenges you to really understand the information. ///////// Digital Philosophy and Sociology THE DIGITAL SUBLIME: MYTH, POWER, AND CYBERSPACE Vincent Mosco 218 pages, $27.95 MIT Press mitpress.mit.edu Our desire to believe in the transformative power of technology got its most recent hardscrabble reality testing with the dot.com failures. But Mosco writes persuasively that this nature in human aspirations goes back a long time, and should have cause warning bells to go off long before the stock market plunge and massive layoffs. This is a historical-philosophical treatise on how "icons of communication, information, and trade" affect society at all levels. HOW IMAGES THINK Ron Burnett 275 pages, $34.95 MIT Press mitpress.mit.edu If images don't exactly think, they affect us in ways that alter our relationship to technology and machines. This is due to the pervasive nature of images in their many interactive relationships with humans. The "intelligent programming" of images becomes a parallel to our own experience, and ultimately guides our sensibility and choices. Burnett looks at the range of uses of digital imagery, from computer games to photography and beyond, and adds a stirring brew of creative wariness about our total immersion. Anyone who creates or uses digital media should consider what this book offers by way of realization. New knowledge, and wisdom, follow. ///////// Database ORACLE ESSENTIALS: ORACLE DATABASE 10g, 3rd Edition Rick Greenwald, Robert Stackowiak, Jonathan Stern 374 pages, $39.95 O'Reilly www.oreilly.com Most valuable: The appendix lists all new information and changes to the 3rd edition from previous editions. Mostly this details what OD 10g has added to the powerful database with its latest version. But it's also a wise consumer- friendly gesture that allows us to make a judgement as to how valuable this book may be to our needs. The basics of database systems and the Oracle solution particularly are well served in description and example; if you come fresh to the subject you'll need no more to get you going. If you're already an expert, you'll know even more. The appendix, however, lets those who need to upgrade understand the ramifications of the move much better. SQL IN 10 MINUTES Ben Forta 242 pages, $14.99 SAMS www.samspublishing.com The easiest way to learn the essential programming language in order to work intimately with databases. The cheery SAMS Teach Yourself formula works well to dissipate a non- technophile's nervousness regarding programming syntax and vocabulary. "In 10 Minutes" is a bit misleading, as each chapter is a 10-minute lesson, and there are 22 chapters, not including appendixes. And re-reading each lesson is very worthwhile, since the material doesn't exactly lend itself to quick memorizing. But, with even a trace of diligence will yield the self-possessing power to use wildcard filtering, sort retrieved data, and manipulating tables in a snap. Oops, sorry, the Snap books are a different series from SAMS. ///////// Networking PRINCIPLES OF DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS AND COMPUTER NETWORKS K. V. Prasad 742 pages, $59.95 Charles River Media www.charlesriver.com Anyone who works within the networked environment will profit from even a cursory look at this title. Imbued with a sense of impending convergence of all technologies, here is the resource for understanding the system dynamics of all communications systems, from local areas to global satellites. One need not become a digicom engineer in knowing how Frame Relay, WAP, and IVR work; it'll make you a more productive, creative user of systems large and small. And, if your business critical functions are tied in with networks at any level, you'll be able to make better tactical decisions for future growth. ///////// Hardware HARDWARE HACKING: Having Fun While Voiding Your Warranty Joe Grand, technical editor 537 pages, $39.95 Syngress www.syngress.com Variable speed drills. Nibbling tools. Glue guns. Needle files. Gas mask? The tools of the hacking trade may seem so - industrial - when compared to the result they engender. That is, the customization, improvement, or complete transformation of a computer. (Or, complete subversion or disabling.) But the reality is that working on the guts of systems brings out the working class ethic, such as custom hot rod builders. That the overarching goal means to enhance performance is the separation between professionals and, well, criminals. Yes, Kevin Mitnick is a technical reviewer here, and the book benefits from a true insider's perspective. After all, hackers have had as much to do with the rapid evolution of technology as much as manufacturers. Here's a book that lets you in on how to "upgrade" the iPod, the PlayStation, the home theatre PC, Palm devices, and even Atari systems. And more. Hey, with the techniques learned here, nothing in the world is impenetrable anymore. ///////// Operating System MAC OS X 10.3 PANTHER: THE LITTLE BLACK BOOK Gene Steinberg 547 pages, $29.99 Paraglyph Press www.paraglyphpress.com The screen remains dark with booting from the Installer CD. The laptop battery loses power quicker than it should. Classic OS loading is extremely slow. The Dock freezes. If you've encountered any of these - and dozens, if not hundreds more - then the Little Black Book is the essential desktop tool. Subtitled a "concise problem solver," this looks hard at OS X in all its variation and delivers potent, direct solutions for problems both simple and complex. It has enough about the basics to help the beginner, but it's real meat and potatoes is how much an expert can refer to it in crisis (or creativity- challenged) situations. ///////// Web Tools DREAMWEAVER MX 2004: THE COMPLETE REFERENCE, 2nd Edition Ray West, Tom Muck 958 pages, $49.99 McGraw-Hill Osborne www.osborne.com Practically a college course in one thick package, this takes what is essential about the Dreamweaver Web authoring system and put it into a comprehensive, logically plotted pathway to practical knowledge. It's impressive both as a tutorial and a straight reference. The accompanying CD-ROM includes a trial version for Windows and Mac, as well as extensive project files. "Complete" is right. SHOW ME MACROMEDIA FLASH MX 2004 Andy Anderson, Mark Del Lima, Steve Johnson 524 pages, $19.99 Que www.quepublishing.com The latest version of the most popular, powerful animation and graphics application gets the Show Me treatment. Thoughtful tutorial design allows only one theme or function per page, with a concision of process that makes it easy to follow and master. For example, using button symbols to add interactivity to a movie takes only a few clicks from the Insert menu, making sure to place the artwork in the proper position. There are 11 brief steps outlined here, with three very handy timesaver tips. Not intimidating at all! The more complex functions like adding dot syntaxes and creating masks are similarly outlined clearly and with extremely simple steps to follow. An extensive set of keyboard shortcuts makes actually using Flash as easy as pie. ///////// Serious Leisure Experiences THREE PHILOSOPHICAL FILMMAKERS: HITCHCOCK, WELLES, RENOIR Irving Singer 279 pages, $32.95 MIT Press mitpress.mit.edu Anyone who loves the films made by these directors knows that they have a deeper philosophy about art, life, and human nature than most. This is a survey of their careers and examination of not only their films but their writings and other evidences of overriding themes and structures. Singer looks also at the men themselves, their own acting or actions on the set behind and in front of the camera. To see the man is to see the idea. GETTING STARTED WITH LEGO TRAINS Jacob H. McKee 102 pages, $19.95 No Starch Press www.nostarch.com And you thought building Legos was just for kids. Here is a beautifully illustrated book that allows the obsessive full reign of creative potential for those little plastic blocks. Combining the huge subcultures of model trains with Legos, this is a guide to building whole alternative universes, from tracks to cabooses to container cars to locomotives. Not just for your 10-year-old! BIG STAR - #1 RECORD/RADIO CITY AMADEUS - ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK ALBERT KING - I'LL PLAY THE BLUES FOR YOU THELONIOUS MONK - BRILLIANT CORNERS Fantasy Super Audio CDs The latest SACD releases from Fantasy Records includes sumptuous sonic classes in the power pop, classical, jazz, and blues genres. If you want to test the limits of the technology, there is nothing better than Fantasy mastering, and these four discs represent classics of their type. In other words, they're a perfect marriage of art and technology. |
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