Mr. Burke's Reading List

1633 , by David Weber and Eric Flint, 2014 The second in the Ring of Fire series, 1633 offers a lot of promise with its gleaming cover comprised of a knight on horseback backed by a naval vessel, ready for war. It delivers on the action, but it doesn't (quite) on that image. However, it does give you an idea where this is going. After the events in the first book, the Powers Than Be in Europe have stopped blaming deviltry and witchcraft and accept the fact that Grantville is here and that a new entity, the United States, now exists in Germany. They have brought weapons and technology from the future. They also brought back history textbooks. (And other library books with more information than your average high school history text might actually have.) Having the knowledge of a possible future changes the course of "present" events. France and Spain, seeing that the results of a pointless, prolonged conflict, skip the Franco-Spanish War of 1635-59 and turn their ...

How to Make Your First App , by Ben Philabaum, 2014 This was an unusual ebook in terms of its content. While the idea of making my own app for my iPad intrigues me, this book is missing one little detail that may seem crucial to completion of this task: how to make an app! Now before you cry foul, or con, or bait and switch, let me tell you that it does give you everything you need if you want to have an app to sell and make a few extra bucks -- and by a few, I mean a few, not a few million or possibly not a few thousand. At least, not with your first app. There is more to creating, publishing and successfully marketing an app than just writing some code. In fact, the code might be the least important part because you can pay someone else to write it for you . Again, this isn't a cop out. Think about it. The creators/owners of many businesses don't actually make their own product. They just come up with the idea, get it made, and then market it. Better marketing will i...

BAM! How to Write an Ebook and Upload to Kindle , by Jamie Hill, 2014 This ebook was basically a book to read between books. Something quick and possibly interesting before I decide where I want to go next. If where you want to go in making ebooks on Kindle, then this might be the book for you. On the one hand, Jamie Hill has five titles available, so something is going right. On the other hand, I downloaded it for free, so maybe so, maybe not. On the gripping hand, I'm talking about it, so there is that. The book is more than just instructions for uploading. It's about picking a topic, one that others might be looking for, creating an outline, sticking to a schedule and doing your research. Instruction on how to format your Word file so it translates into kindle's format are there, too. Covers are tricky -- so don't make your own. There are websites to go to where you can get one done cheaply enough. Overall, some good information, much of which can crossover t...