Supporters will hail this New Age self-help book on the law of attraction as a groundbreaking and life-changing work, finding validation in its thesis that one's positive thoughts are powerful magnets that attract wealth, health, happiness... and did we mention wealth? Detractors will be appalled by this as well as when the book argues that fleeting negative thoughts are powerful enough to create terminal illness, poverty and even widespread disasters.

Robert Cialdini, renowned psychology researcher and author of Influence: The Power of Persuasion (perhaps the best book ever written on the subject) identifies six basic rules employed by politicians, advertisers and scam artists alike to persuade others. Each of them are employed quite adeptly by Rhonda Byrne in this book.

Cialdini's first principle is SCARCITY; people want what's expensive, exculsive, or otherwise attainable. Byrne's mastery of this principle is clearly shown by the very name of the book: The Secret. We all learned this the first week of kindergarten as we felt the jealousy of watching two classmates, hands cupped over ears, sharing a secret out of earshot.

This message is reinforced throughout the book and its advertising campaign which pitches "The Secret" (whatever it actually is) as jealousy-guarded information hoarded by the happy, wealthy and successful. Whenever someone tries convincing you of something, whether it's a way to make enormous sums of money, to lose weight, etc - be wary of when it's pitched as "the knowledge THEY don't want you to have." Think about it - everything from the "secrets that Wall Street doesn't want you to know" to "uncovered - celebrities' secrets to staying young" are phrased not simply to pique your interest but to make you jealous. Appeals to our emotion are far more powerful than appeals to reason, and Byrne demonstrates mastery of this principle throughout "The Secret."

 

Nitty Gritty Delphi 6

Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional; 1st edition (August 26, 2002)
Language: English

Delphi for .NET Developer

Product Description

Master Microsoft’s .NET Framework using Delphi.

This book provides expert knowledge of both Delphi and. NET with the same, practicable and real-world solutions approach used in previous Delphi Developer’s Guides. Delphi for .NET Developer’s Guide is a new edition of the #1 Delphi book by authors Xavier Pacheco and Steve Teixeira. This newest edition is completely updated for Delphi using the .NET Framework and includes in-depth coverage on Borland’s new CLX architecture, DBExpress Applications, SOAP, CORBA, WebSnap and BizSnap features. It continues as a complete reference and authoritative guide to the newest version of Delphi. Additional topics covered include: The .NET Framework; Programs, Units, and Namespaces;.NET Security Custom WinForms Controls; Memory Management and Garbage Collection; COM and COM+ Interoperability; ADO.NET, ASP.NET and Web Services.

Book Description
Beginning C# is a book that offers a lot of guidance, in a format that readers find intuitive to follow. The exercise-based format of the Wrox Beginning series has a strong following by all levels of readers, and is one that works very well in the classroom or home. Written by a veteran programming instructor, this is the perfect mix of tutorial, and hands-on coding new programmers are looking for - written from their point of view.

Beginning C# is written for those readers with no prior programming experience who want a thorough, yet easy to understand, introduction to C# and Object Oriented Programming. Dr. Purdum uses his 25 years of teaching experience to teach readers:

The C# syntax and concepts of Object Oriented Programming
How to design and write C# programs that are functional and embody safe programming practices
Tried and true tricks of the trade, from design concepts to debugging aids
And all of these goals are done in an easy-to-read and enjoyable manner
and much more. Complete source code, examples, and discussion forms available at Wrox.com

Microsoft® Visual Studio 2008 Unleashed is an end-to-end, deep dive into the Visual Studio development environment. It’s meant to provide you guidance on how you can squeeze the ultimate productivity out of the many features built into the .NET development tools. Understanding how to use your tools will make you a better developer. This book was written with that premise as its focus.

 

The authors have folded in real-world development experience alongside detailed information about the IDE. The result is practical, easy-to-employ information that will make you a more productive and complete developer. This book also helps to ease your transition from other development environments and former versions of Visual Studio.

Finally, this book provides an entire section dedicated to Visual Studio Team System. It will help you understand how the Team Architect, Team Developer, Team Database Developer, and Team Tester work with the Team Foundation Server to increase team collaboration, visibility, and productivity.