Enhancement Books

Probably most of what is here can be found on the internet.
Seems very dated.

I bought this book and "Hacking the Tivo, Second Edition". The two books cover a similar range of hacks and include Linux boot CDs. However there are key Series 2 hacks that are not covered in this book. For example, video extraction is a very valued hack. I want to transfer videos between my Series 2 Tivo and my PC.

"Hacking Tivo" backs away from this hack on Series Two claiming "legal reasons". Bah! "Hacking the Tivo, Second Edition" shows you how to do this and shows the likely reason why "Hacking Tivo" avoided it. It's harder! "Hacking the Tivo, Second Edition" is written by someone who loves every aspect of hacking the machine and it shows. Get this one instead.

First: the majority of the content is not compatible with the current TIVO system, series 2 *** I got SKUNKED!
Second: This book is really for someone with very strong technical skills, particularly a Unix background.

I am fairly technical with a Computer Science degree and would not attempt to do anything with this book and passed it to another fairly tech savvy friend and he gave it right back to me. There is a page or two that has cute shortcuts for the remote but you can get that info off a TIVO user group site. I regard this purchase as a total ripoff. I'll be happy to send you this book to you for $5 + shipping. email: funbeach6@yahoo.com

This really is not a book on Hacking Tivo, rather a book on "Hacking First Generation Tivo's." I have a series 2 DVR and expected to see some hacks that would prove worthwhile for my DVR, however there is little for owners of Tivos manufactured in the last two years. Very simple recommendation-if you have a first generation Tivo buy the book, otherwise pass.

The Tivo has spawned a dedicated fan base that speaks to both the power of the TV [including cable] and of TiVo's time shifting usefulness. Naturally, many fans quickly reached the limitations of a normal TiVo and have chafed at these. Now comes Keegan with this book on how to lift many constraints.

He explains several neat tricks. But perhaps the most useful is simply to increase the storage capacity. A default TiVo holds 14 hours at a basic quality of resolution. But a TiVo is really a special purpose computer. So just like you can add more disk space to a generic PC, so too can this be done to a TiVo. But there are many fine details that are specific to TiVo, and indeed to specific models. He gives you all the necessary help to build out your TiVo.

Why? In his experience, when you expand from 14 hours to 110 hour by adding an 80 Gb disk, there is a qualitative improvement in your usage. And this is for an 80 Gb disk. Keep in mind that as 200 Gb+ disks come on the market, you could potentially use his guidelines here to try installing those!

Some of you should appreciate this book.

What this book does contribute: an explanation of how the rise of endocrinology--e.g., success in diagnosing and treating diabetes and hypothyroidism--shaped medical education and popular views about medical possibility.

What this book does NOT contribute: a serious, well-informed discussion of the philosophical problems with enhancement directed medicine. They opine that there are RISKS in the tolerance of the unrestrained pursuit of 'perfection,' but they also shrug off most of the deeper problems (WHOSE vision of perfection?) and fail to appreciate that the risks are NOT merely ones that will be assumed by the individuals who choose to use (or not use) the proffered enhancements.

By my lights, the most serious flaw is the authors' cheery dismissal of the problems raised by the spectre of a resurgence of eugenics. Their account of the Nazi program is both thin and misleading, and their suggestion that eugenic policies in the US were minimal and trivial is seriously historically inaccurate. The basis for dismissing the threat of a renewed eugenics is that we don't have the state control that the Germans did: since enhancement choices will be made 'from below' rather than 'from above'--by freely choosing individual rather than by the state--the authors think that worries about coercion to select enhancements (and SOME enhancements rather than others) are not deep or serious ones. This ignores the considerable literature that discusses the slide from individual choice to social expectation to entrenched policy as well as the literature that painstakingly explains why genetic modification cannot properly be viewed as just another commodity that is--as such--more available to the financially well-heeled.

I wish I had taken the time to read readers' reviews of this book rather than going by the reviews on the back flap.

I've found the Pursuit of Perfection both readable and informative. I come from a family of MD's and let me tell you they're wound up about this book. (I withstood the demands for conformity and went into veterinary medicine myself.) My father, still a practicing GP in a dying Great Plains town whose patients frequently can't pay, feels that his public health orientation has been vindicated. A cousin in cosmetology in Dallas who specializes in liposuction and breast enlargement ... well, I couldn't adequately convey what HE thinks without using rude language. And another cousin in "drug engineering" rants and raves about how "Luddite" the arguments of the authors are but just sputters when you ask him for specifics. In fact, I finally read this book because I'd never heard this clan pitch in at each other about a book in a lay publishing house before.
One of the reviewers said that no notice of this book had appeared in the New York Times Sunday Magazine. Isn't that just about fashion and big houses?

Found this an exceedingly difficult read. Not because it was controversial or hit home. But becuase was more boring then watching the grass grow. The prose is dry. The authors ramble on and on. And so much of it is history or just lifted straight from medicial journals.

Do something more interesting with your time: watch paint dry.

I bought this book to understand the issues surrounding estrogewn use in women. THe reviews on this website seemed encouraging....

The information provided was outdated, inaccuarte and useless

The New York Times Sunday magazine had a long cover piece about the pursuit of perfection among elite athletes today. Did they quote from this book once? NO. Did they interview the authors? NO. Why? Because this book has nothing relevant to say about any of the controversies going on in the world to regarding enhancement.

This is a history lesson. Another boring lecture by boring people with nothing to help guide us through the morass of today and tomorrow's very real dilemmas.

If you are looking for a guide to understanding the enhancement mess we are in today, look elsewhere. Policy wanks, politicans, doctors in the field, women facing the choice of whether or not to take estrogen, my advice to you is not to buy this book.

But if you are for a very (!) a dry recitation of history and the history of endocrinology at that, then I guess this is your book.

The book seems to cover some of the basics. It does an ok job of covering the shoot part and and ok job of the editing part. If you are looking for details, I would consider a different book or two books...one specifically about getting the shot and one specifically about fixing the shot.

When I bought this book, I thought I would learn some ways to enhance my pictures with detailed examples. I was really disappointed when I saw that it wasn't the case. They show what they did with what tool but without any detailed explanations. "Before-and-after-color-balance" wasn't what I had in mind when I bought this book. I didn't need to pay 50$ to know that if I go through photoshop menus and do some tests, I would learn it sooner or later. I really think it should be mentionned that this book is intended for people that have beginner skills with computers. 30% of the book explains how to use a scanner...

The only way I would recommend this book is if you don't know much about computers and have no clue what photoshop is and want to know where the menu for Hue/Saturation is. Otherwise, don't waste any penny on that, instead, go to specialized website, you'll find tutorials that are a 100 times better than this book with real detailed examples.

I found this book to be a very poor educational source for digital photography and image editing. As a photographer who is switching from slide film to digital, I have read three other books on digital photography, including Peter Burian's "Mastering Digital Photography and Imaging". Burian's book (and the other two books) blow's the Drafahl's book out of the water(no pun intended). It's like comparing a Lexus to a Hugo. The Drafahl book is vague, poorly written, and provides minimal imformation on various topics. What's with the large print and skipped lines--it's as though they wanted to increase the number of pages to make it look like your getting more for your money. I have wasted my money to finance one of their dive trips.

This book is a good start for someone considering underwater photography with a digital camera. It touches on the important aspects of the subject and gives a very basic overview of what is involved. For the serious photographer, I would recommend the authpr's professional guide on the same subject. It has more detail and better images.

It is a complete waste of money, like it sais in one of the reviews. Should have listened!!! This book is completely useless, the authors assume that you already know all about digital imaging and the book is just a review. You won't learn. Don't buy it.

A very easy-to-read book with simple explanations and definitions. The underlying theme, however, is "if you have concerns, have your child evaluated by a professional speech - language specialist". There are resources in the back to help you find the specialist you may need. There are a few suggestions on things you can do to help your child if there is a speech or language problem.

I requested the fastest shipping possible, and it arrived after expected. As far as quality - was great.

I can't say as this one of my favorite Qigong dvds. It lacked vitality. I find pieces like T.K. Shih's Swimming Dragon or Dr. Alex Feng's Five Animal Frolic far more inspiring.

Roman gives you the basics of what you need to remember to do and ask when relocating internationally. Topics are handled briefly (no lengthy text here) but I have to admit I didn't miss any details during our move from the US to Mexico. Best used as a checklist. If you want more thoughtful or lengthy discussions of social and psychological issues of international relocation, you will need to look elsewhere.

This is an easy book to read. Ideas are presented in a lucid style. I think there are some good ideas in this book but I think you should be aware before you buy the book that it is referring to learning skills and new habit patters, such as those needed to curb overeating (which is well explained) rather than learning facts like languages and formulae. I think that the message is more about life long learning, which may be what you want. You will learn about "ganus" and attitude and excitement in learning. I think that it could be an interesting resource to have in your collection of self-help books, but I am not going head over heels about it!

Engineers working with GSM networks that have not yet implemented Frequency Hopping in their system will find this book very helpful and imformative. The author presented the basic principles of Frequency Hopping and some enhancement capabilities in a consise way, however there are several optimization techniques that the Authors might have not yet encountered to maximize the network performance. Already available in the market are Automatic Frequency Planning Tools like CellOpt AFP that can handle complex frequency planning criteria for Synthesized Frequency Hopping Networks. Nevertheless this is a good read and recommended for Engineers and Managers wishing to implement BFH or SFH in their system.

Fine introduction to most of Nik's software. It's a shame that it doesn't cover Sharpener 3.0; there have been significant changes in the upgrade.

I have to agree with the other one star reviews. I tried to get through this book but it has very little to do with images other than the samples presented. I've been using photographic software since Photoshop 2 and am currently using Aperture 2 and the entire Nik software collection plug in's. This book covers none of the Aperture plug in functionality and marginally covers the Photoshop version. Nik software's website and tutorials while sometimes tedious do a much better job and for a lot less money. The spelling and grammar errors are painful as well. This one is going back.

This book is truly awful. First of all, it is unreadable. Almost every illustration is a full screen screen-shot reproduced at 4 1/4" x 3 1/4", two on a page, with plenty of white space. The Nik screens use light gray text on a dark gray background, which is fine on the screen, because it doesn't corrupt your color vision, but it is totally unreadable when printed at such a small size in the book.

The text itself is bad. It is so full of typographical and grammatical errors that it is jarring to read. For instance, on page 106, what does "In steps the Reflector effects, and their ability to bring back an image." mean? Is there a verb in there that I missed? Is "reflector" a proper noun?

If the copy were redeeming, the book might be worth the struggle; but it isn't. I was hoping for a reference book that would help me figure out what the various filters do and how to use them. Instead, the book is a random walk through the filters that the author particularly likes, with a description of how he would apply them to specific images. Color Efex Pro contains 52 filters, with variations on many of the filters. The book covers fewer than 20 filters.

These comments apply only to Color Efex Pro, which is the only product that I own and the only part of the book that I slogged through. By the way, Color Efex Pro is a great program, even though it is not well documented. I bought this book to try to fill that void.

The author too frequently breezes through some of his applications of the Nik filters. In his attempt to cover all the filters and give examples of the use of many of them, he makes his discussion of the applications too brief.

Although he often explains what you're seeing in the accompanying images, the small size of the images makes it difficult to read some of the parameters he's set in the screenshots. There are times when he refers to what are supposed to be obvious parameter differences between screenshots, expecting you to read them from the screenshots, but the size and colors used make it impossible to do so. Both Josh and the publisher should have realized that the light gray-on-gray and white lettering-on-gray UI that Nik insists on using do not improve readability on the scales used in the book.

Don't waste your time or money. You'll get more from NIK's website and it will be spelled correctly.
Illustrations OK, coverage (filters for example) spotty and incomplete. Personally, I got nothing from it at all.
Want to buy a used copy?