Book Reviews

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, even though it brought me to tears several times. There's no denying it, this is a heartfelt story, well written and well presented. It will remind you to cherish the time you spend on earth, and remind you to let those that are dear to you know that you love them. We all need reminders such as these every now and then.

I would thoroughly recommend this book to those adults which may wonder about the meaning of life, or about an afterlife. It does not preach, condone nor condemn religion. It doesn't even discuss it at all. It is a book about life and death. And one man's interpretation of what heaven may be like.

What is your idea of heaven?

Oh wow—I could not be more impressed!!! This book contains so much valuable and useful information in a narrow 2.8cm depth, I'm not surprised the page count runs to 550, and that the paperback weighs in at a relatively heavy 1.3kg. This is the same weight as—yet occupies half the shelf space of—more conventional reference books of more than 800 pages.

It's cram-packed full of everything an author should know about effective written communication. It should be mandatory reading for all technical writers, and prescribed reading for all technical communication courses. A bargain at less than $45AU (full retail including GST) in paperback, it is really worth its weight in gold.

Subtitled "The true story of a lone genius who solved the greatest scientific problem of his time", Longitude delivers on its promise as a fascinating short story detailing the history of the evolution of a dependable means for accurately determining longitude at sea for navigation purposes.

Written as a popular account and not as a scholarly study, this small sized (110x178mm) handbook unravels and reveals the dramatic human story of one solitary man's brilliant mechanical ingenuity applied to solve the longitude problem, and exposes the darker side of human nature in another as a consequence. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone interested in time and place, history, horology, chronology, or a good weekend read. Well researched, well constructed, and well presented. Altogether, well done.

Collapse as its subtitle states is the story of how societies choose to fail or survive. It explores the reasons for the collapse of several past societies, and draws some analogies with our current societies.

Jared Diamond is greatly concerned about our future, and makes some dire warnings. 'Collapse' provides the bigger picture for us to place ourselves in context. It should be compulsory reading for society decision-makers including all levels of government, politicians, business leaders, and environmental and community groups.

I would recommend this book to lateral thinkers and citizens concerned about our impact on the environment and about the decisions that we make as a society.

What kind of future are we shaping for our children to inherit?

Looking Good In Print is a design book for users with little or no graphic design background who want to produce professional-looking effective graphic-designed documentation. This design resource guide outlines the design skills necessary to create attractive, effective printed materials, such as newsletters, advertisements, brochures, manuals, and other documents.

Although it was written before the advent of the internet, portable computers and digital presentations, the design principles it describes are just as applicable to these newer concepts as well.

This book has stood the test of time, and is just as relevant and applicable today as it was in 1988. I give it a score of 8 out of 10.