PC Upgrade and Repair Simplified (IDG's 3-D visual series) Book

I'm not really into the "3-D Visual Approach" to anything about computers. The world is visually 3-D enough for me. In books, I want text and 2-D illustrations. Yet, I know from reading my e-mail that lots of people like this overly illustrated approach. This book, PC Upgrade and Repair Simplified, is my very first exposure to one of the tremendously popular Maran Graphics titles from Hungry Mind Books. The jacket boasts 6 million satisfied users, which is a huge number of people when you consider there are probably a few more who are unsatisfied yet uncounted.The book is really lovely, with many colourful illustrations, showing a computer in various stages of disassembly with hands and implements conveniently placed to illustrate proper upgrading procedures. It's exactly what you would expect: little text, lots of pictures. That works fine for, say, pornography, but when it comes to computers I feel people really need more text and tables than cute pictures. Information-wise, the book leaves me wanting more. It's like a lava lamp: pretty to look at but not much in the way of expressing ideas.Most of the book concentrates on adding or replacing hardware. You see various steps and their corresponding illustrations. So instead of reading, "Plug in the memory module", you see a wonderful Adobe Illustrator-like image of a hand shoving a SIMM into a slot. But that isn't enough. The book rarely mentions anything about the follow-through with the software side of upgrading and installing. The troubleshooting information reads like foam peanuts, i.e., space filler.On the subject of hard-drive partitioning, this book devotes one paragraph and one illustration. Hey, thanks guys. That really helps. Not! In fact, the illustration next to the disk partitioning, depicting a disk track and sector on a hard drive, is incorrect. Oh well. So much for the simple approach. I mean, this colourful stuff may appeal to a certain group in the computer-book-buying public, but they're really going to leave the four-colour, 3-D PC upgrade table wanting more. --Dan GookinRead More