An accessible, nuts-and-bolts primer on a widely used office suite.
Lamont offers a speedy run-through of Google’s office suite in this third edition of his software guide.
Google’s online office suite is increasingly popular, providing a free, cloud-based alternative to Microsoft 365. Although it’s best known for its applications for file storage (Drive) and word processing (Docs), there are other applications as well, including Sheets, a spreadsheet maker; Slides, a presentation application; the diagramming software Drawings; Forms, a survey maker; and web page maker Sites. “While Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides are not as sophisticated as their Microsoft counterparts,” writes Lamont in his introduction, “they handle basic documents and spreadsheets very well.” Lamont breaks each application down for new and would-be users, demystifying the platform and helping readers discover all the functions they offer. In keeping with its “30 Minutes” premise, the book provides a simple rundown for users to quickly familiarize themselves with each program, explaining its purpose, how to navigate it, and how to get the most out of it, presenting step-by-step instructions and plenty of clarifying screenshots. Lamont also includes “Protips” to fix common mistakes, such as creating files under the wrong account when one has two accounts open in a browser at the same time. This edition includes descriptions of the programs’ newest, updated interfaces and adds Forms and Sites to the mix for the first time. The author’s prose is sparse but encouraging and has the tone of a friendly, patient IT expert, and he beneficially speaks his mind when he thinks a product isn’t quite up to snuff: “While Google Sheets is good, it comes up short in a few key areas, such as formatting and working with large sets of data.” Overall, these programs are fairly straightforward, and Lamont’s explanations of them are likewise uncomplicated, but this book will be helpful for anyone who may be intimidated by the interface. It will also benefit experienced users who feel deficient in some area, such as the collaboration feature.
An accessible, nuts-and-bolts primer on a widely used office suite.Pub Date: Jan. 26, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-64188-055-8
Page Count: 104
Publisher: i30 Media Corporation
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
An ebullient nature lover’s paean to birds.
A charming bird journey with the bestselling author.
In his introduction to Tan’s “nature journal,” David Allen Sibley, the acclaimed ornithologist, nails the spirit of this book: a “collection of delightfully quirky, thoughtful, and personal observations of birds in sketches and words.” For years, Tan has looked out on her California backyard “paradise”—oaks, periwinkle vines, birch, Japanese maple, fuchsia shrubs—observing more than 60 species of birds, and she fashions her findings into delightful and approachable journal excerpts, accompanied by her gorgeous color sketches. As the entries—“a record of my life”—move along, the author becomes more adept at identifying and capturing them with words and pencils. Her first entry is September 16, 2017: Shortly after putting up hummingbird feeders, one of the tiny, delicate creatures landed on her hand and fed. “We have a relationship,” she writes. “I am in love.” By August 2018, her backyard “has become a menagerie of fledglings…all learning to fly.” Day by day, she has continued to learn more about the birds, their activities, and how she should relate to them; she also admits mistakes when they occur. In December 2018, she was excited to observe a Townsend’s Warbler—“Omigod! It’s looking at me. Displeased expression.” Battling pesky squirrels, Tan deployed Hot Pepper Suet to keep them away, and she deterred crows by hanging a fake one upside down. The author also declared war on outdoor cats when she learned they kill more than 1 billion birds per year. In May 2019, she notes that she spends $250 per month on beetle larvae. In June 2019, she confesses “spending more hours a day staring at birds than writing. How can I not?” Her last entry, on December 15, 2022, celebrates when an eating bird pauses, “looks and acknowledges I am there.”
An ebullient nature lover’s paean to birds.Pub Date: April 23, 2024
ISBN: 9780593536131
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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