1. The hard cover edition is a limited edition (6000 copies only).
2. It is like a textbook which can be opened fully on its back. Easy for reading and scanning.
3. It's got a hard protective slipcase

However, getting the softcover edition might be your choice for its price and availability.

The author, Mudrooroo, may not be well known to American readers, but is a leading (and somewhat controversial) literary figure in Australia. The novel was previously published several times in the United States as by Colin Johnson, the author's birth name. I completely agree with the assessment of Stephen Cobb that it is an extraordinary accomplishment.

Great designers, aren't always great writers. Colin & Crystal are rare exceptions, blending engaging design with virtual story-telling ability. Well Done...

Also, you are at a loss as to how some websites place images and slice them up to place in dreamweaver tables. I mean, c'mon ,how did they get that line, small color 1 pix image gif as a background as well as a rounded boardered image jpg to line up? Fireworks? Dreamweaver? I'll never understand this.

Maybe I should look at GO-Live? Maybe fireworks can do this? What is the story here?

Well the story is this. (according to these authors), photoshop is best for design, and dreamweaver is best for web publishing. You heard me right. Did you ever think we would see a book, and a book from Friends Of Ed no doubt, that placed to of the top selling software authors in the same book???

Well they did and the reason being, that these two programs are the best for what they do.

I've been building websites from Dreamweaver and Fireworks but to be honest, wouldn't it be cool to just draw what you want and then publish it? Well now you can.

This book takes you from the design stage (PS7) to editing (/slicing via image ready - although I'm sure fireworks would have worked) and then to dreamweaver where you then set up the tables for the pages you just created. The photoshop section is so good that I used it myself for a tenative client, and changed the text and images to say what I needed them to say.

Also, what I'm really enjoying is that having built websites from MX Dreamweaver, I now feel the freedom that I've been searching for with a book that puts it all together. i.e. how to get something from your mind (PS7) to Dreamweaver.

I've also found that the PS7 example, creates the whole page in PS7, but once you have the general concept down, you can create just the sections you need, i.e., just the nav bar or side bar... AMEN and AMEN. The dreamweaver section is easy and they show you how to replace, or import what you've done in PS7 to Dreamweaver.

Lastly, since you learn to work in Layers in PS7 (pre-dreamweaver), you now have a numerous pallet of templates that simply by turning off one layer, or changing another gives the site a fresh new feel, all with the click of a few buttons.

Excellent excellent book.

I also recommend Crash Course in Dreamweaver MX and make yourself complete the whole book to grasp the basics of dreamweaver. I also like Photoshop Studio Techniques, VTC online training and Fireworks MX Bible.

I would also like to see them (friends of Ed) put out a FIREWORKS MX and dreamweaver, just to see the results. There doesn't seem to be that many Fireworks books on web publishing with real work (classy and clean) examples.

This book is definitely one of the better books on Photoshop-use-for-the-web I've read so far. Easy to read, a touch of humour and without mind-killing complex technical jargon, I'm enjoying
each and every page. It's not going to show you every thing Photoshop has to offer, for that a reference book and some hands-on experience would be better, it's not going to show you all the possible web-graphics. However it WILL show you how to translate an idea into a concept and how to realize that concept with the use the popular tools Photoshop and Dreamweaver.

I particularly appreciated the numerous comments on situations where the seller expected to stay with the company (as a consultant or executive) after the sale. Things they thought about, and things they *wish* they had thought about, are explained.

However, don't expect to receive extensive advice on how to determine what your business is worth as a specific dollar amount. The advice in this book is more about how to behave, what to worry about, when to get professional help, and so on.

Also don't expect to learn much about selling "weird" businesses. Most of the examples here are from people selling very conventional (and profitable) businesses, such as component manufacturers.

If you're selling any business, this is a good read and an efficient use of time, and may help you avoid mistakes. If you're selling a conventional business and expect to be involved after the sale (not just take the money and run), there is so much advice here that you *need* to read this book.

Colin Gabriel has created an extremely valuable book that--at less than $25 U.S.--is an absolute must-read for anyone contemplating the sale of a business.

HOW TO SELL YOUR BUSINESS AND GET WHAT YOU WANT! is based on a series of interviews with 57 sellers of various businesses, followed by chapters that describe the critical steps in sequence, and a number of useful appendices, glossary, index, etc.

I expected a dry and (given the number of sellers interviewed) perhaps redundant read: on the contrary, the talk is lively and varied, and I couldn't put this book down.

Gabriel--a professional business broker--obviously knows his subject, but what amazed me most was how he got these sellers to open up and speak candidly about their experiences (not just the success stories, but what they'd do differently if they could do it over again). All but 4 of the 57 permitted him to identify them by name, which gives their advice and anecdotes a (reassuring) stamp of authenticity.

The book is intelligently organized and accessible. I particularly appreciated Gabriel's direct, no-nonsense approach, and the concise descriptions of each of the businesses he has provided in the Table of Contents.

If you are thinking of selling a business for the first time, get this book--if you wait and read it later (as I did), be prepared to have regrets!

It was enticing enough for me, but I claim the blame for missing the target. Experiences may vary -- if they're readers, they're readers -- if they're not, that's another subject.

Like virtually all the male characters here, Chief Superintendent Colin Harpur does not find that having a wife and child in any way limits his social life. This time, the middle-aged detective's extracurricular love is a 19-year-old college student whose best friend is the lover of Harpur's chief "grass," or snitch. When, as a result of information received from the informer, Harpur interrupts a robbery and kills the son of a vicious but somewhat inept criminal, he sets in motion a series of threats on the life of his lover Denise, thought to be a conduit of information between the informer and Harpur. As Harpur tries to protect her, the informer, his reputation on the force, and his marriage and family, we come to know him as basically a good-hearted man who enjoys living way out on the edge, a man willing to bend every rule, if necessary.

James manages to keep the excitement high and the threat of real violence foremost in the reader's mind at the same time that he presents some wonderfully funny scenes--the funeral of the thief Harpur killed, the disposal of a body which inconveniently appears on the grounds of a house where a lawn party is to be held, and the resulting garden party, almost certain to end the upward mobility of its host. His peripheral characters are quirky and memorable, his dialogue is superb, the plot and motivations feel realistic, and the novel, overall, offers a terrific escape into a well-developed and exciting fictional world.

The bad guys are Doug Webb - a truly low class criminal , Courtney Saquhar-Perry - a criminal of more elevated rank and good at organizing, and Ralph Ember - owner of a pub/club, where the low life likes to congregate.

And in between these two groups are the informers who supply the good guys with the inside info on planned criminal activities and, in return, are cut considerable slack when doing wrong themselves. Foremost is Jack Lamb (and his girl friend Helen), who worked his way into a super trophy mansion and a remarkable collection of fine art, most of it stolen and now for resale. On a lower rung is Tony Towler, and also our friend Ralph Ember.

Let the fun begin with a heist the police had been advised about. It turns problematic when Doug Webb?s son Martin is killed by Harpur. Webb needs revenge. Who blew the whistle? Maybe Denise, who is also friendly with Helen and could be the messenger go-between. She has to be eliminated. It definitely could be Lamb, but he is a few numbers too large to just blow away. No such problem with Towler, who quickly gets killed. But who can trust anybody? Saquhar-Perry plans a new heist at a bank. So let?s plant some desinformation to make sure the good guys are in the wrong place. Feed it to Towler, who will pass it on to Lamb, who will then inform Harpur. Towler can?t be found (remember, he is dead). You have to find a substitute. But who can you trust? What information can you trust? As a matter of fact - can Ember trust Webb? Can Saquhar-Perry trust Ember? Can anybody trust anybody?

The author has written a tightly constructed mystery. After introducing the actors, he starts to apply the vise and squeezes the last bit of thought out of them. The result is a cliff hanger not to be missed. I just wonder why it took ten years for this book to make the trip from England across the Atlantic. We desperately need more books of this caliber!