Poker is America’s national card game, and its popularity continues to grow. Nationwide, you can find a game in progress everywhere. If you want to play, you can find poker games on replicas of 19th century riverboats or on Native American tribal lands. You can play poker at home with the family or online with opponents from around the world. Like bowling and billiards before it, poker has moved out from under the seedier side of its roots and is flowering in the sunshine.

Maybe you’ve never played poker before and you don’t even know what a full house is. Poker For Dummies covers the basics. Or perhaps you've played for years, but you just don’t know how to win. This handy guide will help you walk away from the poker table with winnings, not lint, in your pockets. If you’re a poker expert, you still can benefit – some of the suggestions may surprise you, and you can certainly learn from the anecdotes from professional players like T.J. Cloutier and Stu Unger.

Know what it takes to start winning hand after hand by exploring strategy; getting to know antes and betting structure; knowing your opponents, and understanding the odds. Poker For Dummies also covers the following topics and more:

• Poker games such as Seven-Card Stud, Omaha, and Texas Hold'em
• Setting up a game at home
• Playing in a casino: Do's and don'ts
• Improving your play with Internet and video poker
• Deciphering poker sayings and slang
• Ten ways to read your opponent's body language
• Playing in poker tournaments
• Money management and recordkeeping
• Knowing when and how to bluff

Poker looks like such a simple game. Anyone, it seems, can play it well – but that's far from the truth. Learning the rules can be quick work, but becoming a winning player takes considerably longer. Still, anyone willing to make the effort can become a good player. You can succeed in poker the way you succeed in life: by facing it squarely, getting up earlier than the next person, and working harder and smarter than the competition.

Foreword by Chris Moneymaker, 2003 World Series of Poker Champion.

Poker is America’s national card game, and its popularity continues to grow. Nationwide, you can find a game in progress everywhere. If you want to play, you can find poker games on replicas of 19th century riverboats or on Native American tribal lands. You can play poker at home with the family or online with opponents from around the world. Like bowling and billiards before it, poker has moved out from under the seedier side of its roots and is flowering in the sunshine.

Maybe you’ve never played poker before and you don’t even know what a full house is. Poker For Dummies covers the basics. Or perhaps you've played for years, but you just don’t know how to win. This handy guide will help you walk away from the poker table with winnings, not lint, in your pockets. If you’re a poker expert, you still can benefit – some of the suggestions may surprise you, and you can certainly learn from the anecdotes from professional players like T.J. Cloutier and Stu Unger.

Know what it takes to start winning hand after hand by exploring strategy; getting to know antes and betting structure; knowing your opponents, and understanding the odds. Poker For Dummies also covers the following topics and more:

• Poker games such as Seven-Card Stud, Omaha, and Texas Hold'em
• Setting up a game at home
• Playing in a casino: Do's and don'ts
• Improving your play with Internet and video poker
• Deciphering poker sayings and slang
• Ten ways to read your opponent's body language
• Playing in poker tournaments
• Money management and recordkeeping
• Knowing when and how to bluff

Poker looks like such a simple game. Anyone, it seems, can play it well – but that's far from the truth. Learning the rules can be quick work, but becoming a winning player takes considerably longer. Still, anyone willing to make the effort can become a good player. You can succeed in poker the way you succeed in life: by facing it squarely, getting up earlier than the next person, and working harder and smarter than the competition.

Foreword by Chris Moneymaker, 2003 World Series of Poker Champion.

Information Systems and Technology, this could mean an incident that completely destroys data, slows down productivity, or causes any other major interruption to your operations or your business. How bad can it get?—"Most large companies spend between 2% and 4% of their IT budget on disaster recovery planning; this is intended to avoid larger losses. Of companies that had a major loss of computerized data, 43% never reopen, 51% close within two years, and only 6% will survive long-term." Hoffer, Jim." Backing Up Business - Industry Trend or Event.

Active Directory (AD) is a great system but it is also very delicate. If you encounter a problem, you will need to know how to recover from it as quickly and completely as possible. You will need to know about Disaster Recovery and be prepared with a business continuity plan. If Active Directory is a part of the backbone of your network and infrastructure, the guide to bring it back online in case of an incident needs to be as clear and concise as possible. If it happens or if you want to avoid all of this happening, this is the book for you.

Recovering Active Directory from any kind of disaster is trickier than most people think. If you do not understand the processes associated with recovery, you can cause more damage than you fix.

This is why you need this book. This book has a unique approach - the first half of the book focuses on planning and shows you how to configure your AD to be resilient. The second half of the book is response-focused and is meant as a reference where we discuss different disaster scenarios and how to recover from them. We follow a Symptom-Cause- Recovery approach – so all you have to do is follow along and get back on track.

This book describes the most common disaster scenarios and how to properly recover your infrastructure from them. It contains commands and steps for each process, and also contains information on how to plan for disaster and how to leverage technologies in your favour in the event of a disaster.

Information Systems and Technology, this could mean an incident that completely destroys data, slows down productivity, or causes any other major interruption to your operations or your business. How bad can it get?—"Most large companies spend between 2% and 4% of their IT budget on disaster recovery planning; this is intended to avoid larger losses. Of companies that had a major loss of computerized data, 43% never reopen, 51% close within two years, and only 6% will survive long-term." Hoffer, Jim." Backing Up Business - Industry Trend or Event.

Active Directory (AD) is a great system but it is also very delicate. If you encounter a problem, you will need to know how to recover from it as quickly and completely as possible. You will need to know about Disaster Recovery and be prepared with a business continuity plan. If Active Directory is a part of the backbone of your network and infrastructure, the guide to bring it back online in case of an incident needs to be as clear and concise as possible. If it happens or if you want to avoid all of this happening, this is the book for you.

Recovering Active Directory from any kind of disaster is trickier than most people think. If you do not understand the processes associated with recovery, you can cause more damage than you fix.

This is why you need this book. This book has a unique approach - the first half of the book focuses on planning and shows you how to configure your AD to be resilient. The second half of the book is response-focused and is meant as a reference where we discuss different disaster scenarios and how to recover from them. We follow a Symptom-Cause- Recovery approach – so all you have to do is follow along and get back on track.

This book describes the most common disaster scenarios and how to properly recover your infrastructure from them. It contains commands and steps for each process, and also contains information on how to plan for disaster and how to leverage technologies in your favour in the event of a disaster.

JMeter is a powerful, easy-to-use, and FREE load-testing tool. Those are my first impressions of JMeter, a testing tool I've recently fallen in love with—not blindly. With this book, I share with you my experience with JMeter.

When I was first assigned to use JMeter to perform testing on a particular web application, I went all out looking for anything on JMeter. Despite plenty of online manuals, article and newsgroup posts, printed or e-books were nowhere to be found. So, when one of the editors of Packtpub approached me with this idea of writing a book on JMeter, I could hear myself saying: "Had there been a book on JMeter, I would have bought one at any cost. Since no one has written any, why not I write one?" After much contemplation and work, here is the result—what you are reading
right now.

What The Book Is About

This book is about using basic testing tools in JMeter that support software load and regression test automation. JMeter can be used to test static and dynamic resources over a wide range of client/server software (e.g. web applications). For simplicity, this book will focus on a narrowed aspect of JMeter while demonstrating practical tests on both static and dynamic resources of a web application. As this small book is an introductory reference, it is ideally designed to pave the path for the reader to get more detailed insight on JMeter, and what more it can do beyond this reference.

JMeter is a powerful, easy-to-use, and FREE load-testing tool. Those are my first impressions of JMeter, a testing tool I've recently fallen in love with—not blindly. With this book, I share with you my experience with JMeter.

When I was first assigned to use JMeter to perform testing on a particular web application, I went all out looking for anything on JMeter. Despite plenty of online manuals, article and newsgroup posts, printed or e-books were nowhere to be found. So, when one of the editors of Packtpub approached me with this idea of writing a book on JMeter, I could hear myself saying: "Had there been a book on JMeter, I would have bought one at any cost. Since no one has written any, why not I write one?" After much contemplation and work, here is the result—what you are reading
right now.

What The Book Is About

This book is about using basic testing tools in JMeter that support software load and regression test automation. JMeter can be used to test static and dynamic resources over a wide range of client/server software (e.g. web applications). For simplicity, this book will focus on a narrowed aspect of JMeter while demonstrating practical tests on both static and dynamic resources of a web application. As this small book is an introductory reference, it is ideally designed to pave the path for the reader to get more detailed insight on JMeter, and what more it can do beyond this reference.

This book introduces methodologies to develop a variety of intelligent wearable interfaces and covers practical implementations of systems for real-life applications. A number of novel intelligent wearable interface systems are examined, including network architecture for wearable robots, wearable interface for automatic language translation, intelligent cap interface for wheelchair control, intelligent shoes for human-computer interface, fingertip human-computer interface, ubiquitous 3D digital writing instruments, and intelligent mobile human airbag systems.

A thorough introduction to the development and applications of intelligent wearable interfaces

As mobile computing, sensing technology, and artificial intelligence become more advanced and their applications more widespread, the area of intelligent wearable interfaces is growing in importance. This emerging form of human-machine interaction has infinite possibilities for enhancing humans' capabilities in communications, actions, monitoring, and control.

Intelligent Wearable Interfaces is a collection of the efforts the authors have made in this area at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. They introduce methodologies to develop a variety of intelligent wearable interfaces and cover practical implementations of systems for real-life applications. A number of novel intelligent wearable interface systems are examined, including:

• Network architecture for wearable robots

• Wearable interface for automatic language translation

• Intelligent cap interface for wheelchair control

• Intelligent shoes for human-computer interface

• Fingertip human-computer interface

• Ubiquitous 3D digital writing instrument

• Intelligent mobile human airbag system

This book is a valuable reference for researchers, designers, engineers, and upper-level undergraduate and graduate students in the fields of human-machine interactions,rehabilitation engineering, robotics, and artificial intelligence.

About the Author

Yangsheng Xu, PhD, is Chair Professor of Mechanical and Automation Engineering in The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). Before joining CUHK, he was a faculty member at the Robotics Institute, School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University. His research interests include robotics, intelligent systems, human-machine interface, and hybrid electric vehicles.

Wen Jung Li, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering and the Director of the Centre for Micro and Nano Systems at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). Before joining CUHK, he held R&D positions at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Pasadena), the Aerospace Corporation (El Segundo), and Silicon Microstructures, Inc. (Fremont). His research interests include micro-electro-mechanical systems and nano-scale sensing and manipulation.

Ka Keung Lee, PhD, is a Lecturer in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). Before joining PolyU, he was a postdoctoral fellow at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. His research interests include robotics, intelligent systems, human modeling, andintelligent surveillance.

This book introduces methodologies to develop a variety of intelligent wearable interfaces and covers practical implementations of systems for real-life applications. A number of novel intelligent wearable interface systems are examined, including network architecture for wearable robots, wearable interface for automatic language translation, intelligent cap interface for wheelchair control, intelligent shoes for human-computer interface, fingertip human-computer interface, ubiquitous 3D digital writing instruments, and intelligent mobile human airbag systems.

A thorough introduction to the development and applications of intelligent wearable interfaces

As mobile computing, sensing technology, and artificial intelligence become more advanced and their applications more widespread, the area of intelligent wearable interfaces is growing in importance. This emerging form of human-machine interaction has infinite possibilities for enhancing humans' capabilities in communications, actions, monitoring, and control.

Intelligent Wearable Interfaces is a collection of the efforts the authors have made in this area at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. They introduce methodologies to develop a variety of intelligent wearable interfaces and cover practical implementations of systems for real-life applications. A number of novel intelligent wearable interface systems are examined, including:

• Network architecture for wearable robots

• Wearable interface for automatic language translation

• Intelligent cap interface for wheelchair control

• Intelligent shoes for human-computer interface

• Fingertip human-computer interface

• Ubiquitous 3D digital writing instrument

• Intelligent mobile human airbag system

This book is a valuable reference for researchers, designers, engineers, and upper-level undergraduate and graduate students in the fields of human-machine interactions,rehabilitation engineering, robotics, and artificial intelligence.

About the Author

Yangsheng Xu, PhD, is Chair Professor of Mechanical and Automation Engineering in The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). Before joining CUHK, he was a faculty member at the Robotics Institute, School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University. His research interests include robotics, intelligent systems, human-machine interface, and hybrid electric vehicles.

Wen Jung Li, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering and the Director of the Centre for Micro and Nano Systems at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). Before joining CUHK, he held R&D positions at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Pasadena), the Aerospace Corporation (El Segundo), and Silicon Microstructures, Inc. (Fremont). His research interests include micro-electro-mechanical systems and nano-scale sensing and manipulation.

Ka Keung Lee, PhD, is a Lecturer in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). Before joining PolyU, he was a postdoctoral fellow at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. His research interests include robotics, intelligent systems, human modeling, andintelligent surveillance.

The pace of change in software-intensive systems continues to accelerate at a dizzying rate. This presents a huge challenge for people trying to develop useful software. In the early days of software development, developers could freeze the requirements for the software, develop the software to the requirements, and deliver the resulting software two years later with confidence that the requirements would still be relevant and the software would be useful. Most of our software engineering processes, methods, and tools were developed and used under the assumption of relatively stable requirements. Examples are formal specification languages, performance-optimized point-solution designs, fixed-requirements software-cost estimation, earned-value management systems, requirements traceability matrices, fixed-price/fixed-requirements contracts, and a general attitude that “requirements creep” was bad in that it destabilized software development.

However, as these practices became increasingly institutionalized, the accelerating rate of software change made them increasingly risky to use. Projects would use them for two years and become extremely frustrated when the users were not interested in the obsolete capabilities that resulted. Projects would fall behind schedule and use static models (time to complete = work remaining divided by work rate) to try to make up time by adding people, and run afoul of Brooks’s law (adding people to a late software project will make it later). Or they would sprint for the finish line using a point-solution design that satisfied the initial requirements but was extremely difficult to modify when trying to satisfy users’ changing requirements.

Ironically, even with all of these difficulties, organizations would increasingly turn to software and its ability to be electronically upgraded as their best way to adapt their products, services, and systems to the increasing pace of change in their business or operational environment.

The pace of change in software-intensive systems continues to accelerate at a dizzying rate. This presents a huge challenge for people trying to develop useful software. In the early days of software development, developers could freeze the requirements for the software, develop the software to the requirements, and deliver the resulting software two years later with confidence that the requirements would still be relevant and the software would be useful. Most of our software engineering processes, methods, and tools were developed and used under the assumption of relatively stable requirements. Examples are formal specification languages, performance-optimized point-solution designs, fixed-requirements software-cost estimation, earned-value management systems, requirements traceability matrices, fixed-price/fixed-requirements contracts, and a general attitude that “requirements creep” was bad in that it destabilized software development.

However, as these practices became increasingly institutionalized, the accelerating rate of software change made them increasingly risky to use. Projects would use them for two years and become extremely frustrated when the users were not interested in the obsolete capabilities that resulted. Projects would fall behind schedule and use static models (time to complete = work remaining divided by work rate) to try to make up time by adding people, and run afoul of Brooks’s law (adding people to a late software project will make it later). Or they would sprint for the finish line using a point-solution design that satisfied the initial requirements but was extremely difficult to modify when trying to satisfy users’ changing requirements.

Ironically, even with all of these difficulties, organizations would increasingly turn to software and its ability to be electronically upgraded as their best way to adapt their products, services, and systems to the increasing pace of change in their business or operational environment.

Professional CSS: Cascading Style Sheets for Web Design, 2nd Edition

Focusing on the best-practices aspect of web development, this full-color book is revised to reflect the changes to cascading style sheets (CSS) development procedures since the first edition was published. Featuring examples from real-world web sites, each chapter provides easily digestible CSS tips and techniques that were used for a specific site. The chapters document the designer's process from start to finish and provide insight as to how the designers overcame each site's unique set of challenges as well as ways they would have done things differently.

Offering a hands-on look into designing standards-based, large-scale, professional-level CSS web sites, this unique book presents understandable solutions to common problems and offers an intelligible approach to effectively developing CSS-enabled designs at a professional level.

What you will learn from this book

• Best practices for using XHMTL with CSS

• How to orchestrate a new look and feel for a blog

• The ins and outs of designing a site that is relied upon by millions of users

• Techniques for including drop shadows, drop-down menus, and embedded Flash® content into a web site

• Tips for tackling browser-compatibility issues as well as developing functional navigational structures

• Ways to customize a web site through CSS coding

• How to create HTML e-mail templates, basic HTML table layouts, and how CSS plays a role in both

• The importance of grids and layouts in design

Who this book is for

This book is for web developers who are looking for a clear understanding of how to use CSS to create professional-level web sites.

Wrox Professional guides are planned and written by working programmers to meet the real-world needs of programmers, developers, and IT professionals. Focused and relevant, they address the issues technology professionals face every day. They provide examples, practical solutions, and expert education in new technologies, all designed to help programmers do a better job.

Professional CSS: Cascading Style Sheets for Web Design, 2nd Edition

Focusing on the best-practices aspect of web development, this full-color book is revised to reflect the changes to cascading style sheets (CSS) development procedures since the first edition was published. Featuring examples from real-world web sites, each chapter provides easily digestible CSS tips and techniques that were used for a specific site. The chapters document the designer's process from start to finish and provide insight as to how the designers overcame each site's unique set of challenges as well as ways they would have done things differently.

Offering a hands-on look into designing standards-based, large-scale, professional-level CSS web sites, this unique book presents understandable solutions to common problems and offers an intelligible approach to effectively developing CSS-enabled designs at a professional level.

What you will learn from this book

• Best practices for using XHMTL with CSS

• How to orchestrate a new look and feel for a blog

• The ins and outs of designing a site that is relied upon by millions of users

• Techniques for including drop shadows, drop-down menus, and embedded Flash® content into a web site

• Tips for tackling browser-compatibility issues as well as developing functional navigational structures

• Ways to customize a web site through CSS coding

• How to create HTML e-mail templates, basic HTML table layouts, and how CSS plays a role in both

• The importance of grids and layouts in design

Who this book is for

This book is for web developers who are looking for a clear understanding of how to use CSS to create professional-level web sites.

Wrox Professional guides are planned and written by working programmers to meet the real-world needs of programmers, developers, and IT professionals. Focused and relevant, they address the issues technology professionals face every day. They provide examples, practical solutions, and expert education in new technologies, all designed to help programmers do a better job.

Optical Fiber Telecommunications V (A&B) is the fifth in a series that has chronicled the progress in the research and development of lightwave communications since the early 1970s. Written by active authorities from academia and industry, this edition not only brings a fresh look to many essential topics but also focuses on network management and services. Using high bandwidth in a cost-effective manner for the development of customer applications is a central theme. This book is ideal for R&D engineers and managers, optical systems implementers, university researchers and students, network operators, and the investment community.

Volume (A) is devoted to components and subsystems, including: semiconductor lasers, modulators, photodetectors, integrated photonic circuits, photonic crystals, specialty fibers, polarization-mode dispersion, electronic signal processing, MEMS, nonlinear optical signal processing, and quantum information technologies. Volume (B) is devoted to systems and networks, including: advanced modulation formats, coherent systems, time-multiplexed systems, performance monitoring, reconfigurable add-drop multiplexers, Ethernet technologies, broadband access and services, metro networks, long-haul transmission, optical switching, microwave photonics, computer interconnections, and simulation tools.

Biographical Sketches

Ivan Kaminow retired from Bell Labs in 1996 after a 42-year career. He conducted seminal studies on electrooptic modulators and materials, Raman scattering in ferroelectrics, integrated optics, semiconductor lasers (DBR , ridge-waveguide InGaAsP and multi-frequency), birefringent optical fibers, and WDM networks. Later, he led research on WDM components (EDFAs, AWGs and fiber Fabry-Perot Filters), and on WDM local and wide area networks. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a recipient of the IEEE/OSA John Tyndall, OSA Charles Townes and IEEE/LEOS Quantum Electronics Awards. Since 2004, he has been Adjunct Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.

Tingye Li retired from AT&T in 1998 after a 41-year career at Bell Labs and AT&T Labs. His seminal work on laser resonator modes is considered a classic. Since the late 1960s, He and his groups have conducted pioneering studies on lightwave technologies and systems. He led the work on amplified WDM transmission systems and championed their deployment for upgrading network capacity. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. He is a recipient of the IEEE David Sarnoff Award, IEEE/OSA John Tyndall Award, OSA Ives Medal/Quinn Endowment, AT&T Science and Technology Medal, and IEEE Photonics Award.

Alan Willner has worked at AT&T Bell Labs and Bellcore, and he is Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Southern California. He received the NSF Presidential Faculty Fellows Award from the White House, Packard Foundation Fellowship, NSF National Young Investigator Award, Fulbright Foundation Senior Scholar, IEEE LEOS Distinguished Lecturer, and USC University-Wide Award for Excellence in Teaching. He is a Fellow of IEEE and OSA, and he has been President of the IEEE LEOS, Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE/OSA J. of Lightwave Technology, Editor-in-Chief of Optics Letters, Co-Chair of the OSA Science & Engineering Council, and General Co-Chair of the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics

Optical Fiber Telecommunications V (A&B) is the fifth in a series that has chronicled the progress in the research and development of lightwave communications since the early 1970s. Written by active authorities from academia and industry, this edition not only brings a fresh look to many essential topics but also focuses on network management and services. Using high bandwidth in a cost-effective manner for the development of customer applications is a central theme. This book is ideal for R&D engineers and managers, optical systems implementers, university researchers and students, network operators, and the investment community.

Volume (A) is devoted to components and subsystems, including: semiconductor lasers, modulators, photodetectors, integrated photonic circuits, photonic crystals, specialty fibers, polarization-mode dispersion, electronic signal processing, MEMS, nonlinear optical signal processing, and quantum information technologies. Volume (B) is devoted to systems and networks, including: advanced modulation formats, coherent systems, time-multiplexed systems, performance monitoring, reconfigurable add-drop multiplexers, Ethernet technologies, broadband access and services, metro networks, long-haul transmission, optical switching, microwave photonics, computer interconnections, and simulation tools.

Biographical Sketches

Ivan Kaminow retired from Bell Labs in 1996 after a 42-year career. He conducted seminal studies on electrooptic modulators and materials, Raman scattering in ferroelectrics, integrated optics, semiconductor lasers (DBR , ridge-waveguide InGaAsP and multi-frequency), birefringent optical fibers, and WDM networks. Later, he led research on WDM components (EDFAs, AWGs and fiber Fabry-Perot Filters), and on WDM local and wide area networks. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a recipient of the IEEE/OSA John Tyndall, OSA Charles Townes and IEEE/LEOS Quantum Electronics Awards. Since 2004, he has been Adjunct Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.

Tingye Li retired from AT&T in 1998 after a 41-year career at Bell Labs and AT&T Labs. His seminal work on laser resonator modes is considered a classic. Since the late 1960s, He and his groups have conducted pioneering studies on lightwave technologies and systems. He led the work on amplified WDM transmission systems and championed their deployment for upgrading network capacity. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. He is a recipient of the IEEE David Sarnoff Award, IEEE/OSA John Tyndall Award, OSA Ives Medal/Quinn Endowment, AT&T Science and Technology Medal, and IEEE Photonics Award.

Alan Willner has worked at AT&T Bell Labs and Bellcore, and he is Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Southern California. He received the NSF Presidential Faculty Fellows Award from the White House, Packard Foundation Fellowship, NSF National Young Investigator Award, Fulbright Foundation Senior Scholar, IEEE LEOS Distinguished Lecturer, and USC University-Wide Award for Excellence in Teaching. He is a Fellow of IEEE and OSA, and he has been President of the IEEE LEOS, Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE/OSA J. of Lightwave Technology, Editor-in-Chief of Optics Letters, Co-Chair of the OSA Science & Engineering Council, and General Co-Chair of the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics

I’ve had the opportunity to read and re-read the book you’re holding, and you are in for a treat. It is rare for one book to cover so much of the horizon for an entire sector, but Information Tomorrow outlines so many of the major building blocks for our future. And it is written by some of the freshest and best library thinkers of our times. This is a fabulous team of authors—the newest thinkers, the new breed of librarian—dare I say, Librarian 2.0?! Each chapter offers new approaches and new thinking for the exciting library world of the new Millennium.

Once again, Information Today, Inc. has incubated a book that meets a need. Reading it is almost like attending one of its conferences—all the best speakers in one place. Creating a collection based on the theme of innovation risks two things: being too shallow or being too visionary. Either results in a nice read, but does little to point readers in the right direction with explicit advice and views you can use. You, however, are holding a book that is the culmination of a timely, brilliant concept and the hard-earned insights of its stable of contributors. Some advice: Read these chapters in any order. This book is the perfect airplane or commuter standby. After you’re finished with it, recommend it to others; pass this book around.

Books like this are meant to be more than read. They need to be experienced. Plan now to make the ideas in this book take flight. Pass chapters around and use them as launching pads for lunchtime brown bag discussions. There are no right answers. We do know, though, that the wrong answer is ignoring the potential changes in  our world and not delving into the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities,and threats. Using the ideas and insights of these authors to have informed discussions at your shop is like creating your own 16-week mini-conference.

I’ve had the opportunity to read and re-read the book you’re holding, and you are in for a treat. It is rare for one book to cover so much of the horizon for an entire sector, but Information Tomorrow outlines so many of the major building blocks for our future. And it is written by some of the freshest and best library thinkers of our times. This is a fabulous team of authors—the newest thinkers, the new breed of librarian—dare I say, Librarian 2.0?! Each chapter offers new approaches and new thinking for the exciting library world of the new Millennium.

Once again, Information Today, Inc. has incubated a book that meets a need. Reading it is almost like attending one of its conferences—all the best speakers in one place. Creating a collection based on the theme of innovation risks two things: being too shallow or being too visionary. Either results in a nice read, but does little to point readers in the right direction with explicit advice and views you can use. You, however, are holding a book that is the culmination of a timely, brilliant concept and the hard-earned insights of its stable of contributors. Some advice: Read these chapters in any order. This book is the perfect airplane or commuter standby. After you’re finished with it, recommend it to others; pass this book around.

Books like this are meant to be more than read. They need to be experienced. Plan now to make the ideas in this book take flight. Pass chapters around and use them as launching pads for lunchtime brown bag discussions. There are no right answers. We do know, though, that the wrong answer is ignoring the potential changes in  our world and not delving into the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities,and threats. Using the ideas and insights of these authors to have informed discussions at your shop is like creating your own 16-week mini-conference.