Discovering Computers 2001 Concepts for a Connected World

Rating:
Summary: Razzle Dazzle Computers
Review: I have used this book for several semesters in an introductory course. The book has plenty of flash, so much flash that it is distracting from the content. The colors and placement of the illustrations make it difficult for one's eye's to track the text; most of them do not add functionality to the text. The web enhanced content, when it works, adds little to the content of the book. Its idiosyncratic navigation means that if I want students to use it, I must spend an inordinate amount of time trying to help students wade through the web content. The page numbering scheme (used in all S/C books)is distracting. Difficult to say who would profit from this book as a textbook. Certainly it's too non-technical for CS majors and way too verbose for non-majors. The authors would have been better served by first figuring out who their audience is and then addressing that audience. Makes a nice coffee table book though

Rating:
Summary: Great piece of work
Review: This book is really good! It shows the new user how to start on a computer. The book goes through all the finite details without getting the reader confused on the book. The great thing about it is that new users can learn how a computer works and how they are just a tool to help you in your quest to computer literacy. The great things of the book are the knowlege that you gain by reading it. The book goes through how a operating system works and how you use it's diffrent functions. The book also goes through the diffrent applications that you can use in a PC. I really liked this book and it is a great teaching tool, to teach to a new class. At the end of each of the chapters you can do the exercises to get you familiar with the computer. The book also has a web page that goes along with where you are at in the book. For experienced computer people the book is still of some intrest where you can learn things you never knew that you could do on a computer. I really liked the book and that is why I am giving it a 5.