Customer Reviews

Poor Leo's 2002 Computer Almanac

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Your suppose to read Leo's book starting on Jan 1, 2002, and then each day thereafter is a tip or trick till the end of the year. Well, I have already read thru March! I couldnt put it down.....

This is a great and fun book if your a fan of Thescreensavers or not it doesn't matter, get this book....SAVE TECH TV....

I just picked up Leo's new book. I'm a huge fan of him in general so I knew I would enjoy his book. I didn't go through the book like I was supposed to, I just read the entire thing. I am a huge geek so I didn't learn tons from the book. But Leo didn't write this book for people like me. He wrote it for the average Joe who checks their email and chats. THIS BOOK IS PERFECT FOR THEM. Tips abound in this book. Pluse you get the insite and whit of Leo and we have all known and grown to love. If you are an Alpageek and want to learn a lot from this book it may not be for you but if you love to tweak and tinker and you are the average PC user then GO WITH IT!!

The book is designed to be read a little at a time, beginning on January 1, 2002 and ending on the last day of the year 2002. However, I picked it up to skim through it and could not put it down! A very good book! It is full of very useful information that is helpful to new computer users, MAC users, and even the true geeks who think that they already know most of what they need to know. There is something in it for everyone! This is a book that I will read again and again. It is also a very useful resource I am sure that I will turn to from time to time. I highly recommend anyone who has a computer, or plans to get a computer read this book!

Leo Laporte does a great job each night hosting a show called the Screen Savers, on Tech TV. Now he has also done a great job writing a book. Poor Leo's Almanac is basically a calendar, with something useful written for each day. There could be a windows tip, a technology quiz, a mac tip, or just about everything. There is also handy reminders on backing up your data (something I need to do a lot more of). Leo writes in a very understandable way. Even though I think this book would be best for the newbie/novice computer user, anybody could really benefit from the information. I've ordered a copy to give to a family member that is just getting started in computers, with this book anybody can become a "geek."

Now don't get me wrong--I enjoy Leo Laporte, and love "The Screen Savers," his nightly TechTV show. His shameless yet forgivable shilling of this book on his show made me rush out and buy it. Unfortunately, I probably should have glanced through it first.

There's a wealth of interesting tips in here (from beginning to geek), but as with all tips, there's only a handful I'll use (granted, those were pretty good). The "day by day" almanac format gives you a hint, tip, troubleshooting technique, problem-solver, or fun fact for every day of the year. There's tips for both PC and Mac users (I'm a Mac user), but there isn't one for *each* format every day, so some days I'm left high-and-dry...that's no matter, I can skim ahead; I'm not going to wait *all year* to read the book. But I do have the feeling that I've paid for a whole book and only getting half the use out of it.

Less useful are the "This day in computer history" tidbits that pad out each day. Interesting, maybe, but not what I buy a computer help book for. These smacked of padding the book and would have been more fun in a different format ("Leo's Page-a-Day Computer History Calendar"?).

My biggest complaint is that the tips are arranged rather randomly. Although some build on previous tips, there's no sense of continuity. Although the book is well-indexed to find subjects, this is *not* a general help manual--such a book would have been divided into different sections on specific topics. Leo *might* have overcome this by indicating "theme weeks"--this whole week, PC users will learn about such-and-such, Mac users will learn another things...etc.

Okay, to be fair: this is a fun to read book, and Leo's friendly and matter-of-fact style is most welcome in today's tech book world. I'm definitely on board for his next book, but I'm going to be grading him for format next time. This one gets five stars for Leo's writing style and range, but three stars for the hard-for-practical-use and seemingly random day-by-day format of the book: I'll average those out to four stars.

I actually found your book at my local B&N and can't put it down. I then bought a copy for my parents and several non-geek friends. The tips in this book are priceless and could help many newbies.

The only problem I see is that with the rate Microsoft moves, some of this will be outdated by the end of the year.

Anyway, kudos... and I look forward to Leo's next book.

Leo Laporte, host of TechTV's The Screen Savers and Tech Live, writes his first book for new computer users. There are 365 tips and tricks, one for each day of the year, plus Leo's wit and wisdom at the beginning of each month. There's something for everyone in this book.

This book includes a huge number of tips and tricks in easy to understand words. The only problem is windows xp is no included in the book as it was released after the book starting hitting shelves. It also does contain a pretty large number of mac tips for all you apple fans!

Somebody needed to write a GOOD book about computers. This book is full of great stuff. Its good for both the advanced computer user and a newbie who is just gewtting started. Leo is one of the best authors in the world for this type of book. He knows EVERYTHING computer related! and he passes his knowledge on to you in his book. Thanks Leo

Written by the unmatchable Leo Laporte, of TechTV's The Screensavers, this book is informative and helpful, for everyone from the beginning computer user, to an IT Professional. Chock full of useful tips and tricks, this is a book for everyone on your list who uses a Personal Computer.