Tech Books for Non-Dummies
By: Gabriel Goldberg Source: AARP.org Date Posted: 2005-11-14 10:12:00-05:00
With the approaching holidays, those reading this portion of AARP's Web site will seek techno-gift ideas for family, friends, and themselves. But with conflicting suggestions from stores and manufacturers all around us, a trusted guidebook is valuable. So it's a luxury to have three such references from which to get great gift ideas, or to develop your own wish list.
These guidebooks would be Sandy Berger's Great Age Guide to Better Living Through Technology, Great Age Guide to Gadgets and Gizmos, and Great Age Guide to the Internet. Each book offers an open and uncluttered design, amply illustrated with easy-to-read screen images and photos, and clearly written in an engaging style that builds confidence in the reader.
Sandy shares her sense of excitement and discovery with the reader, offering clear opinions on technology and how it affects us. Nothing is dumbed down — there's no mention of dummies or idiots — which is pleasantly different from many technology books. And whether you agree or disagree on individual items, you'll certainly know where Sandy stands.
The "Great Age" title is credited to Pablo Picasso, who said "Age only matters when one is aging. Now that I have arrived at a great age, I might as well be twenty." Chapters begin with other thought-provoking quotations. My favorite, highlighting the empowering nature of the books' subject matter, comes from marketing guru Greg Arnold, who said that "All greatness is achieved while performing outside your comfort zone." Although these books aren't uncomfortable reading, they may challenge you to try new things.
Each book opens onto Contents at a Glance, a list of chapter titles and page numbers which offers a handy, quick review of its content, and a brief "What's Inside" write-up. The Technology and Internet books include valuable sidebars calling out Sandy's Tips, Blooper Alerts, Lingo, and Trivia. Selected items in Gadgets and Gizmos are designated as Sandy's Favorites.
Great Age Guide to Better Living Through Technology reminds us how pervasive technology is, how much things have changed in our lifetimes, and how change is accelerating and never-ending. It addresses how technology has affected shopping, travel, health, finances, and even meeting people, and how families can take advantage of the digital world. Throughout, it encourages continued learning at any age and illustrates just how much there is that's worth learning. For example, it lists diverse search engines, giving attributes and advantages for each. Many are specialized and lesser known than Google or Yahoo but may be better for fulfilling certain information quests, such as the Library of Congress, available to all online.
The Great Age Guide to the Internet focuses on getting online and learning the language of the Internet, but also to have fun while avoiding problems. The book starts gently, introducing Internet concepts and terms, and assembles them into tips and tricks for Web searching, e-mailing, understanding Web advertising, and even building our own Web pages. It gives tips for picking an ISP (Internet service provider), demystifies browser windows components, and offers netiquette advice for instant messaging.
The Great Age Guide to Gadgets and Gizmos is a different sort of book. It serves as a catalog, shopping guide, and tour guide through current and future technology, offering gift ideas for oneself or Santa. It's not Consumer Reports, since it doesn't compare choices head-to-head, but its interesting and opinionated narrative provides both good and bad news about products. Its general advice and principles regarding technology keep it from becoming outdated as fast as a simple products list.
All three books are complementary, an easy read cover-to-cover, or useful as references for specific topics, services, and products. Their indexes locate topics quickly and, although there's some necessary overlap of content, each provides different information with varying orientation and emphasis. Overall, the books deliver usable information about evolving technology areas.
Specifications
Title: Great Age Guide to Better Living Through Technology
Author: Sandy Berger
Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Que
ISBN: 0789734400
Price: $19.99
URL: Purchase Great Age Guide to Better Living Through Technology from Borders
Title: Great Age Guide to the Internet
Author: Sandy Berger
Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Que
ISBN: 0789734427
Price: $19.99
URL: Purchase Great Age Guide to the Internet from Borders
Title: Great Age Guide to Gadgets and Gizmos
Author: Sandy Berger
Paperback: 264 pages
Publisher: Que
ISBN: 0789734419
Price: $19.99
URL: Purchase Great Age Guide to Gadgets and Gizmos from Borders.
AARP does not recommend or endorse any of these products or web sites. Please be advised that there are other similar products and web sites available which were not reviewed and are not listed here.
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