Multimedia: Making It Work: Instructor's Pack with CDROM

The latest reincarnation of this multimedia bible, written by the knowledgeable Tay Vaughan, is certainly worthy of praise. Despite the huge scope of the subject matter, the book's content is tightly focused on expanding the skills of competent technologists. It is most refreshing to find that, unlike in the case of many multimedia references, the author is both extremely knowledgeable and has the admirable ability of writing well and engaging the reader--two traits not universally apparent within the technical writing profession.

Utilizing a pleasantly anecdotal style and quoting the views of many important industry figures throughout the text, Vaughan makes a thorough presentation of the subject matter, although the American bias becomes somewhat obvious. A variety of communication media are discussed, from plain text to pictures, audio, sound, and their presentation on both CD-ROM and the World Wide Web. Although the author clearly prefers an Apple Macintosh, this book is suitable for PC users as well. It isn't application specific, concentrating more on concepts than on step-by-step solutions.

Jam-packed with strangely useful tidbits of information, this book is not for the absolute beginner, yet nor is it a vastly intimidating tome. The subject of multimedia is so large that one book cannot cover it in immense detail, yet this is as comprehensive and seminal as a single volume will allow.--Josh Smith