Troubleshooting Your PC for Dummies

As soon as I opened this package  I knew I'd goofed. "Now Updated to Support Vista!"?    ...well, it's by the same author as the version I thought I was buying, and I do in fact have a Vista machine  which I've refused to let die because it can play games that simply don't play nice with Windows 10.  Even if the specific steps are different, the  general steps may still apply today. So I read it, and...well, I'll have to be more careful about buying used books in the future.  Troubleshooting Your PC for Dummies, 3rd edition, is definitely a intro computer users' guide; while it assumes users are generally familiar with using Windows,  it doesn't get into the kind of specifics that the most recent edition does.

The above shot is from the table of contents for Troubleshooting and Maintaining Your PC All in One For Dummies, 3rd Edition, not Troubleshooting Your PC for Dummies, 3rd Edition  As you can see, it's a methodical walk-through of everything that happens during the startup sequence,  (I assume)  offers information on how to figure out if it's bad RAM or a failing power supply or whatever.    The similarly titled but drastically book I've just read was far more basic,  explaining what common errors meant,  reviewing the proper method of uninstalling programs (instead of just deleting their files), running antivirus and system restores ,  guiding readers  to their Control Panel -- helpful to beginners who  have never explored  beyond the desktop and their documents folders. 

Although I still want to add a guide like this to my tech resource library, it won't be this one, given the relatively shallow level of information and the  constant attempts at humor which must have been a for Dummies specification. What's worse, some of the information is...not quite right. For instance, the author tells readers that if the User Account Control window pops up, they're probably in the middle of something they shouldn't be doing. As someone who frequently customizes games -- adding clothing and objects to The Sims, say, or custom maps to Civilization -- the UAC  was a chronic nuisance, refusing to allow even my admin account to unpack files from compressed folders into the Program Files directory, even after I authorized it.   I wound up creating a "landing" folder in a directory UAC wasn't so touchy about, unpacking items there, then  moving them from the landing to their intended directory (with UAC demanding I confirm the action, not to  be ignored).   There's probably a way to turn UAC off, but I wouldn't want to disable Windows calling foul on any actual intrusions.   In sound troubleshooting, the author suggests a system restore before users have even made sure that a volume problem isn't just limited to one file, or one program. 

Build Your Own PC for Dummies

Build Your Pwn PC For Dummies
© 2009 Mark Chambers
336 pages

Both my increasing interest in learning how to work with computer hardware, and my nephew's desire to build a gaming computer,  have led to me watching hours of build videos on YouTube, and scrounging around the internet for helpful resources. Although this book was published in 2009, it has a long history of solid reviews, and I was able to find a used copy which included a working DVD.     This beginner's guide to building a PC first assures reader that it's not nearly as difficult process as they imagine, and requires minimal tools -- usually, just a Phillips-head screwdriver.   Because building a PC is an inherently sequential process --  beginning with the case and motherboard, and building from there --  the book's organization follows that process.  The initial chapters cover the first steps:   deciding on what kind of machine to build,  finding a case and motherboard that will meet the need, and installing essentials like the power supply,  processor, and RAM.  Once the hard drive is installed, the author shifts to optional-but-likely add-ins like DVD drives, graphics and sounds cards, and other accessories.  The video is divided into similar stages.

Obviously, a book on computer hardware from 2009 is going to be dated at this point, and arguably it was dated upon release given that it includes a chapter on floppy disks, when retail PC builds had stopped carrying  units with floppy disk drives at least three years before. (My family purchased a PC in 2004/2005 that had no floppy disk reader, just USB ports and a never-used reader for zip cards. ) Still,  storage and data transfer (SATA cables were still nosing into the market here)  are the only real age-related weaknesses. The book is designed to be read independent of any other sections, so each starts with the same advice about grounding yourself to prevent any static electricity discharges. The author always uses a joke to introduces these, which gets old quickly if you're reading it through.  The jokes are not as pervasive on the video, but they're there. 

Although certain elements of this are badly dated, the basic process remains current, and I think it would be helpful to someone introducing themselves to the idea of building a PC.  Fixing Your Computer: Absolute Beginner's Guide has more more information on the actual components and what their advertised specs mean, though. 

Digital Filmmaking for Kids

Digital Filmmaking for Kids
© 2015 Nick Willoughby
304 pages

I am not, readers may spot, a kid.  However, when I WAS a kid, I was one given to wandering around the woods with a massive camcorder in my shoulders, attempting to make nature documentaries -- or endlessly playing around with home audio equipment to make "radio shows"  or Calvin and Hobbes audiobooks.  (None of these tapes survived the nineties to my knowledge.)     Computers renewed that old interest in  mucking around with audio and video, hence my reading this.   The title is well organized and generously illustrated, but approximately a third of the content is useful only to Apple users. These are the chapters on digital editing, which only utilize iMovie. The only obvious indicator of this book being written for kids is the fact that all of the actors in the example stills are children; there's no overt "Boys and girls, today we'll be learning about 3-point lighting! Isn't that COOOOL?" tone.   Most of the content covers the basic concepts of filmmaking, a review of equipment from a basic cameraphone to more elaborate setups including mic booms, mobile camera tripods,  and lighting systems, and film production organization, and techniques.  I think a book like this would have definitely fed my imagination as a kid and helped me an even more pretentious little David Attenborough imitator.

Related:
Making YouTube Videos, Nick Willoughby.

This Week at the Library (19 June)

In addition to the reviews posted this weekend, I also finished Biology Made Simple -- which proved to be too simple for my needs. Although the book improved vastly as the author covered the bodily systems, the opening chapters on basic biological functions are too simplistic to be of help: I generally need to see diagrams of chemical reactions to fully appreciate what is happening. For that, I think I should return to Biology Demystified instead.

At the library, I picked up:

• Cop Hater by Ed McBain, which I read within hours of picking it up for the first time.
• God is not One: The Eight Rival Religions that Rule the World and Why Their Differences Matter by Stephen Prothero. This book has been checked out of the library for months: I'd assumed someone lost it, but apparently they've been renewing it again and again and the library's software didn't catch them. This should be an interesting read, given that I tend to believe humanity's various religions have all interacted with one another too much throughout the course of history to be completely separate. 
• Sharpe's Fortress, the final book in the Indian trilogy by Bernard Cornwell. 

Also, on Friday morning I received The Third Chimpanzee by Jared Diamond in the post. I've been wanting to read this one for a while.

I also have The Age of Faith. I'm presently reading about  the Islamic wars of conquest and hoping for something a little more cheerful, like the spread of the Black Death. Robert Heinlein's The Cat Who Walks through Walls is still unfinished. I'm finding it an altogether odd reading experience: I read Currents of Space by Asimov last week in part to scratch my old-school SF itch but with a more familiar author.

Earth Science Made Simple

Earth Science Made Simple
© 2004 Edward F. Albin
224 pages

Earth science! Fun!  I enjoy reading these little guides as introductions to a subject or refreshers on it, and Earth Science Made Simple fits the bill.  Four separate sections cover Geology, Oceanography, Meteorology, and Planetary Science, the last of which applies the principles observed on Earth to understand  the other planets in the solar system.  The book begins with the basics, introducing geology with a primer on atoms and elements. The authors frequently remind readers of material they've surveyed already, when new material is building upon it, mitigating the occasional need to thumb back through the book. The introductions serve the text well, connecting sections together, and the text is replete with illustrations, most of which are helpful. Only one, a list of the planets, seemed more distracting than helpful: while the authors make it clear the planets are not drawn to scale,  they do depict the planets as varying in size (Jupiter being large compared to the rest, Pluto being tiny) -- which will throw readers off when they see Venus (almost as large as Earth) as being drawn slightly smaller than Mercury!

Because this is an introduction to the subject,  more detailed explanations are rare. Were they present, the book would be much larger.  While there are no end-of-chapter quizzes for the reader to test comprehension, the sections open with a glossary of terms that you should be able to identify at section's end, and there are numerous little practical experiments suggested in sidebars that readers can use to see principles at work for themselves -- like witnessing crystal growth after  introducing distilled Epsom salt into a pie pan coated in black construction paper, then leaving it in direct sunlight.  This lives up to the strong expectations I have of the Made Simple series.

Anthropology for Dummies

Anthropology for Dummies: From Archaeology to Linguistics -- Your Plain-English Guide to the Study of Humankind

© 2008 Cameron Smith with Evan T. Davies

360 pages

"The human species has found many ways to be human." - p. 259

I don't think I've commented on a for Dummies or Complete Idiot's Guide book on here before, although I posses perhaps a dozen of them, all history-related. I've found them to be useful guides for finding out general information and they serve nicely as introductions to subjects I know little about. Although some people do not take them seriously, the television show Jeopardy! has shelves of them in their library: take that as you will.

This book follows the pattern of most for Dummies books: it is highly organized for readers looking for specific chapters and sections, written in an informal matter (the author referring to himself with "I" and to the reader with "you") that incorporates joking statements and witty section titles ("My Career is in Ruins" covers archaeology, for instance), and ends with two "Top Ten" chapters. One contains the top ten things the reader must remember about anthropology if nothing else, and the other contains the top ten movies and books with an anthropological theme, including one of my favorites, Carl Sagan's Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors. The impersonal and simple language make the book easy to read through, although some readers may object to the author offering personal opinions that may not be warranted. (A case can be made for the author referring to the most probable of hypothetical situations, but there were other instances in which I didn't think his opinions had place in the text. This may be personal taste, however.)

Given the book's subject - anthropology being the study of humankind here -- there's a lot to cover. Anthropology and the book incorporate history, linguistics, biology and evolution specifically, sociology, sociological theory, economics, agriculture, religion, and more. Dr. Smith's own speciality seems to have been archaeology, but he explains the other disciplines well, too. Before "The Part of Tens", which is a hallmark of the for Dummies book, Smith ends the book proper with a chapter on how anthropology can be used to inform and plan public policy. I enjoyed the experience, found it helpful to read about the development of the field itself, and may purchase it in the future for my own library. It's a recommendation to those interested in the included subjects or humanity in general.