After reading the book from cover to cover, I have learned the power of using command line and how not daunting the black screen with white text appears to be. Part V, “Command Reference,” makes this book a must-have guide next to my office desk, especially with the cover of Mac OS X. Highly recommended.

I am fairly new to Drupal simply because most of the work I have done could be accomplished using WordPress. While both WordPress and Drupal are content management systems, they serve different purposes. The choice to implement one over the other is up to the web designers and developers, but to have both for us to use for free is a huge advantage.

While the discussions of incorporating mobile web with WordPress, Drupal and Joomla! are short (mostly involve activating plug-ins and modules), the book provided some valuable comparison between the three platforms to help readers pick the right one for the project.

Mobile web is clearly on the rise and us designers need to jump on the bandwagon. Even if you don’t work with WordPress, Joomla!, and Drupal, James Pearce’s Professional Mobile Web Development provides a great introduction to one of the future’s most popular web browsing devices.

Through Gasston’s clear explanations and easy-to-follow examples, you’ll see the power of CSS3 in action, which can be used today in contemporary browsers. The last two chapters on “Template Layout” and “The Future of CSS” are intriguing to see where CSS is heading. Definitely a must-read for web designers and developers. Don’t take my word for it. Check out Gasston’s article on “The Future of CSS Layouts” to get a glimpse of you’ll get from The Book of CSS3.

I intended to visit this book for a while and the release of the second edition is just perfect. Rereading The History of Jazz the second time with a bit of background as a listener makes me appreciate Gioia’s work even more. What a daunting task writing about the complexity of the music that refuses to stand still for over a century. Gioia took us way back to the early nineteenth century with a vivid opening scene:

An elderly black man sits astride a large cylindrical drum. Using his fingers and the edge of his hand, he jabs repeatedly at the drum head—which is around a foot in diameter and probably made from an animal skin—evoking a throbbing pulsation with rapid, sharp strokes. A second drummer, holding his instrument between his knees, joins in, playing with the same staccato attack. A third black man, seated on the ground, plucks at a string instrument, the body of which is roughly fashioned from a calabash. Another calabash has been made into a drum, and a woman heats at it with two short sticks. One voice, then other voices join in. A dance of seeming contradictions accompanies this musical give-and-take, a moving hieroglyph that appears, on the one hand, informal and spontaneous yet, on closer inspection, ritualized and precise. It is a dance of massive proportions. A dense crowd of dark bodies forms into circular groups—perhaps five or six hundred individuals moving in time to the pulsations of the music, some swaying gently, others aggressively stomping their feet. A number of women in the group begin chanting.

From there on Gioia takes us from New Orleans to Chicago to Kansas City and then to New York for lively musical analysis and concise but accessible portraits of eminent jazz figures as well as the overlooked artists who contributed to the ever-changing styles of jazz. Must read for anyone who is passionate about the story of jazz.

Also unlike Miles, whose music and life had been documented in great lengths, Brownie only has one major biography. Nick Catalano’s Clifford Brown: The Life and Art of the Legendary Jazz Trumpeter is a short, but well-researched text on the jazz trumpet giant. From his childhood development to his beautiful personality to his virtuosity, readers can see how Brownie became one of the most influential trumpeters in the world of jazz. Catalano’s analysis of the Brown-Roach-Rollins collaboration is a must read.

As the past few years have shown us, we simply can’t compete with the pace of technology. Are we really going to create a custom experience for every new browser or device that appears?

The alternative is to make web site responses to the users’ device using three core ingredients:

1. A flexible, grid-based layout,
2. Flexible images and media, and
3. Media queries, a module from the CSS3 specification.

With clear illustrations and concise explanations, the three chapters covering the techniques alone can prepare readers to start making responsive web sites, but the equally delightful part of the book is to hear Marcotte’s views on “Becoming Responsive,” responses to the critics and insights on “mobile first” approach. An immediate-read for web designers.

The History of Jazz by Ted Gioia: I read the first edition back in 2005. I have been wanting to re-read it, but keep pushing it off. The second edition just came out so it is a good time for a revisit.

The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst: I read this book 2 times already, but still wanting to return to it every one or two years.

Designing Type by Karen Cheng: This book has so much technical details on typography that a second and third read is required.

JavaScript: The Definitive Guide by David Flanagan: Read this book on my vacation, but a second read is necessary.

DOM Scripting: Web Design with JavaScript and the Document Object Model by Jeremy Keith, Jeffrey Sambells: Like The Definitive Guide, this book definitely needs a revisit.

Ordering Disorder by Khoi Vinh: Although this book is a quick read, the thinking behind the grid needs to be read again carefully.

Typography has one plain duty before it and that is to convey information in writing. No argument or consideration can absolve typography from this duty. A printed work which cannot be read becomes a product without purpose.