Originally submitted at O’Reilly

This compact book offers the quickest path for Windows XP and Vista users to get started with Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system. With Windows 7: Up and Running, you get the essential information you need to upgrade or install the system and configure it to fit your activities, along…

Windows 7: Up and Running

A Great Primer for Mom, Dad & Friends

Pros: Helpful examples, Concise, Easy to understand

Best Uses: Novice, Beginner, Intermediate

Describe Yourself: Sys Admin, Developer

Nowadays almost everyone from grandma to the kid who lives next door is online and has a computer. The digital age has meant that many of us know the basics of how to use a computer, get online and do basic tasks — but for many users they learn a particular way of doing things, and when software (or the OS) changes they find themselves scratching their heads wondering where things went and how they got changed. In this handy primer guide the author has done a fairly good job of helping get casual end-users up to speed on Windows 7.

The book walks you through many of the features that have changed and introduces you to some of the new functionality of the OS (for example, Libraries in Windows 7). It also walks users through common “gothcas” and things to be aware of (for example, why all sites don’t support the use of Web Slices in IE8). Sidebars and a generous library of pictures help to call the reader’s attention to specific items.

I was a little dissapointed in the Installation Chapter of the book, and thus took away one star. Though the author covers netbooks and dual-booting, the issue of upgrading from Vista to Windows 7 is never covered. So let me cover it right here: ALWAYS DO A FRESH, CLEAN INSTALL — NEVER DO AN IN PLACE UPGRADE! Given the brevity of of the chapter on installation, and the main focus of the book, I feel this chapter could even be taken out without taking away from the book.

This book would make an excellent gift for mom and dad, or that friend who just bought a new computer with Windows 7 on it. It’s a good primer for getting started with Windows 7 and making the jump to help keep your digital life a bit more organized and productive!

“Instant Turnaround!  Getting People Excited About Coming to Work and Working Hard” by Harry Paul and Ross Beck

I’m always on the lookout for books that focus on people as part of the business process — after all, you can’t have any type of successful business if your people are the last thought on your mind. In "Instant Turnaround!" the author walks us through a very easy to read fable about how focusing on the people in your company can have dramatic effects on performance and the bottom line. Through a fictional setup he walks us through a company that goes from an atmosphere of pure dread to work at to one where the employees and the CEO actually know each others name — and productivity soars.

This is the type of book every manager, supervisor and CEO should have tucked away for an easy read on their next plane trip. It’s such basic principles — focus on your people, take an interest in their lives and their work, and don’t be afraid to admit you are wrong — that you probably have heard them a thousand times already. If so, then as the author points out, why haven’t you acted on them and started putting some of them into practice?

Books like this are written for executives who have had enough of the old way of doing things and want to bring about change. They want to run their company with all the excitement they had when they were 21 again instead of acting like an 79 year old dictator from some 3rd world country.

It’s such an easy read and is packed with so many ideas and notes that there is only one question left — what’s your excuse for not reading it?