Computers & Internet Books

The Last Lecture

Randy Pausch, Jeffrey Zaslow

Amazon Price: $13.17 List Price: $21.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Hyperion Amazon Marketplace: 112 new & used starting at $10.99

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Subjects -> Entertainment -> Humor -> Computers & Internet
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Humor -> Self-Help & Psychology
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Self-Help -> Motivational

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 814 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

"We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand."
--Randy Pausch

A lot of professors give talks titled "The Last Lecture." Professors are asked to consider their demise and to ruminate on what matters most to them. And while they speak, audiences can't help but mull the same question: What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was our last chance? If we had to vanish tomorrow, what would we want as our legacy?

When Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was asked to give such a lecture, he didn't have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. But the lecture he gave--"Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams"--wasn't about dying. It was about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of others, of seizing every moment (because "time is all you have...and you may find one day that you have less than you think"). It was a summation of everything Randy had come to believe. It was about living.

In this book, Randy Pausch has combined the humor, inspiration and intelligence that made his lecture such a phenomenon and given it an indelible form. It is a book that will be shared for generations to come.

Happy Endings: The Tales of a Meaty-Breasted Zilch

Jim Norton

Amazon Price: $10.17 List Price: $14.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Simon Spotlight Entertainment Amazon Marketplace: 34 new & used starting at $8.52

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 167 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Jim Norton is a pervert

in the truest sense of the word. The physical equivalent of a tall slug, he pays top dollar for massages with happy endings and is fascinated by shitty sitcoms and fat girls. He is also, at times, racially offensive and morally repugnant. He spares no one in his comedy -- least of all himself.

Now, in this outrageous, blisteringly funny collection of essays, Norton tackles the topics that are near and dear to his heart: from public events like the legendary Voyeur Bus incident on the Opie and Anthony Show, which culminated in all involved being taken to jail, or seeking a hug from his childhood idol Gene Simmons, to deeply private moments, including a teenage Jim's embarrassing poetry-writing attempts while in rehab, and his inexpensive sexual experience with an unwashed MILF (a Monolith I'd Like to Forget). His stories are raw, searingly honest in their attention to detail, and most of all, hilarious.

Filled with personal photos and nearly fifty candid and uncompromising essays, Happy Endings is one of a kind...and probably best read on an empty stomach.

The Sweet Potato Queens' Book of Love

Jill Conner Browne

Amazon Price: $11.16 List Price: $13.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Three Rivers Press Amazon Marketplace: 821 new & used starting at $0.01

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Subjects -> Entertainment -> Humor -> Computers & Internet
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Humor -> Love, Sex & Marriage
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Humor -> Parodies

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 298 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

To know the Sweet Potato Queens is to love them, and if you haven't heard about them yet, you will. Since the early 1980s, this group of belles gone bad has been the toast of Jackson, Mississippi, with their glorious annual appearance in the St. Patrick's Day parade. In The Sweet Potato Queens' Book of Love, their royal ringleader, Jill Conner Browne, introduces the Queens to the world with this sly, hilarious manifesto about love, life, men, and the importance of being prepared. Chapters include:
The True Magic Words Guaranteed to Get Any Man to Do Your Bidding
The Five Men You Must Have in Your Life at All Times
Men Who May Need Killing, Quite Frankly
What to Eat When Tragedy Strikes, or Just for Entertainment

And, of course:
The Best Advice Ever Given in the Entire History of the World

From tales of the infamous Sweet Potato Queens' Promise to the joys of Chocolate Stuff and Fat Mama's Knock You Naked Margaritas, this irreverent, shamelessly funny book is the gen-u-wine article.

Visit the Sweet potato Queens Web site at www.sweetpotatoqueens.com

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

Michael Lopp

Amazon Price: $16.49 List Price: $24.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Apress Amazon Marketplace: 43 new & used starting at $4.79

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Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Industries & Professions -> Human Resources & Personnel Management
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Business & Culture -> Humor
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Programming -> Languages & Tools -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 28 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.

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: 39 new & used starting at $7.30

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Subjects -> Comics & Graphic Novels -> Comic Strips -> General AAS
Subjects -> Comics & Graphic Novels -> Graphic Novels -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Penny Arcade Delivers a Fifth Time 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

If you are looking at this book most likely you are all ready a fan of Penny Arcade. If you are a fan and wondering why you would buy a book containing strips freely available in the Penny Arcade archives, I will tell you that Tycho has, as with the first four volumes, gone back and written new commentary for all the strips in the book. As Penny Arcade fans know, a great part of the Penny Arcade experience is enjoying the strips again through Tycho's commentary on the thought process behind the strip and/or the events that led to it. There is a section in the back which includes sketches made on various convention table tops from across the years which is fun bonus material as well.

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!

Wacky Websites Page-A-Day Calendar 2009 (Original Page a Day Calendars)

Workman Publishing Company

Amazon Price: $9.59 List Price: $11.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: 2009 Calendars - Model: 14952 Amazon Marketplace: 42 new & used starting at $6.29

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Features:

• Size: 6.125x6.125x1.875
• Humor

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Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Home Computing -> Internet -> General AAS
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Humor -> Computers & Internet

Editorial Review:

When your boss turns her back, discover a new online escape with just a click of the mouse. Featuring the kookiest, funniest, oddest, geekiest, and most amusing sites out there, Wacky Websites offers a year of utterly addictive (if often pointless) entertainment. Flash back to the elementary school lunchroom with an online museum of lunch boxes (with matching thermoses, of course!). Learn the exciting sport of squirrel fishing. Plus a recipe for real southern moonshine, an Elvis-sighting bulletin board, a dictionary of British teen slang, and TGIF Time Wasters, including Rate My Bunny, a site where you rate the cuteness quotient of bunny rabbits. Okay, maybe you should get back to that spreadsheet now.

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

Doug Hills

Amazon Price: $16.49 List Price: $24.99 Usually ships in 7 to 11 days By: For Dummies Amazon Marketplace: 55 new & used starting at $2.09

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Subjects -> Comics & Graphic Novels -> Manga -> General
Subjects -> Comics & Graphic Novels -> Manga -> General AAS
Subjects -> Comics & Graphic Novels -> Cartooning

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 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% digital, 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!

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

Jerry Holkins, Mike Krahulik

Amazon Price: $10.36 List Price: $12.95 Usually ships in 9 to 13 days By: Dark Horse Amazon Marketplace: 30 new & used starting at $3.39

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Subjects -> Children's Books -> General AAS
Subjects -> Comics & Graphic Novels -> Comic Strips -> General
Subjects -> Comics & Graphic Novels -> Comic Strips -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Brilliant, Inspired, Freakin' Hilarious! 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

As with the last three volumes, this book delivers exactly what it promises: a year's worth of side-splitting, laugh-out-loud comics. Holkins' writing is, as always, uncompromisingly witty, and Krahulik's art improves every year.

The only noticeable improvement to the compilation would be a little extra material in the rear of book. The full color, full page art included in the previous volume blew me away, and it would be nice to have something that breathtaking in all of their publications.

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...

Penny Arcade Volume 3: The Warsun Prophecies

Jerry Holkins, Mike Krahulik

Amazon Price: $10.36 List Price: $12.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Dark Horse Amazon Marketplace: 46 new & used starting at $2.46

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Subjects -> Comics & Graphic Novels -> Graphic Novels -> Science Fiction

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Can't Get Enough of Wang 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Keep them coming. I need something to read while waiting for the Apple Geeks omnibus. Penny Arcade should get Hawk to do more of their coloring for their future covers.

The laughs keep coming. 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

"Penny Arcade" is still one of the consistently best web-comics out there, and being able to browse through the older collections in printed form is great fun. The third year of the comic, chronicled herein, was great in both gaming news to satarize, but also in the quality of the comic. If you were looking to get someone turned on to the glory of Gabe and Tycho, this would be the collection to tempt them with.

Editorial Review:

So it was written, so it shall be. The coming foretold, sealed into the hands of fate by the lips of the prophets from another time. The mystery is revealed and the great plan will now come to its fruition! Its number shall be three. From the far horizons, across the deepest reaches of the ethereal gulf, the thunderous echo of its name shall be heard! PENNY ARCADE! Penny Arcade, the most powerful webcomic in the universe, returns! The third volume of this cultural and supernatural phenomenon, The Warsun Prophecies, brings you every Penny Arcade strip published online in 2002 A.D., encased with the dark secrets of the mad prophets known as Gabe and Tycho. Behold! It has been foretold!

The Facebook Book

Greg Atwan, Evan Lushing

Amazon Price: $9.21 List Price: $12.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Abrams Image Amazon Marketplace: 55 new & used starting at $3.18

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Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Home Computing -> Internet -> General AAS
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Business & Culture -> Humor
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Web Development -> General AAS

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

Surprisingly funny and relevant 4 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 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.