Amazon.com
Alistair Cockburn's Writing Effective Use Cases is an approachable, informative, and very intelligent treatment of an essential topic of software design. "Use cases" describe how "actors" interact with computer systems and are essential to software-modeling requirements. For anyone who designs software, this title offers some real insight into writing use cases that are clear and correct and lead to better and less costly software.
The focus of this text is on use cases that are written, as opposed to modeled in UML. This book may change your mind about the advantages of writing step-by-step descriptions of the way users (or actors) interact with systems. Besides being an exceptionally clear writer, the author has plenty to say about what works and what doesn't when it comes to creating use cases. There are several standout bits of expertise on display here, including excellent techniques for finding the right "scope" for use cases. (The book uses a color scheme in which blue indicates a sea-level use case that's just right, while higher-level use cases are white, and overly detailed ones are indigo. Cockburn also provides notational symbols to document these levels of detail within a design.)
This book contains numerous tips on the writing style for use cases and plenty of practical advice for managing projects that require a large number of use cases. One particular strength lies in the numerous actual use cases (many with impressive detail) that are borrowed from real-world projects, and demonstrate both good and bad practices. Even though the author expresses a preference for the format of use cases, he presents a variety of styles, including UML graphical versions. The explanation of how use cases fit into the rest of the software engineering process is especially good. The book concludes with several dozen concrete tips for writing better use cases.
Software engineering books often get bogged down in theory. Not so in Writing Effective Use Cases, a slender volume with a practical focus, a concise presentation style, and something truly valuable to say. This book will benefit most anyone who designs software for a living. --Richard Dragan
Topics covered:
- Introduction to use cases
- Requirements
- Usage narratives
- Actors and goals
- Stakeholders
- Graphical models for use cases
- Scope for use cases (enterprise-level through nuts-and-bolts use cases)
- Primary and supporting actors
- Goal levels: user goals, summary level, and subfunctions
- Preconditions, triggers, and guarantees
- Main success scenarios
- Extensions for describing failures
|
- Formats for use cases (including fully dressed one- and two-column formats)
- Use case templates for five common project types
- Managing use cases for large projects
- CRUD use cases
- Business-process modeling
- Missing requirements
- Moving from use cases to user-interface design
- Test cases
- eXtreme Programming (XP) and use cases
- Sample problem use cases
- Tips for writing use cases
- Use cases and UML diagrams
| |
Customer Reviews:
Working Effectively with Use Cases.......2007-03-03
Without use cases there are simply to few techniques available to analyze complex products. There has been a push to write complex mega-user stories in place of use cases but in my experience this is simple a replacement in words from use case to story. Working effectively with Use Cases is the heart of the matter and we must learn to transcend simple mechanistic methods to achieve break through results.
Both Stories and www.writingeffectiveusecases.com have a place in product development. Also, both are close cousins but each has a distinct strength. How do we balance the tension between performing complex analysis and understanding what users want, while driving the team in small increments of work?
[...].
Cheers
Very Easy to Understand.......2007-01-18
This book was recommended to me by a friend and former co-worker. Cockburn really seems to care about uses cases and has been a voice on the subject for some time. The entire field seems to be a bit confused, and the standards are vague at best. Cockburn does a decent job of helping the reader to understand the issues at hand and alerting the reader of what to look out for. It is still however, just another book about use cases and not the use case "bible" I was looking for. A book well worth reading nonetheless.
If only all books were as clear as this one!!!.......2006-07-20
This is a great book for anyone involved in software development. Use cases are not only a great tool for designers they are a great tool for anybody involved in the development process.
The book has three main sections:
Part I: The Use Case Body Parts
This section dissects every piece of the Use Cases. He does so in such a manner that it all makes sense. Each and every section is well explained. This is not as common as it should be in technical books.
Note: There are some exercises at the end of each chapter.
Part II: Frequently Discussed Topics
It's often that one reads a technical book about a specific topic and one is left asking, "What next?" This is that section that's missing from most books. It provides valuable information on where Use Cases belong in the process, how to scale, and other topics similar to these.
Part III: Reminders for the Busy
Just in case you forget everything you read... this section provides an excellent refresher as well as additional tips for better Use Cases
Appendices:
There are answers to the exercises, glossary, suggested readings, and an explanation of UML treatment of Use Cases. Cockburn is not found of the way people try to use UML Use Cases. He does mention this before but doesn't get off course trying to explain why he doesn't until this appendix.
All in all, this is a great book that should be on your bookshelf.
Good Investment.......2006-05-23
Alistair Cockburn has a gift for writing. His explanations are very easy to follow and the writing style makes it seem like you are reading novel. I tried a number of books on use cases and this is by far the best. It contains a number of different styles. I used this book as a basis for developing standards for the company I work for.
I haven't seen any other book on Use Cases that is as comprehensive. Even the authors of UML don't do Use Cases any justice!
not confined to UML diagrams.......2006-03-07
Whatever your programming methodology, if you are involved in the design or reengineering of a project, then use cases are a vital starting point. Cockburn explains how these can serve as an important part of the boundary between the programmers and the non-programmer users and management. Given that the two (or three) groups often have quite different backgrounds, you can see the need for accurate and comprehensive examples.
Hence Cockburn explains how to extract these from users. And to describe the cases in a graphical manner that is meaningful to many. UML is used, especially for the programmers, who are more likely to be familiar with it than the others. But the text also pragmatically does not confine itself to strictly UML. (Unlike books devoted to UML, rather than use cases.) There are plenty of examples given where you can draw general purpose diagrams. Provided, of course, that you can still draw all the key cases.
Amazon.com
An April 2007 Significant 7 Editors' Pick: Funny, engaging, and oh-so-practical, Send is the ultimate etiquette handbook for email, making David Shipley and Will Schwalbe the "Miss Manners" resource for the digital age. Full of practical insights, Send is an invaluable resource for anyone who uses email, and is guaranteed to help you "think before you click." We are not the only fans of this important book. We asked psychologist, science journalist, and bestselling author Daniel Goleman to read Send and give us his take. Check out his exclusive guest review below. --Daphne Durham
Guest Reviewer: Daniel Goleman
Daniel Goleman is an internationally known psychologist who lectures frequently to professional groups, business audiences, and on college campuses, and is the author of many bestselling books, including Emotional Intelligence and most recently, Social Intelligence.
Poor Michael Brown. During the darkest days of the Hurricane Katrina debacle, Brown, then director of FEMA, the agency that so badly bungled the rescue efforts, sent this email: "Are you proud of me? Can I quit now? Can I go home?"
Emails can come back to haunt us--any of us. Few among us have mastered this medium, and only slowly are we realizing its dangers.
From the earliest days of email people "flamed", sending off irritating or otherwise annoying messages. One explanation for the failure to inhibit our more unruly impulses online is a mismatch between the screen we stare at as we email, and the cues the social circuits of the brain use to navigate us through an interaction effectively: on email there is no tone of voice, no facial expression. When we talk to someone on the phone or face-to-face these circuits would ordinarily squelch impulses that will seem "off." Lacking these crucial cues, flaming occurs.
It's not just flaming--I've sent my fair share of emails that were, in retrospect, embarrassing, too familiar or formal, or otherwise wrong in tone. Email invites these lapses in social intelligence in part because the social brain flies blind. In the absence of the other person's real-time emotional signals we need to take a moment to shift from focusing on our own feelings and thoughts, and intentionally focus on the other person, even in absentia, and consider, How might this message come across?
The peril of being off-key is amplified by the temptation to hit SEND prematurely: before we've thought it over and had a chance to ease up on that too-stiff tone, drop that bit of sarcasm, and remember to ask about the kids.
In the old days of letter writing--a dying art--we had plenty of time to rewrite before sealing the envelope, and so flaming letters were far more rare than red-hot emails. And so the brave new world of email could benefit from a civilizing force, a voice that articulates the ground rules online.
Enter Send: The Essential Guide to Email for Office and Home, a new book by David Shipley (an old friend of mine) and Will Schwalbe. Send not only articulates the way to win--or keep--friends online, but offers practical tips on both email etiquette and on the writing style most suitable.
In this witty and wise book Shipley and Schwalbe give essential guidance on vital matters like the politics of using Cc (nobody likes to be left out); when to just reply and when to "Reply All"; the danger of the URGENT subject (too many and you cry wolf); fine-tuning your greetings to fit the relationship (if you use the wrong one, you can lose them at hello); how best to apologize online (put the word 'sorry' in the subject or else the email may never be read).
But Send is far more than Miss Manners for the Web; it's brimming with fascinating insights. For example, now that email has become the way we talk, showing up in person has added impact as the ultimate compliment, signifying that the person, meeting or project has special importance for you.
Years ago a slim volume by Strunk and White, The Elements of Style, laid out the ground rules for good writing; the book became a bible for authors, widely known just as "Strunk and White." Send should make Shipley and Schwalbe the "Strunk and White" for the Web. --Daniel Goleman (www.danielgoleman.info)
Book Description
When should you email, and when should you call, fax, or just show up?
What is the crucial—and most often overlooked—line in an email?
What is the best strategy when you send (in anger or error) a potentially career-ending electronic bombshell?
Enter Send. Whether you email just a little or never stop, use a desktop or a handheld, here, at last, is an authoritative and delightful book that shows how to write the perfect email—at work, at school, or anywhere. Send also points out the numerous (but not always obvious) times when email can be the worst option and might land you in hot water (or even jail!).
The secret is, of course, to think before you click. Send is nothing short of a survival guide for the digital age—wise, brimming with good humor, and filled with helpful lessons from the authors’ own email experiences (and mistakes). In short: absolutely e-ssential.
Customer Reviews:
More like "Eats , Shoots & Leaves" than Strunk & White.......2007-10-16
If you enjoyed the arched-brow humor of Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, then you'll enjoy "Send." It's an elegant, fun guide to something that seems so simple, but is actually pretty complicated: using email effectively.
Help for today's communicator.......2007-09-30
Hello reader
I have found the help I need at last.
In my workplace people write an email rather than picking up the phone or turning around and talking to the person at the next desk.
Is this the same for you?
And do you find it leads to confusion and endless chains of communication on simple matters?
Here is your solution.
Read it and keep it for reference.
No need to reply.
Regards
David
Send: The Essential Guide to Email for Home and Office.......2007-09-29
Easy to understand even if you are not too computer literate. Would have been helpful to be able to read a paragraph or two before purchase.
Learned what I didn't know I didn't know.......2007-09-26
This is an easy read with lots of great info packed into a small volume. The authors' credentials are hard to beat, and the info is laid out in categories making it easy to go back and reread. I learned many things I didn't know about email etiquette (not just no caps!) and the reasoning behind it. They talk about overuse of attachments (I'm guilty!) and other problems I never thought of as a problem. Enjoy!
EVERYONE, and I mean EVERYONE should read this book.......2007-09-25
Some of the reviews below are correct, this book is simplistic. But unfortunately, most people have lost all sense of etiquette when it comes to email as the book suggests.
Email has become a disgraced form of communication that few people know how navigate properly, and those that do, could certainly stand to become better.
I am buying this for all of my coworkers, family, and friends for Christmas...if only for selfish reasons that it will make my work and home life more productive.
Average customer rating:
- Has history been tampered with?
- Calculations are only as good as your numbers
- Pants on fire?
- Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed.
- Very Interesting
|
History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Anatoly Fomenko
Manufacturer: Mithec
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Similar Items:
-
History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)
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History: Fiction or Science? Astronomical methods as applied to chronology. Ptolemy's Almagest. Chronology III
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Discovering the Mysteries of Ancient America: Lost History And Legends, Unearthed And Explored
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They Cast No Shadows: A Collection of Essays on the Illuminati, Revisionist History, and Suppressed Technologies
ASIN: 2913621058 |
Book Description
Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.
Customer Reviews:
Has history been tampered with?.......2007-10-23
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/RAZQNMXM4M9CL Has history been tampered with? Yes, it has! Did events and eras such as the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the Roman Empire , the Dark Ages, and the Renaissance, actually occur within a very different chronology from what we've been told? Yes, they certainly did!
The history of humankind is both drastically shorter and dramatically different than generally presumed.
Why is it so? On one hand, it was usual custom to justify the claims to title and land by age and ancestry, and on the other the court historians knew only too well how to please their masters. The so called universal classic world history is a pack of intricate lies for all events prior to the 16th century. World history as we learn it today was entirely fabricated in the 16th-18th centuries. It's likely that nobody told you before, but
there is not a single piece of firm written evidence or artefact that is reliably and independently dated prior to the 11th century.
Naturally, after what you've learned in school and university, you will not easily believe that the classical history of ancient Rome, Greece, Asia, Egypt, China, Japan, India, etc., is manifestly false.
You will point accusing finger to the pyramids in Egypt, to the Coliseum in Rome and Great Wall of China etc., and claim, aren't they really ancient, thousands of years ancient? Well, there is no valid scientific proof that they are older than 1000 years!
The oldest original written document that can be reliably dated belongs to the 11th century!
New research asserts that Homo sapiens invented writing (including hieroglyphics) only 1000 years ago. Once invented, writing skills were immediately and irreversibly put to the use of ruling powers and science.
The consensual chronology we live with was essentially crafted in the 16th century by the Jesuits.
The world history was compiled from contradictory mix of innumerable copies of ancient Latin and Greek manuscripts and other irrefutable proofs delivered by late mediaeval astronomers that were cemented by the authority of writings of the Church Fathers.
Early in life, we learn about ancient history. Children love the magical lessons of history - they are like fairy tales. Teachers recite breathtaking stories; very soon We learn by heart the names and deeds of brave warriors, wise philosophers, fabulous pharaohs, cunning high priests and greedy scribes.
We learn of gigantic pyramids and sinister castles, kings and queens, dukes and barons, powerful heroes and beautiful ladies, emaciated saints and low-life traitors.
Ancient history is based documents, manuscripts, printed books, paintings, monuments and artefacts - called primary sources.
The problem is that neither these ancient documents, nor events described therein can be irrefutably dated, moreover they contradict each other for the most part.
When a school textbook tells us that Genghis Khan in year X or Alexander in year Y, have each conquered half of the world, it means only that it is so said in some of the written sources.
There are no answers to simple questions:
When were these primary sources written?
Where and by whom were these sources found?
It is wrongly presumed that ancient and medieval chronicles, written by Genghis Khan's or Alexander the Great contemporaries and eyewitnesses, are readily available. Actually, only sources written hundreds or even thousands of years after the events are there, compiled mostly in the 16th 18th centuries, or even later.
As a rule, these sources suffered considerable multiple manipulations, falsifications and distortions by editing. At the same time,
innumerable originals of ancient documents under various pretexts were destroyed in Europe under various pretexts.
The names of persons and geographical sites often changed meaning and location during the course of the centuries.
Geographical locations became clearly defined on maps only with the advent of printing.
This made possible the circulation of identical copies of the same map for purposes of the military, navigation, education and governance tasks.
Historians from Oxford say: "hey, everybody knows that Julius Caesar lived in the first century B.C.
`Julius Caesar' statement is only a point of view as
there is simply no irrefutable documentary proof that Julius Caesar or any other great name of antiquity ever existed.
Better than that - extremely rare sources that can be reliably dated back to the 10th-14th centuries A D, do not show the polished picture of classical history.
They show a picture both contradictory and confusing.
All methods of dating of ancient sources and artefacts are erroneous:
Radio-carbon C14 method produces dating with exactitude of plus minus 1500 years, therefore it is too crude for dating of events in historical timeframe!
The Almagest tractate, which lies as corner stone contemporary chronology, compiled in the 2nd century A D by Ptolemy, the founding father of astronomy, contains astronomical data of 9th to 16th century!
The Bronze Age,that has supposedly began 5000 years ago. Bronze is made of 90% copper and 10% tin, but the technology for tin extraction dates back to 14th century A D!.
All eclipses contained in manuscripts, like Thucydides one, relating 'ancient' events have exclusively medieval dating. All horoscopes cut in stone or painted in Egyptian temples, like Dendera have exclusively early medieval dating solutions.
Not quite what you have learned in school? Open your eyes, and, you will find sufficient proof to reach step by step the inevitable conclusion that the classical chronology is false and therefore, that the history of ancient and medieval world universally accepted today, is also false. Have a fresh outlook on everything said or printed about "ancient" and "enigmatic" Roman, Greek and Egyptian, medieval as well as all other "lost and found" civilizations.
Antiquity and Dark Ages are phantoms invented in the 16th 18th and polished in 19th 20thcenturies. Human civilization is in fact barely 1000 years old!
This book will change your perception of History forever!
What if Ancient Rome, Greece and Egypt were invented during Renaissance?
What if The Old Testament was a rendition of events of the Middle Ages?
What if Jesus Christ was born in 1053 and crucified in 1086 AD?
Sounds Unbelievable?
Not after you've read "History: Fiction or Science?" by Anatoly Fomenko, the genius mathematician.
Armed with astronomy and computers Anatoly Fomenko turns History into a rocket science.
Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03
Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.
Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19
Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.
Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09
There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.
For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.
Very Interesting.......2007-03-07
It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.
Book Description
A supremely usable nuts-and-bolts guide for beginners… A daily tool of the trade for specialists… Handbook of Usability Testing gives you practical, step-by-step guidelines in plain English. Written by Jeffrey Rubin, it arms beginners with the full complement of proven testing tools and techniques. From software, GUIs, and technical documentation, to medical instruments, VCRs, and exercise bikes, no matter what your product, you'll learn to design and administer extremely reliable tests to ensure that people find it easy and desirable to use.
- Requires no engineering or human factors training
- A rigorous, step-by-step approach—with an eye to common gaffes and pitfalls—saves you months of trial and error
- Liberally peppered with real-life examples and case histories taken from a wide range of industries
- Packed with extremely usable templates, models, tables, test plans, and other indispensable tools of the trade
Customer Reviews:
Very handy advice.......2006-08-26
I'm a professional usability analyst, and I got some really useful tips when I opened up my copy of this book recently. More than ever its clear to me that Rubin is an experienced practitioner, with a sensible eye for what works.
An excellent book for budding usability folks.......2002-10-26
This book is a very handy reference guide for anyone who is just getting into the field of usability, and will need to conduct their own studies. It has many nifty tips for test planning and lots of information those just starting up in the field.
Rock-solid introduction to usability testing........2000-06-07
The author provides a supermarket of information from which you can choose your approach and method for performing usability testing. I had a little usability-testing experience when I bought this book. It quickly gave me some ways to streamline my process, plus some ways to shore up my process where it was weak. The most important thing this book gave me, however, was an understanding of when to use "quick and dirty" usability testing and when to perform a more thorough study.
If you will be performing a usability test, read the book........1999-08-27
Mr. Rubin provides some of the principles of User Centered Design and explains how to perform a usability test session to ferret out some of the usability problems. A wonderful guide for someone who will be performing usability tests and would like to be able to refer to some guidelines, report formats, and technique suggestions.
A nice start, inoffensive, practical.......1999-02-23
I'm a clinical-social psychologist by training; lots and experimental psychology and research design and analysis experience. Rubin really captures the basics of the scientist-subject without being overly complex, and he does it specific to software and similar assessment projects. His writing is clean, and maybe even simple. As such, I consider his efforts a success. However, the single volume is not sufficient. Combined with titles by Nielsen, Hackos, Redish, Cooper, Norman, etc., etc., as well as a *thorough* review of the journals (the profession is changing *so* rapidly), I think Rubin's book becomes more worthy, and more useful over time. Positive, is that it's a paperback; neutral is that it might be better as a spiral-bound; negative is that it is over-priced. It should be about $24.95.
Book Description
The eight-step strategy presented in this book takes the mystery out of writing effective training courses. Practical templates, checklists, assessments, and examples streamline your effort and eliminate writer's block. You'll discover how to make the most of limited time, money, and human resources to:
—Develop training lessons that make a difference.
—Customize off-the-shelf training to meet the needs of your target audience.
—Repurpose existing documentation.
—Globalize your training for culturally diverse learners or tailor lessons to meet specific needs of a limited audience.
—Recognize dead-end paths that can undermine the success of your project.
—Incorporate ready-to-use CGI, Java, and HTML scripts into lessons. Learn when to use them, where to find download sites, and how to tailor them to your training objectives and learners.
This systematic approach has helped thousands of writers like you create training programs that deliver what they promise. In just hours, you can learn techniques and time-savers that others have learned only through hard-won experience and costly mistakes.
Keep this book handy. You'll reach for it often for real-world advice about every phase of your project from initial planning to troubleshooting. Better than a mentor, it's a must-have for every successful training or user-education professional.
Customer Reviews:
Good for content planning, not for content writing.......2006-11-21
This is one of the best books of those that help you determine what should be included in your training course - to plan objectives and then break it down into the detail. It also covers how to test the effectiveness of the course. However, it does not give any information at all about what a course module should contain or how to write it.
My goal was to write a training course for a software program. So, for the most part I knew what the outline of the course should be. I needed to know how to introduce the subject, how much to include in the single module, what exactly to do and say. For this, the book would get a zero.
Very good for it's purpose but I felt a review was needed to point out what that was.
Terrific for Planning from the Ground Up!.......2004-04-22
I just can't say enough about this book. I am developing a training program for the first time and it has added outstanding depth to my process. It is simple to use. If you go step by step everything just seems to fall in to place.
It is a life saver!
Very applicable.......2002-04-04
I read this book in 5 hours. After that, I had all the tools I needed to start developing a training course for a subject matter I still knew little about. Great book for someone who has a short time to develop a training course. Great reference for anyone who needs new approaches to their training development.
Book Description
Built on a solid foundation of current research in the field, Usability Testing and Research provides a comprehensive, up-to-date perspective in this increasingly important area of technical communication. Based on the most current research in the field, this book reflects the most recent developments and studies on this topic available. Sidebars throughout the book catch the attention of the readers and highlight key concepts in the text. A chapter on web testing provides coverage of what is now the hottest area in usability testing. End of chapter discussions and exercises reinforce learning. Frequent examples of planning, conducting, and reporting usability tests present current samples of projects. An appendix on teamwork gives pertinent advice in an area neglected by other texts: building and coordinating cross-functional teams for usability testing. For those interested in usability testing and research.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent introduction to usability testing.......2003-06-23
Most of the existing books about usability testing are ten years old. While these books have a lot to offer a current student of user-centred design and usability testing, some students find them too out-of-date to be taken seriously. This book addresses that issue. The audience for the book is clearly for those who are new to usability and usability testing. However, experienced professionals will find a fair amount of information that is useful to them as well.
The first four chapters form an introduction to user-centred design: definitions, testing models, other methods for gathering usability data, user analysis, task analysis, and prototyping. The remaining chapters discuss the process of usability testing itself: planning the test, preparing for the test, and conducting the test. One interesting chapter discusses a topic that is usually overlooked in the other usability literature: analysing the data and writing the report. This chapter also discusses the Common Industry Format for reporting usability results. The inclusion of this discussion increases the usefulness of this book for usability professionals.
Dr Barnum devotes a chapter to the sometimes nebulous topic of usability testing for the web. Although there are other books that discuss this topic alone, the inclusion of this material in this book is excellent. Students who are new to usability testing will find this book more useful than a book devoted solely to web usability testing. After completing this, a student can then go on to read web-specific books such as Nielsen's recent "Designing Web Usability".
Students and others learning about the field will find the extensive examples used throughout the book to be extremely helpful. Together, these examples provide sufficient material for a student to model their complete usability test, from planning to reporting the results. Additional examples are available on a website maintained by the publisher. These examples are less useful for current practicioners, but do not detract from the overall text for this audience.
For those who are interested in this field, this book an excellent introduction. It is well-written, and the examples provide a cookbook for students to emulate. Experienced professionals will probably not find this book to be as useful as a new student, although it is a very useful refresher.
Disclaimer: I am a past student of Dr Barnum's, and the work that my student team produced for her class is used in this book. I am now a human factors engineer for a large corporation. I keep this book on my shelf in my office, and often lend it out to our interns who are learning about this field.
A solid textbook on usability testing that includes web.......2003-05-30
It's been a long time since we've had a new textbook on usability testing. Dumas and Redish came out in 1993, Rubin in 1994 and although I still use both of them constantly, I've been looking out for a solid textbook that has more awareness of the web in it. Carol Barnum's new book meets that need.
The book opens with chapters on `What is Usability and What is Usability Testing', `Other Methods for Getting Feedback About Product Usability', `User and Task Analysis', and `Iterative Testing for User-Centred Design'. I can see that Carol wants to set user testing in context, but I was concerned that if you're really new to usability testing then you might be put off by Chapter 2 `Other methods', as it is a very densely written chapter that describes many techniques very briefly.
The meat of the book starts at Chapter 5 with `Planning for Usability Testing' and continues through `Preparing for Usability Testing', `Conducting the Usability Test', and `Analysing and Reporting Results'. The book then changes course slightly with a chapter on 'Web Usability', giving some design principles as well as details of applying the methods to the web.
Our Open University students love the plentiful examples in our course on User Interface Design and Evaluation. Carol Barnum's book should also appeal because of its extensive use of examples. She gives lots of detail from a student team's test of Hotmail (Microsoft's web-based e-mail service) so you can see the process as they tackled it. I found it a little frustrating that there weren't any screen shots of Hotmail as it stood at the time of the test. As well as the Hotmail example she uses excerpts from a test of a University web site, and has lots of anecdotes and smaller examples as well, many of them aimed at testing documentation - a neglected area. Perhaps the amount of space taken up the examples means that there is less meat in the core of the book, but if I were a beginner I'd find it very reassuring. Conversely, though, experienced practitioners might find Chapter 5 onwards a bit basic.
Academics and practitioners who like to follow up interesting ideas will be glad to know that there is extensive referencing. The appendices placed in context with the chapters broke the flow for me somewhat when I was reading the book at a sitting, but I think they would be more convenient placed where they are when using the book to actually plan and conduct a test. Each chapter closes with questions/topics for discussion and exercises which looked helpful to me if you were planning to use this as a textbook, or if you are a new practitioner who is using the book as a guide through your first usability tests.
Carol Barnum's style is clear and easy to read as you would expect from a Professor in Technical Communication. She often uses comments from Chauncey Wilson, a very experienced practitioner to give some practical tips and insights, but I sometimes found myself wishing that she had put more a more personal touch, more of her own practical experience, explicitly into the book. Apart from a couple of anecdotes, the word `I' hardly appears until we get some of her own opinions on web usability at the end of Chapter 9. We can guess at one of her concerns because she includes an interesting appendix on `Making it work as a team', which I though was a good, concise introduction.
I would recommend this book as an introductory text for undergraduates because of the extensive examples, fairly reasonable price and referencing. I think it would also be good for practitioners - for people who are getting started with user testing - to help them through their first test. I think that I'll find myself recommending that readers should start with Chapter 5, and then come back to Chapters 1 to 4 later.
(This review was written for 'Interfaces', the magazine of the British HCI Group)
STC Usability SIG review.......2003-01-30
I am the Usability SIG Manager for the Washington, DC chapter of the STC (Society for Technical Communication). I wrote this review which was published in the October 2002 edition of the Usability Interface, the quarterly newsletter of the Usability SIG of the STC.
Donýt be fooled by the somewhat unmemorable cover of Usability Testing and Research. Carol Barnum combines research findings with practitioner experience to produce probably the most comprehensive but concise resources on usability testing now available.
This book is part of the Allyn & Bacon series in technical communication. Designed in part to fulfill the needs of students in a graduate-level class in usability, it is also a great resource for usability practitioners as a tool to update and upgrade their skills. The structure of this book should suit both neophytes and the experienced. Each chapter and its subsections are well structured with a logical progression from one section to the next. The table of contents is well organized and very readable so that a knowledgeable individual can scan to find those sections that are of most immediate interest. The index is likely to be a great reference tool as it was created by a professional usability tester, someone who should know what a reader is likely to need.
Dr. Barnum, a usability consultant and professor to graduate usability students, draws upon nearly every prominent usability authority to build a comprehensive bible of usability testing. The authorýs academic background is evident in the careful footnoting of every page and the detailed listing of scores of references at the end of each chapter. If there is an issue the reader wishes to further explore, the source is cited for ready access. The findings from top usability professionals are distilled to their essence and woven into comprehensive work on usability. The reader gains the primary benefit of hundreds of books, papers, and articles without having to filter though this sea of information. There is little if anything of importance that is left out of this 448-page book of concentrated wisdom and knowledge.
The reader, whether a student or an experienced practitioner, gets the benefit of both analytic research and its practical application. Many examples of actual real-world, usability test plans, data, analysis, or summary reports are reprinted. These examples are great models for the practice of usability. This book has not just general how you might do something but also how it was actually done ý not just theory but actual practice.
Anyone interested in the usability of hardware, software, computer games, Web sites ý any product that has a user interface ý will find a great wealth of information. The first chapter starts off defining usability and explaining usability testing models and theory. It also provides a methodology for cost justification and the basis to proselytiz for usability.
In Chapter 2, the author should be commended for taking a holistic view of usability and discussing how heuristics, surveys, and focus groups play a role in the design of a usable product. Chapters 3 through 7 explain user and task analysis as a precursor to designing, planning, preparing, and conducting the test. Chapter 8 details not just the analyses of the collected data but also different methods of reporting the findings to obtain the best result. The final chapter builds on everything before and discusses those issues specific to Web usability. Nearly every chapter has an appendix with real-world examples specific to that chapter. The end-of-the-book appendix discusses how to make usability testers work as a well-functioning team.
Some books are chock full of scholarly research and empirical data and great for academia. This book has a solid base in research but was written for the real-world practitioners of usability. Itýs this steady focus on practical real-world application that most impresses me about this book.
Still not convinced this book is for you? Check out the companion Web site, ..... Download material from the bookýs appendices and sidebars. Peruse the many usability tools and link to other usability resources on the Web.
Usability Testing and Research is not only of great value as a resource of practical information to usability professionals but also as a tool to explain the benefits of usability design and testing to skeptical management. Carol Barnum should be congratulated for a great job in bringing together in one book such a complete, well-organized compilation of usability theory and practicality.
Complete guide to usability research.......2002-10-16
As a Usability professional, I have the opportunity and obligation to keep current on the literature surrounding usability research. Usability Testing and Research not only meets those criteria, but also gives readers the opportunity to delve into and understand the usability testing process.
Carol Barnum's book is at first a typical academic textbook that explains not only the principles of usability, but also the argument for usability and user-centered design. However, it is the presence of appendices at the end of most chapters that will help readers perform usability testing.
The appendices are detailed copies of documents and protocols used in previous usability tests. The aforementioned principles and arguments would stand on their own merits, but the added appendices give context to the principles and arguments, thus giving the reader the opportunity to see the principles and prototypes in action.
From my standpoint as a professional in the field, valid usability testing starts with careful, in-depth preparation. Usability Testing and Research handholds readers through this process, starting with objectives and ending with participant recruitment. This is a very important aspect of testing, as poor planning always equals poor results.
Barnum devotes several pages of the book to a very overlooked aspect of usability testing: reporting the results. Besides the detailed attention given to writing the results in a formal report or a quick report (or roadrunner as the book explains), the book also explains how to present and prepare for an oral report. No matter how valid the test may be, without an accurate, to-the-point report that gives the audience what it needs, the test results and associated costs are wasted. Barnum even discusses visual aids and the importance of the highlight tape. This, of course, is paramount to the report's success, since seeing is believing.
The book even contains a chapter devoted solely to Web usability that details common Web problems as well as insight into the Web's goal-driven users. Although research on the Web is constantly changing due to the experience level of the user base and innovative technology, the Web chapter offers an easy to understand benchmark for all usability professionals who evaluate the Web.
All in all, Usability Testing and Research covers everything that an individual new to the field needs to know. It also contains practical advice and how-to that even seasoned usability professionals need to review from time to time.
Ken Kellogg
Manager - Usability Research
First new book on the topic in a while........2002-09-27
It's been a while since there's been a new book published on usability testing. It isn't a topic that gets dated, so the books that have been out there a while are still great ones. But it's good to have a new one too. This one by Carol Barnum is a thorough, practical, highly usable book on Usability Testing. Carol starts the book with chapters on user centered design. These chapters are pretty good, but the real value, I think is the detailed chapters on how to plan, carry out, analyze and report on usability tests that are really excellent.
Besides a lot of detail on usability testing protocol (well written and highly readable) there are lots of examples of facilitator scripts, recruiting and screener forms, Think Aloud instructions, etc.
I wish the book itself were of a higher quality. The binding, paper, and printing seem low budget, yet the price is not low! No matter, buy it anyway. Whether you are new to usability testing or an experienced tester, it's a useful book.
Book Description
The authorized guide to the latest edition of the #1 business intelligence software product - Crystal Reports. More than 16 million licenses of Crystal Reports have been shipped to date. This book is a reference designed to provide hands-on guidance for the latest release of the product suite. The latest version of Crystal Reports and the Business Objects enterprise reporting suite delivers vast product enhancements and a tighter integration that will drive upgrades from licensees. Brand new features (e.g. Dynamic and Cascading Parameter Generation) will also appeal to new audiences. Over 1 million new Business Intelligence licensees will be migrating to the Crystal Enterprise Reporting platform, as this is the first release of the software with the existing Business Objects (BO) products being integrated into the Crystal infrastructure. As Business Objects insiders, the authors bring unique and valuable real-world perspectives on implementations and uses of the Crystal Reports product. The book also includes content, tutorials and samples for reporting within the Microsoft Visual Studio.NET and J2EE development environments and also on top of the SAP Business Information Warehouse (BW) and the Peoplesoft platform. Advanced content on report distribution and integration into the secured managed reporting solution known as Business Objects Enterprise XI, is also now included in this definitive user guide with coverage on the new Web Services SDK.
Customer Reviews:
Good book for learning and reference........2007-03-22
I found this book to be an outstanding tool for learning Crystal Report. It's an easy read and has many easy and relevant examples.
Furthermore, since this is my first few weeks of using BOXI, I find myself referencing this book a lot. So far I have not been disappointed!
Should have come with the software..........2007-01-08
Remember back in the "good old days" of shrinkwrapped software when the box was mostly full with a big printed reference manual? Well, this is the book that should have come inside the now-nearly-empty box. The book is a standard reference-type manual designed to provide an overview of every feature within the product including the newest features such as Dynamic and Cascading Parameter Generation. Besides the standard overview type stuff, it includes some basic tutorials on often-confusing topics such as report integration (in .NET and J2EE environments); you won't become an expert using these tutorials, however. The book also includes a lot of information on how Crystal Reports integrates with Business Objects' larger software platforms (which, I suspect, will be a useless topic for 99% of users).
Beginning users will find the manual easy to use and full of interesting information. Intermediate users will find solid suggestions here and there. Advanced users will probably give it a flip-through and stuff it on the shelf next to all the other references where it will be used for occasional consultation. All in all a solid offering in a fairly crowded field, but one that is authoratative and complete. But I just can't shake the feeling that the manual should have come in the box. Heck, it even looks and feels just like the typical software documentation of days gone by...
Customer Reviews:
useful for any mobile development environment.......2005-03-05
Salmre gives a very thorough exposition of the issues involved in writing applications for mobile devices. Where you face strong constraints in available memory, screen size and lack of a mouse. Plus network connectivity might be low bandwidth and intermittent.
His analysis is mostly within the context of .NET Compact Framework. You can regard this as a slimmed down .NET/C#, analogous to the way that J2ME/MIDP is a reduced J2SE.
Several chapters transcend the Compact Framework context and apply equally well to any development environment for mobile code. Like the chapter on using a state machine to model your application. Or the chapter on whether to use XML for data interchange. These chapters, like the rest of the book, have examples in C#. But the examples are short and clearly enough written to be understandable even if C# isn't your cup of tea. So you can use the examples as pseudocode, to port to other languages.
Actually, a closer scrutiny of the book reveals that most of it is written in a logical and general enough manner to be handy for any mobile development. The guidelines in most chapters can be thusly used.
Customer Reviews:
This book..........2007-09-24
...smells like cat pee.
And my cat totally didn't pee on it!
I'm pretty burned out on researching. Please keep me up to date with how helpful this review is!
Paralegal now has a clue.......2007-04-04
As a paralegal, I assist my supervising attorneys in writing briefs for administrative hearings and federal court. We had a brief due in which we were citing federal law, California Education Code, and a plethora of State-generated publications and web content that were created in response to State and Federal mandates. I had no idea how to format the legal cites for some of our more unusual sources of data. I ordered the ALWD Citation Manual and had it in my hands within days. It was a little confusing to look up which types of cites applied to my materials, though. Some things were pretty easy to figure out, but other things were more cryptic. In the end, we figured it out and it helped us get our brief out on time and properly formatted.
Flopping like New Coke.......2007-02-26
While I agree in principle that a citation book should be readable and easy to use, I find ALWD to be decidedly useless in the real practice of law. Although forced to purchase the book as a 1L, I have to meet an attorney, judge or legal scholar that uses it or would like it to replace the Bluebook. In fact, during a firm interview, the attorney and I joked that we would like to start an anti-ALWD club to prevent 1Ls from being tricked into preferring ALWD over Bluebook. Sorry ALWD.
Great purchase experience - no problems!.......2007-01-21
The text was as described with no issues. The delivery was prompt and handled in a professional manner. I recommend this seller.
More User-Friendly Than Bluebook.......2006-11-19
There are two citation manuals for lawyers: Bluebook, which has been around for several years and is compiled by the Harvard Law Review, and ALWD, which was recently developed by the Association of Legal Writing Directors.
As a current law student, I had the benefit of approaching ALWD without ever having used Bluebook. I have since used both ALWD and Bluebook, and I find ALWD to be much more user-friendly. ALWD and Bluebook are identical in many respects, but finding citation rules in ALWD is more intuitive. For a law student who has to refer often to citation rules, ease of use is a definite benefit.
Having said that, there have been occasions where ALWD has not contained the information that I have needed, so I have had to refer to Bluebook. While Bluebook seems to be more comprehensive, ALWD is easier to use for all but the most esoteric citation rules. Thus, ALWD is not a replacement for Blue Book so much as it is a companion to it.
Book Description
Administrators, more technically savvy than their managers, have started to secure the networks in a way they see as appropriate. When management catches up to the notion that security is important, system administrators have already altered the goals and business practices. Although they may be grateful to these people for keeping the network secure, their efforts do not account for all assets and business requirementsFinally, someone decides it is time to write a security policy. Management is told of the necessity of the policy document, and they support its development. A manager or administrator is assigned to the task and told to come up with something, and fast!Once security policies are written, they must be treated as living documents. As technology and business requirements change, the policy must be updated to reflect the new environment--at least one review per year. Additionally, policies must include provisions for security awareness and enforcement while not impeding corporate goals. This book serves as a guide to writing and maintaining these all-important security policies.
Download Description
Administrators, more technically savvy than their managers, have started to secure the networks in a way they see as appropriate. When management catches up to the notion that security is important, system administrators have already altered the goals and business practices. Although they may be grateful to these people for keeping the network secure, their efforts do not account for all assets and business requirements Finally, someone decides it is time to write a security policy. Management is told of the necessity of the policy document, and they support its development. A manager or administrator is assigned to the task and told to come up with something, and fast! Once security policies are written, they must be treated as living documents. As technology and business requirements change, the policy must be updated to reflect the new environment--at least one review per year. Additionally, policies must include provisions for security awareness and enforcement while not impeding corporate goals. This book serves as a guide to writing and maintaining these all-important security policies.
Customer Reviews:
Best Condition, Timely Service.......2005-08-04
My book was in new condition, and I received my book, hassle free, in my postal box!!! It also arrived when I expected it to!
Good if you want to reinvent the wheel!.......2004-04-25
This book is good if you want to start policy-writing project or want to do PhD in policy writing. In today fast moving world, you want best practices for the most commonly used polices, which you could review and quickly deploy.
I think "Best Practices Information Security Policy Manual" by PacificIS is better choice. It is simple, direct and of right size i.e. 50+ pages, it is ready to use in word format. As you know, if my organization publishes a policy manual of 700 plus pages no one will read. Other very useful resource is Charles Cresson's Information Policy Made Easy with 1300 policies on 725 pages. However, I find it more difficult to select from 1300 polices which are more of academic nature. It also requires lot of editing and customization. I would love to follow it if my company assigns me a project of 3-month just to write a policy.
Not thorough or rigorous, but a good set of secpol topics.......2002-07-21
Security policies are not security, and will not provide any protection. However, as the well-known formulation has it: security is a process. An organization does not "have" security, rather they participate in the process of security. Barnum explains that security policies are a component of the planning aspect of the security process, and as such can provide three advantages. The first is to insure security interoperability across an organization. The second advantage is the visibility given to the policy by management's participation in it, which provides a greater impetus for implementation. The third is to mitigate liability, presumably by the legal value of the policy, and the advantages to security that a policy-driven approach proves. Another reason mentioned is that for some organizations, policy documentation is needed for iso900x compliance. Unstated is the assumption that a security policy might result in greater security. After all, even with all the other purported advantages, a security policy is presumptively about making security better.
At 216 pages, "Writing Information Security Policies" seems just the right size to touch all the bases, but not enough for a home run in the subject area. Good worklike effort, but the diversity of subject matter, and a lack of focus and internal theoretical structure robs the work of providing insightful organizational direction, though it still pays dividends, and is ultimately very worth reading.
The book is divided into three sections. The first is titled "Starting the policy process," and includes such issues as policy needs and roles and responsibilities in the policy process. The second section is writing the security policies in the topical areas. The third is on maintaining policies, including acceptable use and compliance and enforcement. In the first section, the discussion includes such items as:
1. Identification of assets
2. Data security
3. Backups and archives
4. Intellectual property rights
5. Incident response and forensics
It is clear from these topics that though the title of the book is Information Security Policies, a more accurate one might be Information and Communication Technology Security Policies, as it is networks and software systems which are the focus throughout.
As far as real-world recommendations and a more serious framework for security policies at highly secured organizations, the reader will have to search elsewhere. However, this book amply suits the need for a series of more conversational approaches to a variety of ICT security policies and subject areas. Also of use are the distinctions between policy, procedure, and implementation, found scattered throughout this book, though unfortunately not strictly adhered to. And though the sample administrative policies found in the appendix are nowhere complete, there are helpful policy formulations throughout. In the second section, the seven major areas of discussion that offer the heart of the book are more of a topical arrangement, than any hierarchical or conceptual approach. They include security policy concerned with the following subject areas:
1. Physical
2. Authentication and network
3. Internet
4. Email
5. Viruses, worms, and Trojan horses
6. Encryption
7. Software development
There is enough that is badly worded and poorly organized in the book, but it is of real benefit--both on its own merits, and because there is little information of this kind available to practitioners and those managers who might want something that is more than a simple set of forms, but is less than a week-long course in security policy.
Brings best practices to small companies.......2002-07-06
What makes this book an important addition to the IT security body of knowledge is that it makes a case for, and shows how to, create and implement IT security policies in small-to-medium enterprises.
The book itself is a short, somewhat superficial, treatment of IT security policies. It has strengths and weaknesses:
STRENGTHS: It makes a compelling business case for having IT security policies, then leads you through the creation of the more common ones. This material is augmented by the book's accompanying web site that provides all of the sample policies in Appendix C in HTML format (most modern word processing programs, such as MS Word can convert this to their native format without losing any of the embedded styles). Note that the URL given in the book has changed, but it is still active and automatically redirects you to the new URL.
In addition, the book touches on important topics that you may not think of if you're attempting to develop policies on your own. For example, intellectual property rights, law enforcement issues and forensics. These are touched upon, but will raise your awareness of their importance.
WEAKNESSES: The actual development and maintenance of policies is almost an afterthought. Moreover, I thought that a structured approach to threat and vulnerability assessments should have been covered (to be fair, the author discusses major threats on practically every page). I also felt that the policies should have been linked to processes, which is the hallmark of a well written policy, and the importance of clearly defining roles and responsibilities should have been highlighted. I recommend that readers also get a copy of Steve Pages " Achieving 100% Compliance of Policies and Procedures" (ISBN 1929065493) to supplement this book. Page's book is focused solely on policies and procedures development, and will fill in the gaps left in this book.
Overall, this book deserves recognition for raising awareness of the importance of IT security policies to small companies. It also deserves credit for sticking to the fundamentals (cited weaknesses notwithstanding), without overwhelming small enterprise IT professionals who are probably wearing many hats besides IT security. For that audience this book shows the way, and earns my praise.
The right book at the right time.......2002-06-04
Network administration is only 10% of my job, which means the task of creating a security policy for our 40-user systems integration company needed to take a proportional amount of my time and energy. This book provides a lot of helpful examples, and really gives you what you need to get started. The length is appropriate, the language fits both technical and non-technical audiences, and the organization makes sense. It has definitely saved me considerable time and energy.
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Books Index
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