Acknowledgements are always nearly impossible to do well. Before you can think anyone of substance, the music swells and theyre shuffling you off stage. Seriously, before the writing, theres my wife Leigh and my kids, Dean, Robbie, and Addie. Any energy or joy or relaxation that happens during the long writing process filters through those four, and theres never enough royalties to cover the time lost with them. I suppose its a reflection of their love and support for me that theyre OK with me writing anyway.
And then, theres certainly the writing. Brian Sawyer was the first guy to call me when I became available to write, and he called when I was really in need of just what he gave me: excitement about me writing and encouragement that I could write into the Missing Manual series. I wont forget that call anytime soon. And then Nan Barber IM-ed and emailed me through this whole thing. She showed a really unhealthy level of trust that wasnt earned, and Im quite thankful, especially in the dark days of early August when I had hundreds of pages left to write in a few short weeks.
Shelley Powers and Steve Suehring were technical reviewers, and they were both picky and gentle. Thats about all you can ask. Shelley helped me remember to keep the learner front and center, and if you like the longer code listings when things get hairy, shes the one to thank. And SteveSteve filled out my PHP holes. He caught one particularly nasty issue that I think vastly improved the book. You dont realize this, but you owe him a real debt of thanks if this book helps you.
And then theres the vast machinery at OReilly. It all works, and I dont know how, really, and Im OK with that. I imagine somewhere Sanders is pulling important levers and Courtney is badgering authors and Laura is angry and in heels and Laurie thinks this all costs too much and Tim iswell, Tim is thinking about something important. Im glad for all of them.
The Missing Manual Series
Missing Manuals are witty, superbly written guides to computer products that dont come with printed manuals (which is just about all of them). Each book features a handcrafted index and cross-references to specific pages (not just chapters).
Recent and upcoming titles include:
Access 2010: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald
Buying a Home: The Missing Manual by Nancy Conner
CSS: The Missing Manual, Second Edition, by David Sawyer McFarland
Creating a Website: The Missing Manual, Third Edition, by Matthew MacDonald
David Pogues Digital Photography: The Missing Manual by David Pogue
Dreamweaver CS5.5: The Missing Manual by David Sawyer McFarland
Droid 2: The Missing Manual by Preston Gralla
Droid X2: The Missing Manual by Preston Gralla
Excel 2010: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald
Facebook: The Missing Manual, Third Edition by E.A. Vander Veer
FileMaker Pro 11: The Missing Manual by Susan Prosser and Stuart Gripman
Flash CS5.5: The Missing Manual by Chris Grover
Galaxy Tab: The Missing Manual by Preston Gralla
Google Apps: The Missing Manual by Nancy Conner
Google SketchUp: The Missing Manual by Chris Grover
iMovie 11 & iDVD: The Missing Manual by David Pogue and Aaron Miller
iPad 2: The Missing Manual by J.D. Biersdorfer
iPhone: The Missing Manual, Fourth Edition by David Pogue
iPhone App Development: The Missing Manual by Craig Hockenberry
iPhoto 11: The Missing Manual by David Pogue and Lesa Snider
iPod: The Missing Manual, Ninth Edition by J.D. Biersdorfer and David Pogue
JavaScript: The Missing Manual by David Sawyer McFarland
Living Green: The Missing Manual by Nancy Conner
Mac OS X Snow Leopard: The Missing Manual by David Pogue
Mac OS X Lion: The Missing Manual by David Pogue
Microsoft Project 2010: The Missing Manual by Bonnie Biafore
Motorola Xoom: The Missing Manual by Preston Gralla
Netbooks: The Missing Manual by J.D. Biersdorfer
Office 2010: The Missing Manual by Nancy Connor, Chris Grover, and Matthew MacDonald
Office 2011 for Macintosh: The Missing Manual