Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Good info, but too much repetition and too many typos!, April 29, 2009
I bought this book because I'm interested in going completely paperless and wanted to read the author's experiences and also see his advice for how to do this myself.
The foreword is very engaging. The author tells you how he started on his paperless crusade, if you will. It's a very good read and shows that it does take effort and discipline, as well as a bit of rebel nature to deal with the naysayers and people who refuse to learn new ways of doing things. He also explains how our "new" knowledge economy will continue to become more and more digital and gives some pretty good examples. He also points out reason why going paperless just makes plain sense, both in terms of productivity and cost savings.
Then you get an overview of the entire history of paper-based communication. I was somewhat put off by this - I don't care about paper and how it came to be used for communication. That's why I want to go paperless! Then you're taken through a history of cell phones and other communication devices. Again, somewhat interesting, but I don't see how it paves the way for paperless work advice and ideas. Yes, we all know that the first cell phones were expensive and huge... so what?
The actual advice as to how to set up a paperless work system seems to be directed at people who know nothing about computers, which strikes me as odd, because they would probably not be interested in going completely paperless. Everything is explained in baby terms. Frankly, I would think that most people reading this book are technologically-inclined types who know most of this stuff already (geeks, if you will).
Don't get me wrong, I did get some good pointers from this book, and the author's "journey" through his paperless life was very interesting, but I think this could've been accomplished in a magazine article, or a much shorter book. Seems a lot of filler was added to bulk up the book and up the price. A lot of topics are repeated as "recaps" in other chapters, which seems redundant.
There were also some very annoying things about this book. First, there are LOTS of typos. Lots of words are misspelled, some are used in the wrong context, and some are placed back to back in the same sentence. This is annoying and definitely takes away from the whole experience. On more than one occasion, I had to actually stop and re-read word for word to make sure I understood the sentence and to make sense of it. That's what editors are for. Also, the author kept referring to smartphones as "PDA-phones". It's a SMARTPHONE, not a PDA-phone. He also kept referring to the Mac OS as "Apple-based software". Again, not major, but still annoying. It also shows a slight bias or just lack of information on his part.
So, overall, I did get some use from this book and I learned a few things, but it's not what I was expecting. I'm glad I bought the digital version, which was slightly cheaper, but I still think I paid too much. I gave the book 3 stars because the topic is very current and has lots of potential but this could've been done better.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Paperless joy!!, September 11, 2008
I got the e-book version of this book from the paperless joy site. This book has really guided me or I should say inspired me to become a paperless person!! Honestly speaking, I always enjoyed reading in papers, but after reading this e-book, I have realized how important it is to become a paperless person; not only for your comfort, convenience but also for the environment and health (sections 14, 15 etc). I will recommend reading this e-book for at least once to get an updated knowledge and guidance for becoming a paperless person at-least by 50% (if not 100%). It was a pleasure reading this book.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Great paperless reading!, September 6, 2008
I got the eBook version which can be read on any PC from the paperless joy website and have been reading - paperless - for the past days. This is probably the first and even only book to present general paperless work-styles in a positive and doable manner, instead of raising all sorts of hinders and criticism to actually going paperless. The first part provides a broad background on how the world is going towards paperless and the advantages to this. The second part is all about how to do it - even for the non-techie. This guide actually goes beyond describing the paperless practices and also gives the reader a number of tips on how to manage time better - in a paperless way - to get more done, or simply make more free time. This is a great book for anyone who believes in the use of IT, or gadgets, to become more effective and get rid of the paper clutter.
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