About the Author
The author, Wallace Wang, currently exists as a carbon-based life form, consuming precious natural resources for his own survival at the expense of the rest of the planet. Despite his dislike of unnecessary complexity, the author actually enjoys what computers can do, even if they tend to fail spectacularly in everyday use at the worst possible moment. Besides writing computer books, the author also enjoys studying movies and performing stand-up comedy just to do something creative that involves human beings as opposed to machines.
He also enjoys blogging about screenwriting at his site The 15 Minute Movie Method (www.15minutemoviemethod.com), where he shares tips with other screenwriters intent on breaking into Hollywood. Some of his other sites include Cat Daily News (www.catdailynews.com), which highlights the latest interesting news about cats, The Electronic Author (www.electronicauthor.com), which focuses on self-publishing e-books, and Top Bananas (www.topbananas.com), which covers the latest technology related to mobile and wearable computers.
Dedication
This book is dedicated to all those people forced to use Microsoft Office because everyone else uses it so they have to use it too. To all those people searching for mental relief from the collective insanity that results from standards imposed upon the unwilling, this book and its instructions are dedicated to making your life easier and more bearable so you can actually use your computer for a change.
Author’s Acknowledgments
I’d like to thank all the friendly people who helped put this book together, especially Pat O’Brien, who guided this book from a rough manuscript into the professionally bound and typeset creation you’re holding in your hands right now. Additional thanks go to my radio co-hosts Dane Henderson and Elizabeth Lee (www.echoludo.com), who share the airwaves with me on our radio show “Notes From the Underground” (www.notesfromtheu.com) on KNSJ.org.
Thanks also go to Chris Clobber, Diane Jean, Ikaika Patria, and Robert Weems for letting me share their friendship and laughter on another KNSJ radio show called “Laugh In Your Face” (www.laughinyourfaceradio.com) that combines comedy with political activism and commentary.
More thanks go to Michael Montijo for dragging me into the strangest and most interesting places in Hollywood as he pursues his dream of getting his cartoon ideas (“Life of Mikey” and “Pachuko Boy”) on TV. If you’re in a position of power in Hollywood, give Michael a break so he won’t have to keep driving six hours, one-way between Phoenix and Los Angeles at least once a month for the past 15 years.
Final thanks go to Johannes Gutenberg for inventing the printing press, which is currently being defeated by armies of people dismissing the invention of mass printing by refusing to read any books at all.
Publisher’s Acknowledgments
Project Editor: Pat O’Brien
Technical Editor: Brian Underdahl
Sr. Editorial Assistant: Cherie Case
Production Editor: Kumar Chellappa
Cover Image: Marrypopins/iStockphoto