Customer Reviews

Getting the Most Out of the Master Genealogist

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My review would hardly be unbiased since I’m the author of two of the chapters. But since this listing carries no description, I’ll try to provide that.

The book is a supplement to the Users Guide supplied with the program, and is intended to help the reader tap the full power and flexibility of The Master Genealogist (TMG), the renowned genealogy program. It is edited and compiled by well–known TMG user Lee H. Hoffman, with contributions from many experienced TMG users and beta testers. The topics are presented from the perspective of real researchers with real-life examples. You can learn from the experts and make the most of this powerful software. The chapters, and their authors, are:

1. Introduction by Lee Hoffman

2. Project Management by Jeff Clenard

3. Importing Data by Jeff Clenard

4. Customizing the Program by Dorothy Turner

5. Customizing the Data by John Cardinal (author of Second Site)

6. Sentence Structures by Terry Reigel

7. Sources by Jim Byram

8. Concepts in TMG by Allen Mellen

9. Controlling Narratives by Terry Reigel

10. Customizing Reports by Jeff Clenard

11. Filtering and Sorting by Allen Mellen

12. Multimedia and Exhibits by Richard Brogger

13. Generating Charts for Use in Visual Chartform by Robin Lamacraft

14. Working with Charts in Visual Chartform by Robin Lamacraft

15. Exporting Data by Jim Byram

The beauty of this collaboration is that each topic is written by someone very familiar with it. The result is a book with much more detail, and more useful suggestions and recommendations, than could be written by any one person. The comments of readers that I've seen have been uniformly positive.

The book, now in it’s second printing, was written for TMG version 5. Version 6 of TMG was released in December 2004. The editor has stated there are no plans for a revision to the book, since the changes in version 6 are the addition of new features, rather than any significant changes of existing features. While the book does not mention the newly added features, it provides in–depth coverage of the vast majority of TMG’s powerful array of capabilities.

I've used TMG since version 4 but I have to admit I'm not an expert at the program. I upgraded to Ver. 6 then bought this book and the 3 training videos. The training videos are excellent but if you want depth--the book is a must. To my way of thinking, the goal of the videos differs from the goal of this book. This is a plus because it allows these two training tools to compliment each other.

One of the premises behind TMG is to allow different ways of accomplishing specific tasks--to suit almost anyone's methods of entering and outputting family history data. The videos touch on this aspect but the book gives real-life examples of different methods of entering data, and then gives the results of those tested methods. It covers simple concepts as well as complex ones, so you can work and learn at your own pace.

This book has a lot of information in it. It goes beyond the information presented in the TMG user's guide or in the videos. It identifies advantages and disadvantages of doing tasks a certain way and gives the reader a much better understanding of how versatile TMG really is.

The book contains a few minor typos, but they have no negative effects on the quality of the information being shared. I recommend the book to any serious TMG user.

This is a "how-to book" for me when using The Master Genealogist(TMG) Software. It is practical for both beginners and professionals. I believe, if one is serious about genealogy they, will already be using TMG Software. Therefore, to get the most out the software, you best get a copy of this book.