Humor Books

The Official Filthy Rich Handbook

Christopher Tennant

Amazon Price: $10.54 List Price: $11.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Workman Publishing Company Amazon Marketplace: 52 new & used starting at $6.83

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

How the Other .0001% Live

It's looking like another banner year for America's moneyed over-class, the lucky .0001 percent sitting on $30 million-plus in liquid assets.

But sadly, most of the newcomers joining their ranks are simply not prepared to make the decisions that come with having it all. Unsure about everything—butler or majordomo? St. Tropez or St. Thomas?—they will blow their hard-earned billions on tacky houses, outrageous wardrobes, and outré diversions of various stripes. Because, while there are countless ways to make a fortune these days, there's still only one way to be Filthy Rich.

Fortunately, in the spirit of The Official Preppy Handbook—the 1.3-million-copy bestseller that taught all of us how to be WASPily top drawer—help has arrived. A dead-on, deadpan guide to living large in the land of plenty, The Official Filthy Rich Handbook yanks the monogrammed pashmina off a world few mortals ever get to see. Packed with insight and savvy, it brings this rarified universe to scandalous new life, feeding our endless fascination with the tastefully loaded, while offering practical instructions for those who dream of joining them.

In it, you'll learn not only where to live and what to wear, but about the things that really matter. How to hire a household staff. The right cosmetic surgery procedures for you...and your children. The proper way to name your houses. The sacred role of privet hedges. Why the Filthy Rich swim naked. The down-and-dirty on your fellow plutocrats (The Nerdling, The Raider, and the Grande Dame, to name a few). The moochers and scoundrels to know and avoid. How to buy a gigayacht. The right spots to party in Sardinia, Aspen, Nantucket, and St. Barts. The world's hottest tax havens. The four interior decorators worth waiting for. The Filthy Richest rehabs. Boarding schools of the rich and feckless. Why it's so hard to break into the art market and how to sound smart about Richard Serra. And much, much more. The rich "are different from you and me," F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote. Wait until you see the Filthy Rich.

Penny Arcade Volume 5: The Case Of The Mummy's Gold (Penny Arcade)

Jerry Holkins, Mike Krahulik

Amazon Price: $10.36 List Price: $12.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Dark Horse Amazon Marketplace: 34 new & used starting at $6.49

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

So many firsts in this book 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This book rocks. Not that there has been one so far I didn't love, but the instant I finished reading this one I went through and read it again. I can't believe how much gold there is in this year. Some of the earlier books were interesting in a historical sense (as Tycho outright admits) but I think this is the first book where they have found personalities for Gabe and Tycho that allow them to make the most use of them, and their comedy is always on. I think some people were a bit disappointed in "Birds are Weird" because of the lack of extras, this one has some interesting extras I think you'll like.

Editorial Review:

Join us, intrepid explorers, as we journey once again into the depths of the Penny Arcade archives, facing eldritch curses and monstrous perils aplenty in our quest to unearth the ancient treasures of the year 2004 A.D.! Marvel at the mysteries laid bare within - at these tales of epic gaming, appliances gone bad, square-dancing blood feuds, and so much more! Face, if you dare, the ominous foreboding of The Last Christmas, the challenging depths of Twisp and Catsby, and the poignant tragedy of The Wandering Age!

Managing Humans: Biting and Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager

Michael Lopp

Amazon Price: $16.49 List Price: $24.99 By: Apress Amazon Marketplace: 51 new & used starting at $5.40

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Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Programming -> Software Design, Testing & Engineering -> Software Development

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 27 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Managing Humans is a selection of the best essays from Michael Lopps web site, Rands In Repose. Drawing on Lopp's management experiences at Apple, Netscape, Symantec, and Borland, this book is full of stories based on companies in the Silicon Valley where people have been known to yell at each other. It is a place full of dysfunctional bright people who are in an incredible hurry to find the next big thing so they can strike it rich and then do it all over again. Among these people are managers, a strange breed of people who through a mystical organizational ritual have been given power over your future and your bank account. Whether you're an aspiring manager, a current manager, or just wondering what the heck a manager does all day, there is a story in this book that will speak to you. You will learn:

• What to do when people start yelling at each other

• How to perform a diving save when the best engineer insists on resigning

• How to say "No" to the person who signs your paycheck

Among fans of Michael Lopp is the incomparable Joel Spolsky, cofounder and CEO of Fog Creek Software:

"What you're holding in your hands in by far the most brilliant book about managing software teams you're ever going to find".

This book is designed for managers and would-be managers staring at the role of a manager wondering why they would ever leave the safe world of bits and bites for the messy world of managing humans. The book covers handling conflict, managing wildly differing personality types, infusing innovation into insane product schedules, and figuring out how to build a lasting and useful engineering culture.

Manga Studio For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech))

Doug Hills

Amazon Price: $16.49 List Price: $24.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: For Dummies Amazon Marketplace: 56 new & used starting at $7.18

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Love Manga? The newest features of Manga Studio help you bring your ideas to life! The tools available in the latest version of this powerful program make it easy to turn your computer into your drawing board, and Manga Studio For Dummies makes it easy to get started.

Discover how to use Manga Studio to begin creating comics in manga or Western styles, add color to your creations, and share them with your adoring public. It’s a breeze once you know your way around the program. Manga may have begun in Japan, but Manga Studio For Dummies is written in plain English, and shows you how to:

• Build and use page templates
• Rough in your comic with penciling techniques
• Work 100 0igital, or use a combination of digital and traditional tools if you prefer
• Work with layers, rulers, and panels
• Add speech bubbles and sound effects text
• Ink your work and add tones
• Prepare your creations for print or distribution on the Web

Written by a working digital artist, Manga Studio For Dummies covers both Manga Studio Debut and EX versions. As an added bonus, it even gives you a peek into the world of manga and comics in general. With the help of Manga Studio For Dummies, you just might find yourself among the comic artists whose work populates the Web and gathers thousands of fans!

Installing Linux on a Dead Badger

Lucy A. Snyder

Amazon Price: $8.76 List Price: $10.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Creative Guy Publishing Amazon Marketplace: 15 new & used starting at $5.94

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Zombies, and Vampires, and LINUX - Oh my! 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Lucy Snyder has one of the most unique voices in speculative fiction, and this book is an example of her at her best.

What Terry Prachett does for fantasy, what Douglas Adams did for S/F, what Christopher Moore does for horror, Lucy Snyder does for technogeekism. She twists it, she warps it, and she makes it side-splittingly funny. She is well on her way to creating a lexicon of humor that will have the whole Gen X and Y community feeling even more smug and geekier-than-thou.

The title piece in this collection is a beloved classic to the online crowd; anyone who's ever suffered through a technical manual will be at home with the zombie badgers.

This book also contains one of my favorite stories of all time, "In The Shadow of the Fryolator". Chick lit meets Cthulu via the brain of Lucy Snyder.

I highly recommend owning this book if you want to be cool.

Editorial Review:

Installing Linux on a Dead Badger (and other Oddities) is a collection of Lucy Snyder's humorous essays, fiction and articles, some culled from places like "Strange Horizons" and "Spacesuits and Six-Guns" and some brand new. This collection of thirteen short stories, articles and essays from Lucy A. Snyder will appeal to any fan of zombies, aliens or installation manuals. Here's what Wikipedia said about Lucy, last time we checked: "Lucy A. Snyder is an American science fiction, fantasy, humor, and nonfiction writer. She grew up in San Angelo, Texas but moved to Bloomington, Indiana for graduate studies at Indiana University and currently lives in Columbus, Ohio with her husband Gary A. Braunbeck. Snyder served as an editor for HMS Beagle, an online bioscience publication produced by Elsevier. She has also contributed technical articles to publications such as Electronic Products."

Penny Arcade Volume 4: Birds Are Weird (Penny Arcade)

Jerry Holkins, Mike Krahulik

Amazon Price: $10.36 List Price: $12.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Dark Horse Amazon Marketplace: 35 new & used starting at $6.47

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A sidesplitting collection and great gag gift 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

The fourth, full-color collection of strips from the popular webcomic series Penny Arcade, Birds Are Weird continues the tradition of utterly irreverent, largely video game-themed humor. Due to severe cursing and the occasional phallic reference, Penny Arcade is not a comic for young children or the easily offended; and yet its humor has that irresistible effect. Bonus sketches, short text vignettes and a paragraph of extra commentary for virtually every strip enhance this anthology, offering new insights into Penny Arcade's random madness even for readers who have already seen the strip's archive online. "'Yeah, so I was looking at iPods today. I thought about you.' 'Oh yeah? Pretty great huh?' 'Oh yeah, real good. Then I got it up to the register, came to my senses, and bought a thirty dollar discman instead.' 'Yeah but the iPod doesn't skip.' 'Neither does this. It's cushioned by about three hundred and eighty dollars in cash.'" A sidesplitting collection and great gag gift, especially for the technogeek generation.

Editorial Review:

OHMYGODDIDYOUSEETHAT?!? So, anyway, I'm sure you stopped by to find out what kinds of Penny Arcade goodness we will be lavishing upon you with this latest collection. Oh, and you came for the cinnamon almond biscotti, of course. But mostly you came because you can't get enough of the smash-hit web-comic Penny Arcade. Well, my friend, do we have the goods for you! All the Penny Arcade web-comics published online in 2003, a smorgasbord of commentary courtesy of Gabe and Tycho, and more bonus material than you can shake a pigeon at! Huh? Oh, sorry, did I say "pigeon?" I meant to say "stick." Sorry, but that bird is still really creeping me out. You can tell it's totally planning something. Can't you see it watching us, with its eyes!?! Man, birds are weird...

Foundation Flash Cartoon Animation (Foundation)

Tim Jones, Allan Rosson, Barry Kelly, David Wolfe

Amazon Price: $26.39 List Price: $39.99 By: friends of ED Amazon Marketplace: 39 new & used starting at $22.99

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Whether you are an experienced Flash designer or developer looking for a guide to doing animation in Flash, or a novice to Flash who is looking for an effective way to create and distribute animations, this book will prove invaluable to you. Covering every aspect of Flash animation, the book is a fast-paced yet thorough review of the Flash animation process. Written by the Emmy-Award winning team at ANIMAX, this book not only reveals the step-by-step process followed by one of today's leading Flash animation studios, it gives you valuable tips and tricks to take your Flash animation to the next level. Divided into three phases of production (pre-production, animation, post-production) this book breaks the Flash animation process into smaller, more manageable steps. And because the authors approach the animation process from various perspectives (such as producer, animator, and editor) the book balances many of the real-world issues facing today's Flash animators, from artistic to technical to financial. The book starts off by looking at planning and designing an animation project, including working out your goals, and putting together character libraries and storyboards. Next up we look at the production phase, which includes using plug-ins to make your work more efficient, implementing your animation, and adding special effects. Finally, we look at post-production work, including how After Effects can be used effectively alongside Flash for tasks such as camera mechanics, how to make Flash not look like Flash, and tips and tricks from the experts. Whatever the reason, like millions of others around the world you've become interested in Flash animation. And you've come to the right place to learn more. This book is compatible with pretty much any fairly recent version of Flash.

• Covers the full process of Flash animation, through preproduction, production, and post production
• Covers many practical techniques, including creating character libraries, using plugins, and camera mechanics with After Effects.
• Written by the Emmy award winning ANIMAX studios team

What you'll learn

• How to effectively plan an animation project
• How to put together storyboards
• How to create elegant character libraries
• How to set up your .fla file, ready for animation to commence
• How to make more efficient use of your time with plugins, where to find good plugins, and how to create your own
• How to animate, frame by frame, or using tweens
• Why After Effects can be better than Flash for some tasks.
• Effective After Effects Techniques, such as camera mechanics
• How to make Flash not look like Flash

Summary of Contents

• Chapter 1 - The Project Plan
• Chapter 2 - Character Libraries
• Chapter 3 - Storyboards and Animatics
• Chapter 4 - Setting Up Your FLA
• Chapter 5 - Plug-ins and Extensions
• Chapter 6 - Frame by Frame Animation
• Chapter 7 - Animating With Tweens
• Chapter 8 - Animation Special Effects
• Chapter 9 - Why Use After Effects?
• Chapter 10 - After Effects and Camera Mechanics
• Chapter 11 - Making Flash Not Look Like Flash
• Chapter 12 - Tips and Tricks

Penny Arcade Volume 2: Epic Legends Of The Magic Sword Kings (Penny Arcade)

Jerry Holkins, Mike Krahulik

Amazon Price: $10.36 List Price: $12.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Dark Horse Amazon Marketplace: 40 new & used starting at $3.69

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Penny Arcade = Great Web-Comic 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Penny Arcade is a comic that has been around for almost a full decade now, so it is nice that this year they are finally releasing a series of books that bring the comics into our homes without the need for a computer and internet, excluding how you buy the book itself.
This contains the second volume of the series, or all the comics done in 2001 + bonus art and attempts for other webcomics, and it nicely fills out the 150 page book. All the comics are funny start to finish, with plenty of classics filling the book.
I highly recommend the book for readers of any form of comics, and I also recommend it for people who love video games, though my bet is that they cant read this due to playing something like WOW right now.

Editorial Review:

Verily, the heroes of Penny Arcade return in the second volume of valiant chivalric deeds of brave heroism, heroic gallantry and gallant bravery! Forsooth! Sir Gabe and Sir Tycho return in Epic Legends of the Magic Sword Kings! Collecting all the Penny Arcade strips posted online from 2001 and 2002, Volume 2 includes creator commentary, a sketchbook section and an introduction from somebody sort of famous! If you haven't heard of Penny Arcade, the most poplular online comic ever, it might not be too late to salvage whatever reputation you have and get in on the fun all the cool people have been having. We won't tell anyone.

The Facebook Book

Greg Atwan, Evan Lushing

Amazon Price: $10.36 List Price: $12.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Abrams Image Amazon Marketplace: 37 new & used starting at $5.99

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Surprisingly funny and relevant 4 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

I must say, when I heard that three Harvard alumni had conspired to produce a parody of Facebook, I automatically assumed that it wouldn't be that funny, and certainly totally impertinent to the average Facebook user. I was pleasantly surprised, however, to find out that the book is not only hysterical, but I imagine virtually every Facebooker can find something they can relate to in this book.

Editorial Review:

The Facebook Book, by Harvard alums and early Booksters Atwan and Lushing, follows in the fine satirical tradition of The Official Preppy Handbook and The Hipster Handbook, full of anecdotes (true and semi-true), tips (useful and useless), and other insights, including chapters on the Ethics and Etiquette of using the 'Book, what your profile really says about you, and a Facebook dictionary (which defines for the uninitiated terms like "frenemey" and "fauxmance"). The Facebook Book will appeal not only to undergrads, but also high schoolers (to whom the site was recently opened), savvy parents, and anyone who's tapped into Web 2.0 culture and counterculture.

Nightwork: A History of Hacks and Pranks at MIT

Institute Historian T. F. Peterson

Amazon Price: $14.93 List Price: $21.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: The MIT Press Amazon Marketplace: 51 new & used starting at $2.85

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Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Before the term hacking became associated with computers, MIT undergraduates used it to describe any activity that took their minds off studying, suggested an unusual solution to a technical problem, or generally fostered nondestructive mischief. The MIT hacking culture has given us such treasures as police cars and cows on the Great Dome, a disappearing door to the President's office, and the commencement game of "Al Gore Buzzword Bingo." Hacks can be technical, physical, virtual, or verbal. Often the underlying motivation is to conquer the inaccessible and make possible the improbable. Hacks can express dissatisfaction with local culture or with administrative decisions, but mostly they are remarkably good-spirited. They are also by definition ephemeral. Fortunately, the MIT Museum has amassed a unique collection of hack-related pictures, reports, and remnants. Nightwork collects the best materials from this collection, to entertain innocent bystanders and inspire new generations of practitioners.