Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML

I first read Head First HTML back in 2006 during my first PHP web application development.  I did not get a chance to complete the book back then but it provided me a lot of insight about XHTML and CSS.  Fast forward 2.5+ years later and I finally finish reading it.  The first half of the book is for individuals who have zero experience in HTML.  CS students students out there will get very bored out of it.

However, the main reason for any beginner's web designers to pick this book is for the explanation of the CSS concepts.  CSS has always been fuzzy to me, just reading a stylesheet does not make any sense.  It has to be read along with the XHTML page to make any sense of the styling direction.  The chapters that are useful to me are:

1. Getting started with CSS
2. Styling with fonts and colors
3. The box model
4. Divs and spans
5. Layout and positioning

This book is a must a for any budding web designers or novice web developers out there.

Is this book for you?

• Beginner:  I cannot think of any other place to delve into styling other than this book.
• Intermediate:  The book will ensure that you are presenting your web site properly.
• Advance:  If you are bored, you might want to scan through this book.

Head First Ajax

I have been dragging this book for almost a month now.  Not that it is not interesting but because of unforseen distractions.  I have finally completed it today and it really helps me understand the whole AJAX voodoo a lot better.  AJAX was first exposed to me back in 2006 when Google Suggest was still in the labs and dynamic web sites were still in their infancy.  The technology has evolved significantly these days with the multiple Javascript frameworks which cut a lot of fat from the old school client side codes.

A lot of essential Javascript is explained in this book and they form the basic of any client side coding.  Every single chapters are useful and informative in this book if you are a beginner to this topic.  If you plan to do some web development, dynamic web pages are the norm these days.  Google's different web applications are perfect examples.

Is this book for you?

• Beginner: A great place to learn more about AJAX.
• Intermediate: There might be some new info that will help you polish your existing skills.
• Advance: Skim it and consolidate what your knowledge.

Head First SQL

Databases are essential nowadays to create dynamic web sites both internally and for commercial purposes. Taking a database course is a must for any Computer Science undergrad and Head First SQL is a great place to start to learn the basics. Usually, the recommended book for a typical undergrad Database course will be as big as a phone book and boring to read. Head First SQL does a great job to teach the complete beginner the how to perform queries with fun examples.

After using SQL for the last few years, I have skimmed through a lot of the chapters but I really enjoy the one on table normalization. Writing fast queries is great but ensuring that the tables are properly normalized will make your life easier.

Is this book for you?

1. Beginner: If you plan to take a Database course next term, study this book 2 weeks before school start. You will be able to breeze through assignments quickly.
   
2. Intermediate: It s a good refresher if you have not done some SQL in a while.
   
3. Advance: You might want to skip this book.
   

Head First PHP & MySQL

Let's take a break from baking and do some technical book review. The Head First series has finally released their PHP & MySQL book at the end of last year, just in time for my new role in 2009. My experience prior to reading the book is about 6 months of PHP development in 2006 and less than 10 days in 2009. Head First defers from other technical books by making learning more casual and easier to remember with big fonts pictures, comics and funny useful examples. You will have to take a look at their style before committing to learning a technology from them. The style is much better than the wall of text you get from school books.

The first 1/3 of the book looks very basic to me, so I quickly skim through those first few chapters. However, it is a great place to begin if you have none or very little experience to PHP and you need it for work or school. During the course of the book, a few nifty features that I have not been aware of in PHP are sprinkled across the chapters. I will defintely revise my previous work and apply them.

The few sections that have really piqued my interest are the ones on:

• Database Normalization
  
• Regular Expression
• CAPTCHA
  
• REST Request and XML parsing

A lot of concepts from this book are usually covered over several Computer Science courses in school. It is great that those essential topics are re-explained again in the PHP universe in a fun, clear and very understandable manner.

Topics that I wanted to see in the book but are absent:

• Object oriented PHP
• Use of design pattern for PHP web development
• Proper coding style of PHP on the client and server side
  

Is this book for you?

1. Beginner: Definitely get it if your school or work projects require PHP & MySQL.
   
2. Intermediate: The book will consolidate what you already know and will add more to your PHP library in your brain.
   
3. Advance: There might not be new information for you but it is an interesting read, you can always skim forward to the juicy sections.
   

Anti-Church Part Three

The final book of the trilogy shows a very clear picture of the religious stance of the author. I like his views on how life after death could be much worse than the real one, that we should cherish and enjoy every single of it. There is no point in spending this life praying for a better after life when we could be enjoying ourselves because later on, good and bad people will end up in the same place regardless of their past.

Religious views aside, a few large scale battles actually take place in this book as you would expect from any trilogies. There is the death of a few key characters and lots of surprising revelations about our main characters. There is also a side plot about homosexual angels, at least that is my interpretation from the story, it might mean something else to other people.

The ending was the most poignant scene of the His Dark Materials, I never saw it coming and was very sad. Although it was not a happy ending that most people would want, it did explain a lot about the specters. All in all, the trilogy is very well written, captivating and a must read for any Harry Potter or Narnia fans out there.

Anti-Church Part Two

While the first book is just a precursor of the His Dark Materials trilogy, the Subtle Knife clearly depicts how the whole story will unfold and which part each of the key characters will play in it. The mood is far more serious this time around with quite a bit violence and gore. It will be interesting to see how the second book is translated to the big screen and whether it will be rated PG-13 like the first one. I imagine some of the more graphically violent scene will be implied or dumb down if the movie is to appeal to a larger audience.

Without spoiling too much, the plot thickens in the second book. More characters are introduced, the world is getting darker than before and you can practically feel the fear among various characters along the course of the story. The movement against the church is stronger than ever, an army is currently being raised to destroy God. Mrs Coulter is as graceful, sly and deadly as before, few people can resist her charm and those who cannot, follow a painful death.

In brief, the Subtle Knife is as captivating as the first one and I am currently eagerly devouring the Amber Spyglass to find out the fate of Lyra in the demise of the church if that is to happen.

Anti-Church Part One

I initially had no interest in the movie Golden Compass nor knew anything about Philip Pullman. However, a recent controversial article about how some high school in Richmond Hill has decided to pull his books(mostly His Dark Materials) from their shelves has somehow motivated me to read his works.

I started by watching the movie Golden Compass which I found quite imaginative in terms of the little twists and nuances that he has added to our real world. I really enjoy the daemon concept but by the end of the movie, I couldn't really find any strong anti-Christ views. After reading book 1 of His Dark Materials, I was captivated it from beginning to end. My 30 min commute felt like I only spent 5 min in the subway car.

When comparing the book to the movie, lots of plots have been cut while others have been totally changed. Those are quite expected when it comes to book to movie adaptation. While the movie was more or less faithful to the original writings, the finale in the book was completely absent from the big screen. The book ended with a major twist to some of the main characters. You can actually see the connection between the story and the anti-Christ views of the author. Religious views aside, I personally think the Golden Compass is worth a read by anyone regardless of their faith. I cannot wait to start the Subtle Knife(Book 2) to follow the adventures of Lyra.

Evil Monk

DemonWars Saga is definitely much darker than other Salvatore's books. The way evilness is portrayed by one of the monk in this book will make you cringe in disgust. The violent scenes are also more visceral in the Demon Spirit. In the middle of all this dark material, the rest is pretty much run of the mill Salvatore's action and sorrow scenes. I will take a break from Fantasy reading for a while since my traveling time(aka reading time) has been significantly cut.

Very engaging story

This is probably the best and most engaging Salvatore book I have read so far. The stories of the three main characters really suck you in making the book very hard to put down once you've started. From a ranger's training to that of a monk, Salvatore does a great job depicting the harsh work out but often rewarding outcome of those classes. The character development really strikes the readers both emotionally and physically making. Many readers who have grown bored of Drizzt might want to give the DemonWars Saga a try, it is a journey that you will keep pursuing for a very long time.

Changes ...

Salvatore has made some drastic changes in this new Transition series by making the orcs live peacefully besides dwarves, elves and huamns. Such a change in stance is reminiscent of the way orcs are viewed in Warcraft 3 when they are no longer portrayed as the villains. The main characters have also been given new classes, roles and relationships. It also seems that Drizzt won't be the sole drow in the good alignment for long on the surface of the Forgotten Realm.

While change is good, it seems that Salvatore has been listening to his fans about the Drizzt's latest books stalling and this sudden twist is welcomed for potentially more diverse stories. It might keep existing readers coming back for more.

Entreri's past revealed

Chaotic neutral, those two words best describe the Sellsword series. Salvatore is using the D&D alignment to craft his stories, the Drizzt books have always focused on the two extremes lawful good and chaotic evil. The adventures with Jarlaxle and Entreri is more middle of the road and their adventures have been quite entertaining. From a powerful monk, to dragons which can transform into humans, a paladin and the final showdown with Entreri's past. If the Drizzt's latest books have been boring you, this series is a nice break and I am hoping more books are written on this unusual duo or should I say trio with the introduction of Athrogate?

The chaotic duo

The unlikely and chaotic duo are once again together seeking near death adventures. Entreri is really getting soft from this new series, I think he's losing his edge from his merciless killings in the Icewind Dale trilogy to a very merciful attitude in the Sellsword series. Other than that, it's great to see Salvatore take a different direction from the usual Drizzt and do goody stories.

For the first time in the books that I've read, the story has introduced half-orcs and a half-elf who have added some spice to the usual cast of characters. The strength of powerful wizards are also shown here which I think has been lacking in previous books. More magical unique items are also shown in use, especially the various hidden tricks from Jarlaxle. It is highly enjoyable book for any fans of Dungeons and Dragons.

Nomes

Pratchett's imagination keeps surprising me after reading Truckers. He has taken an interesting twist to the usual fantasy Gnomes and calling them Nomes in this contemporary story. The way the Nomes view our world is also quite incredible and lots of thoughts have been put in telling that part of their lives. The segmentation goes further as shown between Nomes from the outside and those from the inside who don't even believe there's such a thing as an outside world, except for The Store, a big department store.

A few passages in the book are written to look like parts of the bible but with a shopping/mall flavour to it which makes the whole experience of reading the book quite amusing. The story follows the exodus of the Nomes from The Store to the real world. The book is very easy to read and flows really well. Anyone with a slight interest to fantasy in the modern world should definitely check it out.

That's one twisted person

I'm finally back to Agatha Christie after more than 12 months hiatus reading books from other authors. The beginning of the Crooked House is predictable where each character is being introduced and set up for the scene. Agatha Christie has done a great job leading the readers in a different direction for the possible murder suspects, only to unveil the true criminal at the end and as usual, it sends a chill up my spine.

The weapon of choice this time is a simple injection of eserine, the drug used to treat glaucoma and death ensues shortly after. However, the murderer has deliberately left behind the method of killing. You might wonder who is foolish enough to leave such obvious traces but the end of the book will reveal the plot to you, by then, it will be too late, you have been fooled by the murderer.

Inn-sewer-ants

It is the second time that I am reading the Terry Pratchett's first book in the Discworld series, Colour of Magic. The first time I read it about six years ago, I found it hard to follow with lots of new characters and locations which are thrown at me out of nowhere. After reading it again, I still had to focus really hard or even read the same paragraphs twice to make sure that I am not missing any important plot and scenes. For some reasons, the different sections of the book does not flow as smoothly as other English books, for instance Salvatore's work.

Having said that, I really like the wild imagination of Terry Pratchett in creating the Discworld universe by mixing the usual fantasy, god like figures with similar behaviour as the ones in the Greek mythology and contemporary concepts sprinkled along the course of the story. An example of a modern reference is the idea of insurance in the Discworld universe, Rincewind, the main character has trouble pronouncing the word, so he spells it inn-sewer-ants, get it?

The story follows the adventure of Rincewind and of a tourist, followed by a quirky chest with hundreds of legs on its side. The trio have many close encounters with Fate and Death until over the edge of Discworld which consists of a giant turle, upon which stand four elephants who in turn support the disc of the world. Some of those descriptions might blow your mind away but that pretty much describes the whole book, it has crazy ideas and fun in a twisted way to read.

The siege goes on

The battle is still raging outside Mithral hall and orcs have finally pushed the dwarves back to their holes. The magnitude of the orc's army in this series is probably the most significant I have read so far, it felt a lot like the last two books of the Lord of the Rings series. As usual, neighbouring allies are summoned to help make the battles more interesting but the number of casualties has also been quite significant.

It is nice to see Salvatore explore the perspectives of the different parties during the long siege, from the heroes, allies, orcs and the refugees. The close escape of Drizzt felt a bit exaggerated at the end when he was looking at death in front of a towering frost giant. The love triange between Wulfgar, Cattie-Brie and Drizzt seems to be shifting too but the ending does not tell us exactly what the outcome is. The story is still unfinished at the end of book 3 and the new Transitions series will probably bring closure to the extended siege and the emotial turmoil of our heroes.

The Hunter is back

The Lone Drow is probably the darkest book in the Drizzt storyline so far. It felt a lot like Exile when Drizzt was wandering the underdark trying to find his real identity and hunting down any lurking monsters down there. The second book in the Hunter's Blades Trilogy is a continuation of the uprising of the orc army led by orc king, Obould who starts to gain considrable charisma and power after a ceremony.

Drizzt is once more on his own, hitting and running orc camps desperately thinking that all his friends perished after the collapse the Swallow. There are also more deaths of key characters during the course of the book and some very visceral injuries dealt on both our heroes and allies. The alchemy of the Gnome Nanfoodle is a nice diversion from the other books as shown by his devasting plan.

Orcs, lots of them

Salvatore's books have been pretty exciting since I first read the Icewind Dale Trilogy back in November 2007, especially with the Drow race(elves with dark skin who lives underground) and the protagonist Drizzt Do'Urden. I believe he is the key character which differentiates stories in the Forgotten Realm against any other fantasies out there.

The thousand orcs, as the title says is focused on orcs. The story explores the alliance of orcs and giants against the dwarves. The usual suspects are also back including Wulfgar who seems to have regained most of his former self. One of the most exciting scene of the book is the siege of the village which has kept me on the edge of the seat during the whole battle. R.A. Salvatore has done a marvelous job describing the battles, the soldiers, the environment and any personal thoughts that might cross the main characters' minds.

If you like fantasy novels, you have probably read the works of R.A. Salvatore. If you enjoyed the movies Lord of the Rings or have read the book, then you'll get more action here with less of the boring Tolkien's materials.