(Approx. 1,050 words)

Finally! Essential Tech Books for Non-Dummies
Written by Gabe Goldberg, APCUG Advisor; Columnist, www.compukiss.com
http://www.compukiss.com
gabe(at)gabegold.com

With holidays just past, many people reading this article from AARP's Web site will need techno-wisdom for dealing with gifts received by family, friends, and themselves. But with conflicting suggestions from mailing lists, Web sites, stores, and manufacturers all around us, a trusted guidebook is valuable. 

The books are "Sandy Berger's Great Age Guide to Better Living Through Technology", "... to the Internet", and "... to Gadgets & Gizmos". Their common design is open and uncluttered; accessible language is clear but not dumbed down; there's no mention of dummies or idiots.

Good personal-style writing engages the reader, calming and building confidence. Sandy shares her sense of excitement and discovery and offers clear opinions on technology and how it affects us. That's pleasantly different from most technology books. And agree or disagree on individual items, you'll certainly know where she stands.

Ideas and technology are amply illustrated by easy-to-read screen images and clear photos. I'd have liked a "lay-flat" binding for easy reference at the computer.

The "Great Age" title credits Pablo Picasso with saying, "Age only matters when one is aging. Now that I have arrived at a great age, I might as well be twenty". Chapters begin with other thought-provoking quotations. My favorite, highlighting the empowering nature of the books' subject matter, comes from marketing guru Greg Arnold: "All
greatness is achieved while performing outside your comfort zone". Fear often comes from lack of understanding; don't worry, the books aren't uncomfortable reading -- but they may challenge you to try new things.

The books open onto Contents at a Glance -- a list of chapter titles and page numbers. That's handy, giving a quick focus without requiring flipping past usual book-front boilerplate. Each book includes a brief "What's Inside" write-up, noting that there are no special instructions for reading, and highlighting unique design elements. The Technology and Internet books include valuable sidebars calling out Sandy's Tips,
Blooper Alerts, Lingo, and Trivia. Selected items in Gadgets and Gizmos are designated Sandy's Favorites.

Sandy Berger's Great Age Guide to Better Living Through Technology reminds us how pervasive technology is, how much things have changed in our lifetimes, and how change is accelerating and never-ending. It covers topics such as how families can use the digital world, how technology has affected shopping, travel, health, finances, and even meeting people. Throughout, it encourages continued learning at any age
-- after all, we know HOW to learn. This book shows much that's worth learning. It's not preachy or prescriptive. For example, it lists diverse search engines, giving attributes and advantages for each. Many are specialized, less known than Google/Yahoo/etc., and yet may be best for fulfilling certain quests. I'm happy that it highlights the
wonderful Library of Congress. This treasure, local to me, is available to all online.

Sandy Berger's Great Age Guide to the Internet focuses on getting online, learning the language of the Internet, having fun and communicating, and avoiding problems and staying safe. It reports scientists believing that humans use about 10% of their brainpower, and speculates that most people use about 10% of their PC's power -- and
aims to help raise both numbers. The book starts gently, introducing Internet concepts and terms, and assembles them into tips and tricks for Web searching, e-mailing, understanding Web advertising, and even building our own Web pages. It gives tips for picking an ISP (Internet service provider), demystifies browser windows components, and offers netiquette advice for instant messaging. I take issue, though, with its use of the term "hacker" as bad guy; I grew up hearing it as a term of praise  [en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker].

Sandy Berger's Great Age Guide to Gadgets & Gizmos is a different sort of book, a bit hard to categorize. It's a catalog, shopping guide, and a tour through current and future technology. It offers gift ideas for oneself or Santa; if you observe someone reading it with widened eyes, you'll guess what they'd like gift wrapped for them. It's not Consumer Reports, since it doesn't compare choices head-to-head. But its interesting and opinionated narrative gives products' good and bad news; general advice and principles are interleaved so it won't become outdated as fast as a simple products list would. If Santa had watched me, he'd have seen me reading carefully about phones and clocks - two of my interests.

As you've seen, the books are complementary -- it's worth collecting them all. They're easy cover-to-cover reads, or you can refer to them for specific ideas, services, and products. Good indexes locate topics quickly; because the books topics are inter- related, a consolidated index of the three books' topics would be useful. Perhaps the publisher will provide one online. There's some necessary overlap but they provide
different information with varying orientation and emphasis. Overall, the books fulfill their "Better Living Through ..." titles' promise, delivering usable information about evolving technology areas.

Specifications
Book Title: Sandy Berger's Great Age Guide to Better Living Through Technology
Author: Sandy Berger
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Que
ISBN: 0-7897-3440-0
Price: $20
URL: www.quepublishing.com
Book Title: Sandy Berger's Great Age Guide to the Internet
Author: Sandy Berger
Paperback: 268 pages
Publisher: Que
ISBN: 0-7897-3442-7
Price: $20
URL: www.quepublishing.com

Book Title: Sandy Berger's Great Age Guide to Gadgets & Gizmos
Author: Sandy Berger
Paperback: 242 pages
Publisher: Que
ISBN: 0-7897-3441-9
Price: $20
URL: www.quepublishing.com

Note: Sandy and Dave Berger have set up a special link on compukiss.com so APCUG members can purchase the books at a 35% discount. http://www.greatagebooks.com/bookstore.php 

This article originated on AARP's Computers and Technology Web site, 
www.aarp.org/computers, and is copyrighted by AARP. All rights are reserved; it may be reproduced, downloaded, disseminated, or transferred, for single use, or by nonprofit organizations for educational purposes, with attribution to AARP. It should be unchanged and this paragraph included. Please e-mail Gabe Goldberg at gabe@gabegold.com when you use it, or for permission to excerpt or condense.

There is no restriction against any non-profit group using this article as long as it is kept in context with proper credit given the author.  The Editorial Committee of the Association of Personal Computer User Groups (APCUG), an international organization of which this group is a member, brings this article to you.