electronics-industry

This is a good book about Ballard Fuel Cell Company. It tells the story about taking the fuel-cell technology for electricity production from an oddity used in space to mass-market commercialization. The process is still going on so the book cannot conclude that Ballard has reached their goal, but the book does a good job explaining how Ballard reached their current state.
From a technical point of view one can argue that the author focuses too much on fuel cell development and too little on the necessary hydrogen delivery infrastructure, which is required to operate the fuel cells.
The book is also a good study in growing a start-up company. It shows how the founding entrepreneur pushes the idea forward until the company reaches a size where people with other qualities are needed to run the company. It shows how a company with hardly any products on the market can retain the public interest by carefully manage the information flow. Finally the book shows that it is possible for a relative small company to start development relationships with big multinational companies and still retain most of their independence.

This is an excellent history of the Ballard fuel cell and biography of Geoffrey Ballard, the man behind the Ballard fuel cell.
The writing is excellent, and his ability to explain the super technical process of Hydrogen fuel cell technology, in terms that lay people can completly understand, keeps you from putting this book down.
I really hope that Tom Koppel keeps up on this company, and the industry in whole, and writes another book as good as this one, keeping us updated on the supersonic speed of advancement in this Incredible field of energy.
I loved this book.

This book is a great case study in management and innovation. It shows once again that a small group of dedicated individuals can compete successfully against much larger competitors.

Fuel cells have long been successful in space craft. Soon you will be able to use them in your vehicles and buildings. Utility power plants typically discard about 60% of the heat energy from fuel. A fuel cell in your home would provide electricity efficiently. Instead of discarding the heat, you could use the fuel cell to heat your water everyday and provide some winter space heating.

A fuel cell in your vehicle will increase fuel efficiency and eliminate the need for oil changes.

About 40 cubic miles of crude oil remain available for more than six billion people, and we are consuming more than one cubic mile each year. By helping to reduce fuel consumption, fuel cells will help us to delay and reduce the severity of the coming shortages of fossil fuels.

I bought this book not too long ago and it has really helped my business web site. The tips it gave me were well thought-out and were incredibly helpful. All the info in this book incresed the quality of our web site and our customer interaction so much that we are getting more customers than we ever have. If you have a website involving customers, then I recommend you get this book as soon as possible as it is the most worthwhile book I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Great stuff!

I get the feeling that this book may immediately appear as most suited to Web designers. Actually, this book is about A LOT MORE than Web design. In fact, Dalgleish covers the full gamut of the process for both businesses and their suppliers (including Web designers). The reader is lead through the process from beginning to end - and e-commerce managers who are on the line for the delivery of results, need to know everything about what is coming, and the pitfalls to avoid. And what's unique about the book is that the end-to-end process is customer-driven, from the very questions businesses need to ask themselves when writing their strategy right through to the Way a Web designer translates the business' service offering into tangible navigation design, for example. Dalgleish makes it clear that the book was written for the whole community seeking to create Web experiences for customers; a community that needs to integrate its efforts to really deliver to the customer for competitive advantage to business and better lives for people - and that includes e-commerce managers like me. A must read.

Dalgleish nails down the methodology and identifies the most relevant issues for developing EFFECTIVE web sites in a clear and concise manner. It wouldn't surprise me if this book saves millions and significnatly cuts development cycles.

DOT COM CIOs should have purchased this book before hiring anyone!!!

I had read Douglas's Trading in the Zone before. I had a very high expectation on this one. However, I was very disappointed.

The author emphasized throughout the book the importance of entering the zone, a state of mind that you can neglect fear, greed, P/L, and just trade according to your feeling of the market, though he supplemented that with the need of analysis, hardwork, focus blah blah blah, and that different people have different means to enter the zone, illustrated with examples anonymous. Those might be true stories. However, the author just did not tell the readers how they could do it themselves without the assistance of a coach like the author's good self.

A reviewer of this book wrote that this should be read together with Douglas's Trading in the Zone and Mc Call's The Way of the Warrior Trader. One should read those two excellent books only, but definitely not this.

I personally admire Dr. Kiev's work and contribution to daily psychology. However I would suggest any trader - or any other person, for that matter - to read and apply the ideas in his " Daily Living Strategy". His goal-based approach is what I live on, and I certainly understand the positive comments made by his clients, but I think the reviews are concerning the book + the counselling they took personally from Dr. Kiev. By itself, the book is not complete. It is helpful, and it certainly adresses several important issues, but it doesn't go deep. Also, it is a product of Dr. Kiev's work with the professional traders working in huge trading firms or departments, and as such, addresses the problems and solutions that can be found in such settings. Even the trading methodology Dr. Kiev seems to advocate sounds very institutional: he is talking about how to get real info from analysts that call you up. Well, being a full time trader who strikes on his own, that didn't help me. Again I recommend buyiing his now-classic book, the Daily Living Strategy, and apply it to whatever it is you want to achieve in your life.

One of the most essential, yet least discussed, topics when it comes to trading is market psychology. While fundamentals and technicals are both critical in developing an understanding of a company and its inherent value, trading psychology is the processor of this information and the true measure of success and profitability. People who wish to excel in trading must have a firm grasp on their emotions to prevent them from falling victim to the same mistakes that dominate most traders. In his latest book, Dr. Kiev presents a much richer discussion of what it means to be trading "in the zone", including how to get there and how to stay there. He also expands upon some of the topics presented in his previous book, providing more detailed information as to the psychological forces at work behind the mask of fundamental and/or technical information. For an emotional trader like myself, it's reassuring to know that I am not in the investing minority and that, with work, I can overcome these self-inflicted barriers to success to achieve my personal and professional goals.

This book is enjoyable for enyone interested in computer game design. However, enjoyable and illuminating are two different things. Beginning with the obviously miguided analisys that computer games are not an art form because the process of designing them is not all a matter of creativity, but that of skill and calculation as well (which is the way it is for any art form), the authors begin a journey of, well, describing what computer games are like.

Overall, the book seems more to describe than explain, more to report than intrepert. There arises no general, well defined thesis from its 500+ page volume. At best, this book can be said to raise a lot of issues which a designer ought to have in mind when desining a game.

However, the vast majority of the issues raised are either of secondary importance or generally irrelevant. It breaks down the process of game design into topics in a way which is neither natural nor logical, and proceeds to pursue a rather sizyphian discussion of each of these topics in turn. These are: What is Game Design?, Game Concepts, Game Settings and Worlds, Storytelling and Narrative, Character Development, Creating the User Experience, Gameplay, and The Internal Economy of games and Game Balancing.

This division makes very little sense. These topics are all so closely realted, some to the point of overlapping, that attempting to develop a theorem which deals with each of them separately would result in exactly the kind of negligable book we have before us.

Actually, it would be impossible for the authors to develop any meaningful discussion of their subject, because they fail to define a) what we are trying to create and b) how do we measure our success. Nor can such a definition be induced from this overflous and superficial book. Without this definition, there is nothing that binds the book's pieces together (and, actually, had the authors bothered to provide a rigorous definition, they would have relized that no reasonable definition could be found for the garbled mess they've created), and it remains a pile of expressions in the spirit of "some people did this in some games, and some people did that in some other games". In short, the book does an admirable job in showing how NOT to perform a critical analisys of a subject, not to mention attempt to construct a wholesome theory.

While the book can be interesting at times, mainly because it makes one think on how such a book SHOULD be written, it is chuck full of assertions obviously made on the basis of misunderstandings, like the authors' curious misuse of the term Suspension of Disbelief, or their suggestion of the Hero's Journey narrative template as an object of imitation rather than a tool for analisys.

The authors' goal with this book also seems qustionable. At one point, they assert that, even were it possible, we wouldn't like our player to be tormented by remorse after taking an immoral action in the game. Why? isn't moral education one of the most important and unique roles of art? If it were indeed possible, and I'm sure it is, it would've been a glorious achievement for this medium, one which would put all its previous achievements far behind.

Or are the authors only interested in computer games as a source of pure fun? If so, I suggest they invest their impressive talent and enthusiasm in cooking or adult toy design - a medium's greatness lies not in the fun it offers, and these repectable fields are all about fun.

An interesting book for raising a large scale discussion, but one which falls short of grasping the deeper principles of its subject, and is, therefore, unimportant.

In writing a book review, it's important to realize the importance of "cover previews." In essance, the cover previews provide a contract for either what a book is about or what information the book will provide.

For instance, the back cover of the book On Game Design posits: "How do you turn a great idea into a game design? What makes one design better than another? Why does a good design document matter, and how do you write one? This book answers these questions and stimulates your creativity?"

It is important to note that the book does not limit itself to console video games or computer games. The essence of the rules discussed in this book are those of creating any type of game. Right away that should tell you whether or not you're going to find the book useful. Are you looking for a book that tells you, in general and abstract terms, what concepts are involved with creating a game, or are you looking for a book that actually works examples of concepts?

While this book does a good job of providing many checklists for consideration, advice for certain conditions, and a dictionary of possible ways to view game design, the writers do not follow through. There are few solid examples of checklist scenarios or of worked-through versions of a game scenario which a game designer would find helpful. Without a practical means to an end, there is little purpose in reading these examples except for reassurance that you're facing the same problem that other people have faced. There are many psychology texts available for that situation already.

If you're used to reading programming books, like I am, you're probably aware that they follow a standard format: Propose a problem, choose a method of solution, work through several to many versions of the solution, solve the problem. With only a proposal, it is rather unhelpful to not see why one solution is better than another when it comes to game design. For that matter, as you might have guessed, the level of abstraction to design presented in this book leaves no space for any code examples.

While the advice given in certain situations might be helpful to someone who knows nothing about game design, it is highly likely that whoever reads this book will have little need of it since the advice is so much common sense that a gamer of several years would already be aware of much of this. It's like a senior in college having to take freshman seminar.

But, aside from this little discussion of fault, there is much to be savored in this book. Don't let this review scare you off! Get a copy of the book. Read it. Keep it as a reference for when you might need a more formalized way of presenting a problem you face in game design.

And as I'm sure you know, once you've found a way to state a problem, you're almost ready to find a way to solve it.

The first half of this book is great, and the chapter on *What Gameplay Is* alone makes this book more than worth it. Rollings and Adams propose a new definition of game - to replace Sid Meier's off-the-cuff definition "A series of meaningful choices" - that is more general, more liberating, and more true. So anyone who is annoyed by the fact that their favorite linear platformer supposedly isn't a game by the Meier definition can turn to this. It sounds like a small thing, but so many designers quote the Meier definition so often I expect that this small pebble will create ripples that will effect the kinds of games we see in the future. By focusing on challenges rather than choices, Rollings and Adams have changed the way I think about game design.

Also, while Rollings' other book is most suited for people making strategy games, this book really is general enough to be a worthy read for anybody working on any kind of game.

I only gave it four stars because, for me, the last half of the book--summary chapters of different game genres--was mostly throwaway, rarely going into very much depth or telling me information I didn't know already.

As most people in the computer industry know Xerox pioneered many of the key breakthroughs in the computer industry, but then they were not able to capitalize on the technology they developed. Many, many other companies have made billions of dollars; however, Xerox just couldn't figure out how to reap the benefits.

The authors of "Fumbling the Future" go into this history in great detail. They first set the stage by describing Xerox's early history, how Xerox invented a copier, and for a number of years they were so successful that they were able to basically print money. Many of the major players in the industry are mentioned, their goals and interests. Xerox was very aggressive, and in some ways they were also a bit lucky, with the copier. Then Xerox decided they needed to also get into the computer industry.

Next the authors talk about how the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) was created, how George Pake selected various key people to help staff the research center, and the charter PARC was given. The book goes over who was hired, what they did, and how the groups at PARC worked together, and sometimes didn't work together.

Here is where you can start to see the train wreck. The first President of Xerox, Joe Wilson, seems to have been a very gifted leader. In terms of "Good to Great" by Jim Collins, Joe Wilson was a level five leader. Unfortunately Joe Wilson dies, and the next president of Xerox, Peter McColough, was at best a level four leader. Peter decided to spend almost a billion dollars for a niche science computer company which Peter then tried to force out into the general computer market, going up against IBM. Peter also took Xerox into Medicine and Education. And Peter got involved in Politics and Charities. Peter McColough was not focused on Xerox, and let several problems simmer.

We get some insights into what drove the researchers at PARC to develop the first personal computer, the Alto, and many of the reasons why it was revolutionary. The authors chart the destruction of the potential of the Alto, largely because of various managers at Xerox not catching the vision, or those who caught the vision not being able to work well with upper management.

One thing which would have improved the book was to have some pictures. It would have been nice to have some pictures of the early copiers, the Alto, and some of the major players.

It was a well written book, with a lot of good history, and some important lessons. Even though you know how it will all turn out, this was a hard book to put down.

I lived through these years on the 10th Floor at Xerox Corporation Systems Headquarters, El Segundo, California - as a Systems Administrator for New Product Development and Training. The book is accurate, but misses one very, very important point: The "Leadership" at Xerox Corporation at this time did not, repeat not, have the "best intentions". On the contrary, they were "Box People" (copier people) who did not have a clue about how to take advantage of this technology. In 1984 we did an internal survey of middle and upper management regarding use of the applications for the Star/Distributed Net (specifically email and Viewpoint software applications for those of you "in the know"). It found that while 76-percent of first and second level management used these applications on a daily or multiple-weekly basis, less than 10-percent of upper and executive management did so (the figure was under 5-percent on returns from Rochester and Stamford). Is this evidence of knowledge or having the "best intentions"? Those of us who did have the knowledge of the potential benefits were in middle management and could see those benefits to our own organisations at that time. We reported on these benefits, talked about them, begged people to come and see for themselves...for years...nothing happened. Many of us grew so frustrated we left (I was one, in 1989), although we still loved (and love) our exciting times at "Brand X". Some stayed, and watched Xerox "retreat" back to a primarily copier/printer company (and in doing so it crushed many a spirit). Most of us have wonderful, amazing, funny and frustrating stories to tell about those times (how about two trips in a single day to PARC from El Segundo just prior to the release of the 6085PCS?...or when the training Manager for New Produce Development left...only to turn up at Apple the following month...with all his notes and records?...Or producing training films for new releases with comedy sketches on the tail end for raising salespersons morale...). This book is too high level stuff for that...but it does reflect the failure of the top at Xerox...although it doesn't quite come out and say that...The top did not have a hint about these advances because they were from another world (Rochester, Copiers, not PARC/El Segundo and GUI/Ethernet). Read the book, but remember, no matter how hard those in middle management yell...if the top does "not have ears to hear" - it will not hear! ETW, Los Angeles, CA, now a retired TRW Employee

This book tells the fascinating story of the invention of the first distributed personal computer systems at Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center), and how a copier company that had grown to over $1 billion in revenue in less than 10 years based on a single new technology (photocopying) was unable to capitalize on a new technology again, despite the best intentions of its leaders.

The really innovative work at PARC was done under the direction of Bob Taylor. When Taylor was forced out, he started DEC's Systems Research Center (SRC) (later acquired by Compaq, and then HP), and he brought much of the top talent along with him.

I read this book on Bob Taylor's recommendation when I first joined DEC SRC as a researcher. But I decided to read it again recently before attending a talk by George Pake, the founding director of PARC. Pake's history of PARC agreed with the book, but he drew very different conclusions about the overall benefit of PARC's inventions to Xerox. In particular, Pake gave far more credit to PARC for contributing to Xerox, but all the examples he gave related to how computer technology has come to be used in photocopiers, which entirely misses the point. As the book's subtitle suggests, most of PARC's astounding computer innovations were largely squandered by Xerox (and "borrowed" by Steve Jobs to create the Apple Macintosh).

The first time I read the book, I was fresh out of school and didn't have much experience in the business world, so the parts of the book dealing with business issues were mostly a mystery to me. This time, it made much more sense, and I actually found the business aspects of the story more intriguing than the technical ones. Even so, the story of the first bit-mapped display, laser printer, ethernet, personal computer, and WYSIWYG editing software -- innovations we take largely for granted today -- is quite interesting!

This would be a great book for the Quixtar neophyte. It isn't a "must read" for the advanced user though all should be familiar with it as a reference for assisting low-tech & no-tech IBO's.

I really enjoy this book. Shows the power of the site and gets me fired up everytime I read parts of it. Great how to but so much more, shows the different partner stores and some of the items they sell. Also goes into Ditto delivery with great detail and this is a big help.

This easy-to-use book is by far the most pleasurable Internet reference guide experience I have yet to encounter. Within mere minutes, I found myself actively engaged by its casual, easy-to- follow conversational style. Why would you choose the drudgery of trapsing around from store to store, when you could easily find everything your heart desires at the best site of the new millennium - Quixtar.com!

Whether you want to make money or just get the best deal available, you will benefit greatly from this exceptionally well written guidebook. Ordering this book today will save you precious time and money. JUST DO IT!

The video game industry is quickly become a monster of a market into today's economy. This book is a good introduction to the internal organizational politics that occurs. I believe the author has used several themes to highlight the story of how Microsoft created the Xbox.

1. Innovation. This is always a topic for business stories. The book does an excellent job on describing the (almost) day to day activities that an internal, subversive group within Microsoft that hatched the idea for a game console.

2. Corporate culture. Microsoft has been accused of having a insular culture that prohibits risk-taking activities. I think in the Windows Operating System group this might be true. But Microsoft's game console strategy was one of new entrant. Sony, Sega, and Nintendo were the heavyweights. It was interesting to read how Microsoft approached the market by listening to game developers and gamers needs. They outlined a strategy that highlighted several competitive elements that the other, more entrench firms ignored.

3. Overview of Game Culture. The author is a well-known journalist that has been covering the game industry for years. There are some great insights on the industry's perks and unique charactistics. The Japanese game culture is much more highly developed vs. the American. The demographics are very selected in the US -- 18 to 26 males. Microsoft, as part of its initial console strategy, aimed to enlarge this demographic to include woman and older men.

Yet I have several misgivings about this book.

1. There aren't any reproduced internal memos, white papers, or notes that made up the effort to create the console. We are only shown photos of Microsoft employees. It would have been nice to see actual artifacts.

2. The reading sometimes is too easy. The author, of course, is a journalist. It is by far an unscholarly text.

This book is well worth reading, but it is not spectacular. It is interesting to note that Microsoft got Mr Takahashi to write the book. They clearly believe that the Xbox is something spectacular.

The book is the usual business profile project creation book. It has the obligatory references to The Soul of a New Machine and lots of resume-like bios of the main characters involved in the Xbox saga. However, the book is well written and does have a number of insights into how capable the people are at MS, how well and with what determination they look at both the business case and the technology they can build.

The book also has a lot of interesting anecdotes about how the web tv project and the Xbox interacted and about Microsofts possible purchases of other games companies.

The one area where the book could be better is by including more discussion about the Xbox's actual technology, but this would have required a more technical writer and would be for a much more limited audience.

All in all, a well recommended good read.

What the book is:

An interesting look at how projects evolve inside a company like Microsoft and how that evolution effects subsequent strategy. It makes an interesting point of comparison for similar projects in other companies.

A good look at how Microsoft is responding to the question of games and the gaming industry.

What the book is not:

Particularly well-written, at least in my opinion. The writing felt clunky, too much like an extended magazine article and not enough like a book.

Well documented. I expected more than interviews and anecdotal evidence.

This is truly one of the worst books I have ever read. It might as well been titled "Craig Winn rants about the people he hates while praising himself" because that is all that is really accomplished here. I will say one thing though, if you've read David Kuo's Dot.bomb (and if you haven't you should) this book becomes somewhat interesting because it really shows off how warped a man Craig Winn really is. It is a truly sickening account of the events that transpired (btw, those sensitive about racist/sexist comments should probably avoid this book as well).

On last note, please notice that all the good reviews of this book are from people who remained anonymous. I wouldn't be surprised it they were written by Crain Winn himself.

This book should be mandatory reading for all Corporate executives and especially all boards of directors. It clearly spells out just what must have happened at Enron, Global Crossings, K-Mart, WorldCom, and so many other bankrupt companies. It's the so called "professional" mangement's pocket-lining greed, unchecked by the board which results in spriraling economic sdeath to the companies, the employees, the shareholders and to everyone EXCEPT the managers. Cudos to Power and Winn for an expose' that finially tells it like it is. Everyone can learn from this one.

Ken Power et al does an excellent job of turning several years of memories and experiences into a very readable and detailed behind-the-scenes account of what happened with ValueAmeria. For me, the book became a text book on subjects like IPO, private funding, road shows and passing the baton from founder to CEO. The authors balance enough factual detail with colorful background to make the book interesting. I couldn't put it down. Admittedly (and understandably) self-serving in areas, the book provides insight about what all dot.coms experienced - from people who played on the field rather than watched from the bleachers.

This book has a 1998 copyright date -- that's my own stupidity! To quote the author, "buy in haste, repent in leisure." I bought it because of the reviews on the site.

Always check the copyright date before you buy!

It is verbose and without substance.

If you've spent more than a week in any kind of enterprise environment, you should know most of what is in here.

If anyone really wants it, I'll gladly give you a good deal on my copy!

Strong in case studies, surveying, outsourcing, metrics, prioritizing, support tools.

The reason I purchased this book was that I found myself creating a helpdesk from scratch. If you are looking for a how to book that will guide on the path of creating a very effective IT helpdesk, this is it. It will show you not only the right way to do things, but also alert you of possible pitfalls. It will teach you how to do things that not really come to mind right away, like how to hire the right people for the job, increasing your budget (to get more helpdesk techs!), the scope of your duties, etc. I keep it in my desk for quick reference.

There's a lot of great information in this book. When you're starting from nothing to develop a style guide, it's a great resource. So much of what we do when creating technical documentation is done as a matter of practice. Getting the structure down and having this book to jog our memory was fantastic.

One improvement would be to include a section on layout and design.

I liked the formulas for calculating hours found under Recommended Reading. Good information about developing a publications department, too. Nice overview for constructing a document plan.

This is definately a book for people who do not have an established publication/documentation department. There's lots of great information found in the 256 pages.

While I agree with another reviewer that this book is boring, I'm not convinced that a guideline for how to set up a style guide is supposed to be sexy, exciting reading. The book does a credible job of discussing the basics and goes into excruciating detail on the mechanics such as punctuation and capitalization. The focus on words commonly used in the computer industry differentiates it from Strunk & White and other books on grammar and elements of style. For a new tech writing department just starting out with a need for "rules" and guilelines, I recommend this book.

The first edition of this style guide was good, especially if you wanted an alternative to the Microsoft Manual of Style, but this edition is even better. It covers a wider range of issues (for example, adding much information about writing online material), and covers them very well. In fact, the book goes a bit beyond style in an appendix on developing a publications department, but the topics covered are certainly relevant and valuable, so I'm glad they were included. I don't always agree with the style choices, but that's irrelevant; I've never seen any style guide I completely agree with. Overall, I'm so impressed with this book, I'm likely to use it as a textbook for teaching technical editors. As you can tell, I'm giving it the "highly recommended" stamp.