The Content Composer Org

This review of books is a little overdue but has come to fruition as a result of three convergent but independent factors: space, time and knowledge. Space, or rather the lack of it, is a direct consequence of sharing my home with four other people who strangely confine their books to the available shelving.

My children are yet young and can gradually be converted to the cause but I fear that my wife may be lost to it already. Don’t get me wrong, she loves books too but she particularly loves books that are attractively arranged on the shelf. There is a beauty to this symmetry but I find it a cold beauty as they sit all in a line shelf by shelf with, god forbid, their spines bright and buffed. Luckily, her influence in this respect only applies to the drawing room.

My influence applies elsewhere. One garage has metamorphosed into a repository for the spillage of books, accompanied by a big, old fashioned table football, a huge papier mache starfish mirror, a self confessed aberration by my wife, various cartoons which, for good and various reasons, didn’t make the cut in the house itself and a general sense of disorderliness. We’ve reached a sort of quid pro quo whereby she utilises the space beside the door for excess storage, immaculately packaged as usual, and averts her gaze from the relative chaos at the other end of the room. There is one area that is indisputably mine, however, and that is my study.

There is only one thing wrong with my study and that is its size. This inner sanctum contains, in general, those subjects I am especially interested in but, much as I have tried to classify them, the sheer wealth of material has progressively rendered this a most difficult task. The categories covered in my study range from philosophy, Judaism and counterculture to essays, humour and bibliophily but, equally, through want of space, exclude passions such as football, art and business, all demoted to secondary locations.

Nevertheless, a pile of 22 business books presently sits in my study, completely obscuring my view of the bottom shelf of biographies and partially so the one above. The column to its right comprises a random 16 strong selection, the next a further 12, plus 4 pamphlets, and you get the idea. I shall be reviewing in pretty short order every incumbent on my shelves, whether horizontal or vertical – that’s books, not me – and, by the time I’ve finished, auditing the books will take on an altogether different meaning. I shall thus be pruning my collection to ensure I have what I know and know what I have. Who knows what hides behind the column?

The very mention of time reminds me of a quite marvellous book which I have just plucked off the shelf beside me. This is “Time and the Art of Living” by Robert Grudin, an American academic, which I bought in 1988 and have only occasionally dipped into since. The author is a noted authority on both Shakesperean and Renaissance literature but is evidently a man of formidable erudition and lightness of touch, not dissimilar to Robertson Davies. Grudin’s exploration of time, through wise and pithy observations, is an absolute treat. Recommended. Also recommended is actually finding the time to read all these books. Many have lain untouched, unopened and unloved for years and, hopefully, this exercise will bring them to a new audience. I don’t pretend that I will ever read half the books I own but then many are designed for a dip rather than full immersion.

The real problem is that I buy books fairly frequently. Moreover, I find it exceedingly difficult to buy only one book when surrounded by so many. Most people have mastered the modest art of, broadly speaking, leaving with what they came in for. I am far too distracted, however, even in bad bookshops. Bad bookshops tend, alas, to be the rule rather than the exception. Most of the dominant retailers are conspicuous by poor signage, predictable display and a complete absence of what I would best describe as a comfort zone. Yet these disadvantages are insufficient to deter me from a quick gander from time to time, if only to draw upon their breadth of stock, so you can imagine the state I’m in when I enter a bookshop, replete with gaps, surprises and architecturally challenged shelving. There are some quite wonderful bookshops in both London and beyond but that’s a subject with numerous diversions, in more ways than one, which I must leave for another day.

I have frequently ruminated over what I have collected and why. Certainly, I am conscious of how little I know of so much and one might view this accumulation of books as a natural form of education. However, it would be a misconception to consider me well read. Widely read perhaps, but well read? No. I would struggle to name five classic works of fiction that I have read. I can safely say that in adulthood I have not granted daylight to a single page of Dickens, Tolstoy or Wordsworth. Darkness has similarly shrouded such titans of ancient civilisation as Socrates, Plato and Cicero. The great political, economic and social tracts have been largely dispatched to forgotten shelves and I have but a nodding acquaintance with classical music, opera and ballet and other such cultured pursuits.

So what have I got? On balance, I own a pretty eclectic collection of books acquired from charity shops, antiquarian dealers, unlikely places, second hand booksellers, village tearooms, overseas, unpromising situations, in the country, frankly, anywhere and everywhere. I’m fascinated as much by design or provenance or eccentricity as I am by the raw content. Of course, within that, I own innumerable mainstream titles, some perhaps a little unfashionable now, that may be regarded as a diverse barometer of public and critical taste. I also possess some extremely rare and unusual items but the key for me is to mix them up wherever possible. I simply enjoy the juxtaposition of an 1863 edition of “Memoirs of Remarkable Misers” alongside “Purple Cow” by marketing guru Seth Godin. I’m sure there’s a medical term for my condition but, unfortunately, I can’t reach the necessary dictionary just yet to confirm it.

I aim to pick up every single book on my shelves over the coming weeks and months and I hope will open my eyes, and indeed your eyes, to the multifarious pleasures of books. If a book I mention should appeal, please let me know if you wish to borrow it. My next missive will concentrate on 13 outsize volumes atop one of the main bookcases in my study. One or two lean towards coffee table territory but overall they represent a handsome selection of books that I look forward to sharing with you shortly. Onwards and upwards, as they say, or, perhaps, in my case, onwards and sideways.

Howard Lewis,
Chairman, Invaluable group of companies.

http://www.invaluable.com

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There are a number of things that I don’t like about ebooks or written books that talk to people regarding technology. There are too many assumptions made about the people that are reading the publications.

For the most part the authors and publishers are under an albeit false impression that everyone is a techno-wiz and that we all live and breathe every verse of every tech manual ever devised.

What they fail to realize in this country especially is that the reading level for the populus is decreasing at an ever rapid rate. We in tech (I have been guilty of this as well) are not educating our audience. We’re preaching to them instead of helping them understand what it is that we are trying to sell them or provide to them.

Now while dumbing things down is not helpful either, adding some additional education to the prose is preferred as a solution to the problem which confronts us. How do we explain rocket-science in such a way that someone who’s not Werner Von Braun can actually understand it and put the shields up so that the Klingon’s don’t screw us from our seats once again and drop us onto some forbidden planet.

Authors…do something simple as add a glossary of terms for your readers. Educate them so that they respect you and laud you and tell all their friends to purchase your tomes. Not so that they despise you and send you packing the next time you come to town.

That’s my .02 on this subject for this day.

Michael Murdock, CEO, www.DocMurdock.com
Former Pixar Macintosh Systems Engineer Credited in Toy Story 1995

Protect Your Windows Network: From Perimeter to Data
by Jesper M. Johansson and Steve Riley
Addison-Wesley Microsoft Technology Series (2005)

As the title should tell you, this is an unabashedly Windows-oriented book. It’s no surprise, considering the authors are both employees of Microsoft. Jesper Johansson is the Senior Program Manager for Security Policy, and Steve Riley is the Senior Program Manager in the Security Business and Technology unit. Both authors are extremely knowledgeable, and participate in speaking engagements around the world on a regular basis.

Microsoft-centric view aside, I deal primarily with Windows-based networks, so I found this book to be extremely informative in my security continuing education. The authors attempt to cover a great deal of ground, so by necessity, some areas are covered in more depth than others. The areas covered are divided into 6 parts: “Introduction and Fundamentals,” “Policies, Procedures, and User Awareness,” “Physical and Perimeter Security: The First Line of Defense,” Protecting Your Network Inside the Perimeter,” “Protecting Hosts,” and “Protecting Applications.”

The book is filled with practical, common sense analysis of security, both with respect to genuinely securing systems, and avoiding practices of “Security Theater.” Each chapter ends with a section entitled “What You Should Do Today,” reinforcing the action items suggested throughout the chapter. The book also includes a CD containing a few helpful tools. These include a password generator, a HOSTS file that blocks known spyware sites, and a script to revoke SQL Server PUBLIC permissions.

The writing style is at times humorous, and very down-to-earth. This book is valuable both as a casual read, and a comprehensive reference for securing networks. I highly recommend it to anyone in the Information Security field, as well as anyone looking for a place to start educating themselves about network security.

John Biasi is an IT professional, and the creator of the Security Theater of the Absurd website ==>http://www.security-theater.blogspot.com

Here’s a really simple way… to start your own business
selling information products.

How many times have you sat and wished you could profit from
information products like the well known marketers do?
But there’s always something holding you back, you don’t
know how to write a book, you don’t know how to sell online,
or a million and one different obstacles you can think of.
Well here are my 5 tips to make your online bookshop and
publishing empire more than just a dream.

1. you don’t know how to write an e-book, or article for
yourself?

There’s a quick and simple way to get around this.
Turn Other People’s Information Formats Into A Publication
You could get permission from a publisher to transcribe an
audio
or video into a print or electronic publication. You would
have nothing to write and you could just pay them an
up-front fee or royalties on your sales. Another alternative
is to Compile A Publication – You could allow other authors and
experts to write the publication for you in exchange for
free publicity or other incentives. You would simply contact the
authors and experts you want and ask them to donate some content.

2. You don’t know which format to use to publish your book.

There are several formats for publishing an e-book, the most
common, and easily distributed is in pdf format. To make it
even easier, here is a link to the Easy PDF Publishers
Toolkit with all the information you need to start
publishing your book.
http://www.cashinonline.info/pdf
Another alternative is to publish as an executable file, but
this will limit your appeal to those people running a
computer which can open it. The pdf is favourite because it
can be read by most operating systems and computers.

3. You don’t know how to setup a sales site

This is where you can use the power of the internet again,
Package Your Publication With Other Products – You could
ask similar but non-competing businesses to create a package
deal. You would sell your publications or product together
in one package deal.
You would split the profit or each sells them separately for
100% of the profits.

4. Another tip for saving you doing the selling

Others Give Away Your Publication And You Charge Them For
Bulk Quantities – You could have others give away your
publication and you receive a bulk purchase sale.
For example a business may want 100 copies of your
publication to give to their employees.
You could charge them a lower cost per item because of
the large quantity that you’re selling.

5. Make more money with each book

Sell A Branded Copy Of Your Publication – You could allow
other people to sell or give away the publication as their
own and charge them to place their ads in it. If it
contains links to affiliate sites, offer people the
opportunity to put their affiliate links in for a small fee,
and if not yours will earn money when people purchase
through them.

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No matter what excuses you find for not starting selling
your own e-book there is an answer if you really want to
start.

So stop making excuses, follow these tips and start making
money with your own e-books today.

(c) copyright 2005 by Douglas Titchmarsh

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Doug Titchmarsh runs several sites including
http://www.cashinonline.info and
http://www.titchmarsh.com and publishes
an e-zine for marketers online and off
which you can get by sending an email to
douglastitchmarsh@getresponse.com
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