Something for Everyone
I was fortunate to be on the right site at the right time and received an invitation to review Jim Cheshire's new book Decoding the Kindle. I have long been a book lover, but have only had my Kindle for about ten (10) weeks now. I am somewhat of a technology junkie and may, as a result, find my way around new technology more easily than some.
Having had my Kindle for a number of weeks I had already discovered many things about the Kindle and its features before reading Decoding the Kindle. There were many things in Decoding the Kindle that I had learned by personal experience or had gleaned from sources on the internet, but there was much information, many tips, and several tricks in Decoding the Kindle which I had not found. There were also many resources referenced or listed that I found to be quite beneficial.
I can only assume that Decoding the Kindle was intended to provide "a little something for everyone" regardless of their previous experience, or lack thereof, with the device, because that is exactly what this book delivers. Mr. Cheshire has succeeded in providing something for everyone from the novice, to the casual, to the experienced Kindle user, and I would certainly recommend Decoding the Kindle to any Kindle owner, or anyone who would like to be.
Good Resource
This is a very good complete usage manual for the Kindle. While it has the standard info that you'd find in the product manual, the real gems are the helpful tips...things Kindle doesn't tell you about. Yes, you could find some of these in the on-line forums but you'd have to search quite a bit to ferret them all out. The only thing I would have prefered would to have these tips in an area unto themselves so you don't have to read through lots of info that you already know just to find the tips.
Great effort!
Appears to be complete
This book appears to cover the Kindle completely. I wouldn't know for sure, but it is impressive. If you own a Kindle, it couldn't hurt to buy this guide. It will show you things you didn't know you could do.
The biggest drawback is that it sounds like a marketing article rather than objective technical writing. I like authors to be enthusiastic, but this fellow goes way beyond that. It's annoying, but not enough to ruin the book.
Kindle 101
This book could be called Kindle 101, and 201, and 301. It starts with the basics of reading a book and progresses through all the other fun things you can do with a Kindle. From email to newsfeeds to surfing the 'net, you can learn to do them all easily with this book. I've had my Kindle for just over two months and thought I knew everything about it...but I learned lots more by reading Decoding the Kindle. Thanks, Jim!
Now I know it all!
I wasn't sure that I needed this book, but I figured for less than 5 dollars, what the heck. I'm really glad I bought it. I really like the writing style. It's really conversational instead of being all techie. What I really like is all of the questions and answers. If I have a questions while I'm using my Kindle I can just pull up the table of contents and click on the question and I'll find my answer. All of my questions have been answered and alot more.
I've also been able to use this book to learn how to find alot of free books that I would have never found without it.
Oh and to the kid who reviewed it with one star because the sample isn't long. Mr. Cheshire explains that right on this page and tells you that he's working on getting that fixed. I wonder why you had to be so mean.
Linda
