The Emperor has no clothes, 10 Oct 2008
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
A highly disappointing text from an erudite and capable author. The book is fallacious, mislaeding and mischievious. The abuse of simple statistical distributions alone warrants not taking it seriously. It is oversold by the blurb and does not do what it says on the cover. Extremely disappointing.

Good for teachers of Critical Thinking?, 02 Oct 2008
There are already many reviews here so I'd simply like to add that this could be useful to anyone teaching Critical Thinking. It's full of neat little stories and interesting points. The author often contradicts himself or ignores his own warnings (possibly deliberately to keep the readers on their toes) so it should be used carefully.

Interesting, but an ego-trip, 01 Oct 2008
I have to agree with most of the other reviews, that although this book is an interesting read which lets you look at some of the problems in "routine statistics in practice" from a different angle.
However, at the same time the book is one big ego-trip with the author being very full of himself and people who share his ideas, while looking down on everyone else. For some reason the authors feels that almost everyone involved in statistics has no idea about the data he or she is working with, no idea of variability of data, and no idea of its shortcomings. Everyone, except himself and some friends...
To illustrate this, the author uses interesting and entertaining examples which make the book a good read. Unfortunately, some of his examples and the thought process used to make his point are flawed.
Nonetheless, i would recommend this book to people routinely working with data just to be aware of the different angles on the same topic in an easy to understand language, while simultaneously being entertained.

Suddenly, it all made sense ..., 01 Oct 2008
Nothing short of ABSOLUTELY REVALATORY ... notwithstanding other reviewers' comments regarding arrogance, ego, verbosity etc., I found this book to be nothing short of life altering; entertaining and funny in it's written style, too.

Working in a profession which constantly deals with unpredictability, including extremely high-impact unpredicability, this book holds up a bright light to the anti-intellectual lunacy prevading my own profession and brings me a clarity of thought I wondered if I'd ever enjoy.

NNT was willing all throughout this book to highlight his disdain for 'anti-scholars' who peddle 'anti-knowledge' and I have to accept that some who've missed his main point will take this as arrogance, ego, etc.. I've found throughout life that it takes some extremely confident, contrary and often arrogant people to set the new standards and shock people into seeing the light.

AWESOME BOOK; Iimmediately bought several copies to distribute as Christmas presents to the un-enlightened and ordered his previous book 'Fooled by Randomness' which I can wait to devour upon arrival today.

strong character, strong book, 26 Sep 2008
I just read the book whilst in Colombia a bit more than a week ago. Though it shines through that Nassim Nicholas Taleb is an opinionated man (in all positivity) with a rather big than small ego, it certainly needs a character like this to be able to step back from common (dis-)believe and make a critical point can has the potential to smash many of our assumptions about nothing less than life itself. Looking at rare phenomena from an economic and philosophical point of view, he (if his numbers are right) makes a strong point against the industry of predictability for the least. Reading from his experience and research, it makes me think of when I first read Stephen Johnson's 'Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities and Software', John Gray's 'Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals, or Naomi Klein's 'The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism'. All those books, written in the last few years show how we are slave of our own misconception about our own history, decisions, believe in the power of prediction and generally our 'greatness' as a species.

It is very sobering to see that we still keep getting things wrong most of the time, despite the claim of being part of any of the many groups of 'a chosen people' or the more secular view of having 'progressed' into something better, higher (whatever that might be). Despite all our knowledge, we now have scientists as the new scriptwriters and painters of how armageddon looks like (see 100 years ahead predictions of rising sea-levels and the 5 billion deaths it's supposed to cost us). But maybe armageddon is the only Black Swan we can't fully imagine but we been predicting long enough to get one of the many dates right.

Essential reading, definitely get's you away from the craziness that is London commuting.

The Emperor has no clothes, 10 Oct 2008
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
A highly disappointing text from an erudite and capable author. The book is fallacious, mislaeding and mischievious. The abuse of simple statistical distributions alone warrants not taking it seriously. It is oversold by the blurb and does not do what it says on the cover. Extremely disappointing.

Good for teachers of Critical Thinking?, 02 Oct 2008
There are already many reviews here so I'd simply like to add that this could be useful to anyone teaching Critical Thinking. It's full of neat little stories and interesting points. The author often contradicts himself or ignores his own warnings (possibly deliberately to keep the readers on their toes) so it should be used carefully.

Interesting, but an ego-trip, 01 Oct 2008
I have to agree with most of the other reviews, that although this book is an interesting read which lets you look at some of the problems in "routine statistics in practice" from a different angle.
However, at the same time the book is one big ego-trip with the author being very full of himself and people who share his ideas, while looking down on everyone else. For some reason the authors feels that almost everyone involved in statistics has no idea about the data he or she is working with, no idea of variability of data, and no idea of its shortcomings. Everyone, except himself and some friends...
To illustrate this, the author uses interesting and entertaining examples which make the book a good read. Unfortunately, some of his examples and the thought process used to make his point are flawed.
Nonetheless, i would recommend this book to people routinely working with data just to be aware of the different angles on the same topic in an easy to understand language, while simultaneously being entertained.

Suddenly, it all made sense ..., 01 Oct 2008
Nothing short of ABSOLUTELY REVALATORY ... notwithstanding other reviewers' comments regarding arrogance, ego, verbosity etc., I found this book to be nothing short of life altering; entertaining and funny in it's written style, too.

Working in a profession which constantly deals with unpredictability, including extremely high-impact unpredicability, this book holds up a bright light to the anti-intellectual lunacy prevading my own profession and brings me a clarity of thought I wondered if I'd ever enjoy.

NNT was willing all throughout this book to highlight his disdain for 'anti-scholars' who peddle 'anti-knowledge' and I have to accept that some who've missed his main point will take this as arrogance, ego, etc.. I've found throughout life that it takes some extremely confident, contrary and often arrogant people to set the new standards and shock people into seeing the light.

AWESOME BOOK; Iimmediately bought several copies to distribute as Christmas presents to the un-enlightened and ordered his previous book 'Fooled by Randomness' which I can wait to devour upon arrival today.

strong character, strong book, 26 Sep 2008
I just read the book whilst in Colombia a bit more than a week ago. Though it shines through that Nassim Nicholas Taleb is an opinionated man (in all positivity) with a rather big than small ego, it certainly needs a character like this to be able to step back from common (dis-)believe and make a critical point can has the potential to smash many of our assumptions about nothing less than life itself. Looking at rare phenomena from an economic and philosophical point of view, he (if his numbers are right) makes a strong point against the industry of predictability for the least. Reading from his experience and research, it makes me think of when I first read Stephen Johnson's 'Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities and Software', John Gray's 'Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals, or Naomi Klein's 'The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism'. All those books, written in the last few years show how we are slave of our own misconception about our own history, decisions, believe in the power of prediction and generally our 'greatness' as a species.

It is very sobering to see that we still keep getting things wrong most of the time, despite the claim of being part of any of the many groups of 'a chosen people' or the more secular view of having 'progressed' into something better, higher (whatever that might be). Despite all our knowledge, we now have scientists as the new scriptwriters and painters of how armageddon looks like (see 100 years ahead predictions of rising sea-levels and the 5 billion deaths it's supposed to cost us). But maybe armageddon is the only Black Swan we can't fully imagine but we been predicting long enough to get one of the many dates right.

Essential reading, definitely get's you away from the craziness that is London commuting.


Welcome to the Magic Circle, 21 Jun 2008
Search Engine Optimisation has acquired a status which might be regarded similar to that of the magic circle:
It's secretive - only those in the circle really know the tricks
There's an element of magic - SEOs do things we don't understand
It's competitive - we all want to get to the top
It's closed - those within the circle do not disclose all the tricks
They even categorise their tricks as good and bad with the terms "white hat" and "black hat"

Well, in this excellent new book David Viney has let us all into the circle, and what we learn is that it's not magic!

However, I should like to follow that statement by immediately saying that it is plainly not easy either. Also, by the very nature of the fierce competition for the top spots, it will always be competitive, and you will always have to work at it.

What this particular magician sets out for us all here is a structure and a method which we might follow to improve our own success.

The author uses the analogy of cookery; there are ingredients, recipes to follow - and I would add, a great deal of time needed to be spent in the kitchen!!

You will be surprised to learn the breadth of things that you will need to do to be in with a competitive chance. The book covers the many factors that contribute to your ultimate success. I was surprised at just how many areas contribute to a site becoming successful, in 240 pages David Viney covers a lot of ground.

The title is so clever; Step 1 in David's plan focuses on finding the "phrases that pay", and sure enough, the title of his book is of course just one such example - nicely wraps-up in a phrase what the book is all about AND is what we are all searching for!

As other reviewers have written here, the book strikes an excellent balance in readability, suitable for reading and use by other professional SEOs and equally works very well for the novice.

The seven step procedure does categorise the areas of focus well, and does give a guide to chronology, but it's not his intention that you should remain in a step until you have done everything you possibly can, more that you need to do a wide number of things, and that over the longer period you will need to track back and forth through the steps and re-visit activities.

The book does a great job of illustrating the size of the market, the strength and importance of Google in that market, and the potential prizes available to the top of page one winners.

"Having your site in the top 10 is like having your store right on Main Street or near the entrance of the largest shopping mall in human history. Being outside the top 20 is like having a corner store on the very outskirts of town."

You should buy and read this book before building your website, probably even before naming you business. The tips within it on subjects such as targetting a niche, phrases that pay, finding and targeting keywords, domain names, hosting locations, etc. are all key considerations in the choices you should make in the very early days.

But there's no need to worry if you are already well into the life of your business and your website, there is plenty within this book for all to heed and follow.

I would strongly recommend the book to anybody interested in getting their website "to the top on Google", you will learn a great deal, and will be able to take action based upon the guidance within the book.

However, go into this exercise with the awareness that it is a long game. You may read the book in just a few hours, but you will need to work persistently at your website's optimisation continuously to reach the top and stay there .........The prizes are Great. It is fiercely competitive. The web is continuously evolving. Your competitors will read this book too.

This is probably the best book on this subject that you can buy.
Take the first step, buy and read the book.
Then keep it next to your computer, keep dipping into it, follow its recommendations.
Then, be prepared to buy an updated version or follow-up next year, with more and new recommendations for you to implement!

The Mother of all SEO Books, 16 Jun 2008
I want to keep this short and sweet as copywriting is not my strong point. If you are looking for a book that spells out the key issues on SEO in an order that actually makes logical sense - then this is the book for you. Rather than a book full of information (although it is very informative) - its best used a step-by-step tool to any SEO project. I can understand why one of the reviewers read it twice.

I had purchased SEO for Dummies but that was really a 'bits n pieces' kind of book and left me unguided. This book follows a chronological path and makes you stick to it.

I shall be using it on every SEO project from now on.

5/5

Buy IT! BUY IT!, 19 May 2008
I have read this book from cover to cover TWICE!!! Then I bought my collegue a copy for his birthday so he wouldn't keep taking mine!!
This is full of practical knowledge to get you up and going and also a great reference book for the more knowledgable. BUY IT NOW!!! You wont be dissapointed!!

A book that covers EVERYTHING finally...., 15 May 2008
I have to admit, I couldn't wait for this book to come out so I purchased a few other before hand and wasn't too impressed! When the book arrived I said to myself that I would read it through once quickly and then go over it in more closely 2nd time round. Well, I just finished it for the 1st time and it took me 2 weeks LOL - I just had to test everything as soon as I read it!

This book is by far the best of 6 SEO books I have read (not going to name the others) - I can't recommend it enough, you will gain so much from reading it - right, i'm off to start it for the 2nd time - kudos to David Viney aka "LEGEND"

Handy guide to being first on Google search results list, 08 May 2008
The information in this very specific book can help you increase the effectiveness of your Web efforts and gain better visibility among the Web search results on Google and other search engines. David Viney shares his expertise in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in helpful detail. Have you wondered if you need professional input in this area? Read here to find out how expert guidance, copywriting, site design and Web master services can supplement your efforts, and boost your visibility and sales. Viney explains how to assess your current results. He tells you how to make sure your Web page appears among search results in productive positions, but he doesn't overpromise about what you can accomplish. Much of his information is quite detailed and technical, but relatively accessible and applicable. However, it is somewhat vulnerable to becoming outdated, in places, if Google alters its current parameters. getAbstract expects future editions to handle that little problem quite nicely.

The Emperor has no clothes, 10 Oct 2008
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
A highly disappointing text from an erudite and capable author. The book is fallacious, mislaeding and mischievious. The abuse of simple statistical distributions alone warrants not taking it seriously. It is oversold by the blurb and does not do what it says on the cover. Extremely disappointing.

Good for teachers of Critical Thinking?, 02 Oct 2008
There are already many reviews here so I'd simply like to add that this could be useful to anyone teaching Critical Thinking. It's full of neat little stories and interesting points. The author often contradicts himself or ignores his own warnings (possibly deliberately to keep the readers on their toes) so it should be used carefully.

Interesting, but an ego-trip, 01 Oct 2008
I have to agree with most of the other reviews, that although this book is an interesting read which lets you look at some of the problems in "routine statistics in practice" from a different angle.
However, at the same time the book is one big ego-trip with the author being very full of himself and people who share his ideas, while looking down on everyone else. For some reason the authors feels that almost everyone involved in statistics has no idea about the data he or she is working with, no idea of variability of data, and no idea of its shortcomings. Everyone, except himself and some friends...
To illustrate this, the author uses interesting and entertaining examples which make the book a good read. Unfortunately, some of his examples and the thought process used to make his point are flawed.
Nonetheless, i would recommend this book to people routinely working with data just to be aware of the different angles on the same topic in an easy to understand language, while simultaneously being entertained.

Suddenly, it all made sense ..., 01 Oct 2008
Nothing short of ABSOLUTELY REVALATORY ... notwithstanding other reviewers' comments regarding arrogance, ego, verbosity etc., I found this book to be nothing short of life altering; entertaining and funny in it's written style, too.

Working in a profession which constantly deals with unpredictability, including extremely high-impact unpredicability, this book holds up a bright light to the anti-intellectual lunacy prevading my own profession and brings me a clarity of thought I wondered if I'd ever enjoy.

NNT was willing all throughout this book to highlight his disdain for 'anti-scholars' who peddle 'anti-knowledge' and I have to accept that some who've missed his main point will take this as arrogance, ego, etc.. I've found throughout life that it takes some extremely confident, contrary and often arrogant people to set the new standards and shock people into seeing the light.

AWESOME BOOK; Iimmediately bought several copies to distribute as Christmas presents to the un-enlightened and ordered his previous book 'Fooled by Randomness' which I can wait to devour upon arrival today.

strong character, strong book, 26 Sep 2008
I just read the book whilst in Colombia a bit more than a week ago. Though it shines through that Nassim Nicholas Taleb is an opinionated man (in all positivity) with a rather big than small ego, it certainly needs a character like this to be able to step back from common (dis-)believe and make a critical point can has the potential to smash many of our assumptions about nothing less than life itself. Looking at rare phenomena from an economic and philosophical point of view, he (if his numbers are right) makes a strong point against the industry of predictability for the least. Reading from his experience and research, it makes me think of when I first read Stephen Johnson's 'Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities and Software', John Gray's 'Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals, or Naomi Klein's 'The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism'. All those books, written in the last few years show how we are slave of our own misconception about our own history, decisions, believe in the power of prediction and generally our 'greatness' as a species.

It is very sobering to see that we still keep getting things wrong most of the time, despite the claim of being part of any of the many groups of 'a chosen people' or the more secular view of having 'progressed' into something better, higher (whatever that might be). Despite all our knowledge, we now have scientists as the new scriptwriters and painters of how armageddon looks like (see 100 years ahead predictions of rising sea-levels and the 5 billion deaths it's supposed to cost us). But maybe armageddon is the only Black Swan we can't fully imagine but we been predicting long enough to get one of the many dates right.

Essential reading, definitely get's you away from the craziness that is London commuting.


Welcome to the Magic Circle, 21 Jun 2008
Search Engine Optimisation has acquired a status which might be regarded similar to that of the magic circle:
It's secretive - only those in the circle really know the tricks
There's an element of magic - SEOs do things we don't understand
It's competitive - we all want to get to the top
It's closed - those within the circle do not disclose all the tricks
They even categorise their tricks as good and bad with the terms "white hat" and "black hat"

Well, in this excellent new book David Viney has let us all into the circle, and what we learn is that it's not magic!

However, I should like to follow that statement by immediately saying that it is plainly not easy either. Also, by the very nature of the fierce competition for the top spots, it will always be competitive, and you will always have to work at it.

What this particular magician sets out for us all here is a structure and a method which we might follow to improve our own success.

The author uses the analogy of cookery; there are ingredients, recipes to follow - and I would add, a great deal of time needed to be spent in the kitchen!!

You will be surprised to learn the breadth of things that you will need to do to be in with a competitive chance. The book covers the many factors that contribute to your ultimate success. I was surprised at just how many areas contribute to a site becoming successful, in 240 pages David Viney covers a lot of ground.

The title is so clever; Step 1 in David's plan focuses on finding the "phrases that pay", and sure enough, the title of his book is of course just one such example - nicely wraps-up in a phrase what the book is all about AND is what we are all searching for!

As other reviewers have written here, the book strikes an excellent balance in readability, suitable for reading and use by other professional SEOs and equally works very well for the novice.

The seven step procedure does categorise the areas of focus well, and does give a guide to chronology, but it's not his intention that you should remain in a step until you have done everything you possibly can, more that you need to do a wide number of things, and that over the longer period you will need to track back and forth through the steps and re-visit activities.

The book does a great job of illustrating the size of the market, the strength and importance of Google in that market, and the potential prizes available to the top of page one winners.

"Having your site in the top 10 is like having your store right on Main Street or near the entrance of the largest shopping mall in human history. Being outside the top 20 is like having a corner store on the very outskirts of town."

You should buy and read this book before building your website, probably even before naming you business. The tips within it on subjects such as targetting a niche, phrases that pay, finding and targeting keywords, domain names, hosting locations, etc. are all key considerations in the choices you should make in the very early days.

But there's no need to worry if you are already well into the life of your business and your website, there is plenty within this book for all to heed and follow.

I would strongly recommend the book to anybody interested in getting their website "to the top on Google", you will learn a great deal, and will be able to take action based upon the guidance within the book.

However, go into this exercise with the awareness that it is a long game. You may read the book in just a few hours, but you will need to work persistently at your website's optimisation continuously to reach the top and stay there .........The prizes are Great. It is fiercely competitive. The web is continuously evolving. Your competitors will read this book too.

This is probably the best book on this subject that you can buy.
Take the first step, buy and read the book.
Then keep it next to your computer, keep dipping into it, follow its recommendations.
Then, be prepared to buy an updated version or follow-up next year, with more and new recommendations for you to implement!

The Mother of all SEO Books, 16 Jun 2008
I want to keep this short and sweet as copywriting is not my strong point. If you are looking for a book that spells out the key issues on SEO in an order that actually makes logical sense - then this is the book for you. Rather than a book full of information (although it is very informative) - its best used a step-by-step tool to any SEO project. I can understand why one of the reviewers read it twice.

I had purchased SEO for Dummies but that was really a 'bits n pieces' kind of book and left me unguided. This book follows a chronological path and makes you stick to it.

I shall be using it on every SEO project from now on.

5/5

Buy IT! BUY IT!, 19 May 2008
I have read this book from cover to cover TWICE!!! Then I bought my collegue a copy for his birthday so he wouldn't keep taking mine!!
This is full of practical knowledge to get you up and going and also a great reference book for the more knowledgable. BUY IT NOW!!! You wont be dissapointed!!

A book that covers EVERYTHING finally...., 15 May 2008
I have to admit, I couldn't wait for this book to come out so I purchased a few other before hand and wasn't too impressed! When the book arrived I said to myself that I would read it through once quickly and then go over it in more closely 2nd time round. Well, I just finished it for the 1st time and it took me 2 weeks LOL - I just had to test everything as soon as I read it!

This book is by far the best of 6 SEO books I have read (not going to name the others) - I can't recommend it enough, you will gain so much from reading it - right, i'm off to start it for the 2nd time - kudos to David Viney aka "LEGEND"

Handy guide to being first on Google search results list, 08 May 2008
The information in this very specific book can help you increase the effectiveness of your Web efforts and gain better visibility among the Web search results on Google and other search engines. David Viney shares his expertise in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in helpful detail. Have you wondered if you need professional input in this area? Read here to find out how expert guidance, copywriting, site design and Web master services can supplement your efforts, and boost your visibility and sales. Viney explains how to assess your current results. He tells you how to make sure your Web page appears among search results in productive positions, but he doesn't overpromise about what you can accomplish. Much of his information is quite detailed and technical, but relatively accessible and applicable. However, it is somewhat vulnerable to becoming outdated, in places, if Google alters its current parameters. getAbstract expects future editions to handle that little problem quite nicely.

Worth a Read, 20 Sep 2008
This book contains much good advice and tips on how to improve and optimise your website. I like the fact he recommends you steer clear of unethical approaches such as hidden text, and that you should stick to simple html with a lot of text-based content that can be easily read. The other big factor in this book is it's compact size and straightforward short chapters, meaning you can concentrate on implementing one recommendation at a time.

On the downside, some of the information is very outdated, considering the recent publication of the book itself. For starters, the Overture keyword search helper is overused and therefore very hard to even access nowadays, if at all, and is being phased out. Secondly, some of the items recommended such as Wordtracker are far from free and therefore only relevant for large businesses rather than the one-man band web developers likely to be attracted to a book like this.

All in all, 4 out of 5. Good and worth a read, you will most probably get your money back and more through increased exposure of your website using the suggestions within.

Clear, simple, and very quick to read, 19 Sep 2008
I've been building websites since 1994 and things have changed hugely since then - especially with the arrival of Google in the late '90s. This book presents 52 short and sweet tips for improving your ranking on search engines (not just on Google, though that's where the book places most of its emphasis).

It's a small book (about 6 inches by 4.5 inches) and a short one (just 174 pages of main content), but that's definitely a positive in my view. The advice is very distilled and easily readable. We cut straight to the chase. Each of the 52 general pointers concludes with "Here's an idea for you": a simple practical tip you can immediately try.

I knew almost all the tips already but hadn't bothered to do anything about them. The virtue of this book is that it served as a wake-up call to action. Reading through it in a couple of days, I finally felt motivated to optimize my site. I have no idea whether I'll see much benefit, but if you make a significant proportion of your income from the Web, it certainly can't hurt. Even a small improvement would pay for the cost of the book, and the time invested, many times over.

One thing worth pointing out: I felt the book was geared mainly towards websites selling products or promoting small businesses. Though much of the advice is general, the book doesn't really tell you how to optimize a content-rich, newspaper- or magazine-like site (or blog) that makes its money from advertising. That's probably a whole separate 52-idea book! If your site falls into that category (information-based rather than product-based), with dozens or hundreds of separate pages, you'll find the ideas here helpful but less relevant. If your site has just a few pages and it's promoting, say, a local florist or building business, I think you'll find it very helpful.

Simple and effective , 15 Sep 2008
This is a really easy book to use.
Yes, there are more complex books that go into SEO in greater depth than this but the fact is that if you have a small or medium size business employing less than 10 people, then the really advanced techniques aren't really for you anyway and are really not worth worrying about because you wont have time to implement them, even if you knwo about them.
For people like you, this book is probably all you will need -and it is all very clearly explained in non tecnhical jargon.
I even managed to read it on hols - yes, that's sad I know! But it lends itself to that kind of easy reading because it is explained so clearly in short bite size chunks that take all of about 10 minutes to read and digest.
OK, I found the odd thing listed as free (which now isnt) - and I see another reviewer noticed that too, but given the fast pace of chnage in this area, that cannot really be a serious criticism

Great little book that is not a drag to wade through, 10 Sep 2008
At last! A book that's good for me, but is easy to read and concise and gives me loads of tips every few pages that I immediately bookmark and want to implement. I'm getting teally tired of 'How-to' books that make you wade through several hundred pages of padding: this book is the antidote.

Great book - all the basics of good web optimisation are in here, 24 Jul 2008
I was coming at search engine optimisation from an entirely new perspective. I found this book incredibly easy to read with highlighted areas which helps you find the most important things to remember. This gave me a brilliant grounding on where to start with search engine optimisation. It gives a clear step by step guide as to how to improve your rankings. Also I had one question that I needed an answer to and I emailed Jon thinking that it would probably take ages for someone to come back - he emailed me back in 2 mins with really good advice - superb!!

The Emperor has no clothes, 10 Oct 2008
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
A highly disappointing text from an erudite and capable author. The book is fallacious, mislaeding and mischievious. The abuse of simple statistical distributions alone warrants not taking it seriously. It is oversold by the blurb and does not do what it says on the cover. Extremely disappointing.

Good for teachers of Critical Thinking?, 02 Oct 2008
There are already many reviews here so I'd simply like to add that this could be useful to anyone teaching Critical Thinking. It's full of neat little stories and interesting points. The author often contradicts himself or ignores his own warnings (possibly deliberately to keep the readers on their toes) so it should be used carefully.

Interesting, but an ego-trip, 01 Oct 2008
I have to agree with most of the other reviews, that although this book is an interesting read which lets you look at some of the problems in "routine statistics in practice" from a different angle.
However, at the same time the book is one big ego-trip with the author being very full of himself and people who share his ideas, while looking down on everyone else. For some reason the authors feels that almost everyone involved in statistics has no idea about the data he or she is working with, no idea of variability of data, and no idea of its shortcomings. Everyone, except himself and some friends...
To illustrate this, the author uses interesting and entertaining examples which make the book a good read. Unfortunately, some of his examples and the thought process used to make his point are flawed.
Nonetheless, i would recommend this book to people routinely working with data just to be aware of the different angles on the same topic in an easy to understand language, while simultaneously being entertained.

Suddenly, it all made sense ..., 01 Oct 2008
Nothing short of ABSOLUTELY REVALATORY ... notwithstanding other reviewers' comments regarding arrogance, ego, verbosity etc., I found this book to be nothing short of life altering; entertaining and funny in it's written style, too.

Working in a profession which constantly deals with unpredictability, including extremely high-impact unpredicability, this book holds up a bright light to the anti-intellectual lunacy prevading my own profession and brings me a clarity of thought I wondered if I'd ever enjoy.

NNT was willing all throughout this book to highlight his disdain for 'anti-scholars' who peddle 'anti-knowledge' and I have to accept that some who've missed his main point will take this as arrogance, ego, etc.. I've found throughout life that it takes some extremely confident, contrary and often arrogant people to set the new standards and shock people into seeing the light.

AWESOME BOOK; Iimmediately bought several copies to distribute as Christmas presents to the un-enlightened and ordered his previous book 'Fooled by Randomness' which I can wait to devour upon arrival today.

strong character, strong book, 26 Sep 2008
I just read the book whilst in Colombia a bit more than a week ago. Though it shines through that Nassim Nicholas Taleb is an opinionated man (in all positivity) with a rather big than small ego, it certainly needs a character like this to be able to step back from common (dis-)believe and make a critical point can has the potential to smash many of our assumptions about nothing less than life itself. Looking at rare phenomena from an economic and philosophical point of view, he (if his numbers are right) makes a strong point against the industry of predictability for the least. Reading from his experience and research, it makes me think of when I first read Stephen Johnson's 'Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities and Software', John Gray's 'Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals, or Naomi Klein's 'The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism'. All those books, written in the last few years show how we are slave of our own misconception about our own history, decisions, believe in the power of prediction and generally our 'greatness' as a species.

It is very sobering to see that we still keep getting things wrong most of the time, despite the claim of being part of any of the many groups of 'a chosen people' or the more secular view of having 'progressed' into something better, higher (whatever that might be). Despite all our knowledge, we now have scientists as the new scriptwriters and painters of how armageddon looks like (see 100 years ahead predictions of rising sea-levels and the 5 billion deaths it's supposed to cost us). But maybe armageddon is the only Black Swan we can't fully imagine but we been predicting long enough to get one of the many dates right.

Essential reading, definitely get's you away from the craziness that is London commuting.


Welcome to the Magic Circle, 21 Jun 2008
Search Engine Optimisation has acquired a status which might be regarded similar to that of the magic circle:
It's secretive - only those in the circle really know the tricks
There's an element of magic - SEOs do things we don't understand
It's competitive - we all want to get to the top
It's closed - those within the circle do not disclose all the tricks
They even categorise their tricks as good and bad with the terms "white hat" and "black hat"

Well, in this excellent new book David Viney has let us all into the circle, and what we learn is that it's not magic!

However, I should like to follow that statement by immediately saying that it is plainly not easy either. Also, by the very nature of the fierce competition for the top spots, it will always be competitive, and you will always have to work at it.

What this particular magician sets out for us all here is a structure and a method which we might follow to improve our own success.

The author uses the analogy of cookery; there are ingredients, recipes to follow - and I would add, a great deal of time needed to be spent in the kitchen!!

You will be surprised to learn the breadth of things that you will need to do to be in with a competitive chance. The book covers the many factors that contribute to your ultimate success. I was surprised at just how many areas contribute to a site becoming successful, in 240 pages David Viney covers a lot of ground.

The title is so clever; Step 1 in David's plan focuses on finding the "phrases that pay", and sure enough, the title of his book is of course just one such example - nicely wraps-up in a phrase what the book is all about AND is what we are all searching for!

As other reviewers have written here, the book strikes an excellent balance in readability, suitable for reading and use by other professional SEOs and equally works very well for the novice.

The seven step procedure does categorise the areas of focus well, and does give a guide to chronology, but it's not his intention that you should remain in a step until you have done everything you possibly can, more that you need to do a wide number of things, and that over the longer period you will need to track back and forth through the steps and re-visit activities.

The book does a great job of illustrating the size of the market, the strength and importance of Google in that market, and the potential prizes available to the top of page one winners.

"Having your site in the top 10 is like having your store right on Main Street or near the entrance of the largest shopping mall in human history. Being outside the top 20 is like having a corner store on the very outskirts of town."

You should buy and read this book before building your website, probably even before naming you business. The tips within it on subjects such as targetting a niche, phrases that pay, finding and targeting keywords, domain names, hosting locations, etc. are all key considerations in the choices you should make in the very early days.

But there's no need to worry if you are already well into the life of your business and your website, there is plenty within this book for all to heed and follow.

I would strongly recommend the book to anybody interested in getting their website "to the top on Google", you will learn a great deal, and will be able to take action based upon the guidance within the book.

However, go into this exercise with the awareness that it is a long game. You may read the book in just a few hours, but you will need to work persistently at your website's optimisation continuously to reach the top and stay there .........The prizes are Great. It is fiercely competitive. The web is continuously evolving. Your competitors will read this book too.

This is probably the best book on this subject that you can buy.
Take the first step, buy and read the book.
Then keep it next to your computer, keep dipping into it, follow its recommendations.
Then, be prepared to buy an updated version or follow-up next year, with more and new recommendations for you to implement!

The Mother of all SEO Books, 16 Jun 2008
I want to keep this short and sweet as copywriting is not my strong point. If you are looking for a book that spells out the key issues on SEO in an order that actually makes logical sense - then this is the book for you. Rather than a book full of information (although it is very informative) - its best used a step-by-step tool to any SEO project. I can understand why one of the reviewers read it twice.

I had purchased SEO for Dummies but that was really a 'bits n pieces' kind of book and left me unguided. This book follows a chronological path and makes you stick to it.

I shall be using it on every SEO project from now on.

5/5

Buy IT! BUY IT!, 19 May 2008
I have read this book from cover to cover TWICE!!! Then I bought my collegue a copy for his birthday so he wouldn't keep taking mine!!
This is full of practical knowledge to get you up and going and also a great reference book for the more knowledgable. BUY IT NOW!!! You wont be dissapointed!!

A book that covers EVERYTHING finally...., 15 May 2008
I have to admit, I couldn't wait for this book to come out so I purchased a few other before hand and wasn't too impressed! When the book arrived I said to myself that I would read it through once quickly and then go over it in more closely 2nd time round. Well, I just finished it for the 1st time and it took me 2 weeks LOL - I just had to test everything as soon as I read it!

This book is by far the best of 6 SEO books I have read (not going to name the others) - I can't recommend it enough, you will gain so much from reading it - right, i'm off to start it for the 2nd time - kudos to David Viney aka "LEGEND"

Handy guide to being first on Google search results list, 08 May 2008
The information in this very specific book can help you increase the effectiveness of your Web efforts and gain better visibility among the Web search results on Google and other search engines. David Viney shares his expertise in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in helpful detail. Have you wondered if you need professional input in this area? Read here to find out how expert guidance, copywriting, site design and Web master services can supplement your efforts, and boost your visibility and sales. Viney explains how to assess your current results. He tells you how to make sure your Web page appears among search results in productive positions, but he doesn't overpromise about what you can accomplish. Much of his information is quite detailed and technical, but relatively accessible and applicable. However, it is somewhat vulnerable to becoming outdated, in places, if Google alters its current parameters. getAbstract expects future editions to handle that little problem quite nicely.

Worth a Read, 20 Sep 2008
This book contains much good advice and tips on how to improve and optimise your website. I like the fact he recommends you steer clear of unethical approaches such as hidden text, and that you should stick to simple html with a lot of text-based content that can be easily read. The other big factor in this book is it's compact size and straightforward short chapters, meaning you can concentrate on implementing one recommendation at a time.

On the downside, some of the information is very outdated, considering the recent publication of the book itself. For starters, the Overture keyword search helper is overused and therefore very hard to even access nowadays, if at all, and is being phased out. Secondly, some of the items recommended such as Wordtracker are far from free and therefore only relevant for large businesses rather than the one-man band web developers likely to be attracted to a book like this.

All in all, 4 out of 5. Good and worth a read, you will most probably get your money back and more through increased exposure of your website using the suggestions within.

Clear, simple, and very quick to read, 19 Sep 2008
I've been building websites since 1994 and things have changed hugely since then - especially with the arrival of Google in the late '90s. This book presents 52 short and sweet tips for improving your ranking on search engines (not just on Google, though that's where the book places most of its emphasis).

It's a small book (about 6 inches by 4.5 inches) and a short one (just 174 pages of main content), but that's definitely a positive in my view. The advice is very distilled and easily readable. We cut straight to the chase. Each of the 52 general pointers concludes with "Here's an idea for you": a simple practical tip you can immediately try.

I knew almost all the tips already but hadn't bothered to do anything about them. The virtue of this book is that it served as a wake-up call to action. Reading through it in a couple of days, I finally felt motivated to optimize my site. I have no idea whether I'll see much benefit, but if you make a significant proportion of your income from the Web, it certainly can't hurt. Even a small improvement would pay for the cost of the book, and the time invested, many times over.

One thing worth pointing out: I felt the book was geared mainly towards websites selling products or promoting small businesses. Though much of the advice is general, the book doesn't really tell you how to optimize a content-rich, newspaper- or magazine-like site (or blog) that makes its money from advertising. That's probably a whole separate 52-idea book! If your site falls into that category (information-based rather than product-based), with dozens or hundreds of separate pages, you'll find the ideas here helpful but less relevant. If your site has just a few pages and it's promoting, say, a local florist or building business, I think you'll find it very helpful.

Simple and effective , 15 Sep 2008
This is a really easy book to use.
Yes, there are more complex books that go into SEO in greater depth than this but the fact is that if you have a small or medium size business employing less than 10 people, then the really advanced techniques aren't really for you anyway and are really not worth worrying about because you wont have time to implement them, even if you knwo about them.
For people like you, this book is probably all you will need -and it is all very clearly explained in non tecnhical jargon.
I even managed to read it on hols - yes, that's sad I know! But it lends itself to that kind of easy reading because it is explained so clearly in short bite size chunks that take all of about 10 minutes to read and digest.
OK, I found the odd thing listed as free (which now isnt) - and I see another reviewer noticed that too, but given the fast pace of chnage in this area, that cannot really be a serious criticism

Great little book that is not a drag to wade through, 10 Sep 2008
At last! A book that's good for me, but is easy to read and concise and gives me loads of tips every few pages that I immediately bookmark and want to implement. I'm getting teally tired of 'How-to' books that make you wade through several hundred pages of padding: this book is the antidote.

Great book - all the basics of good web optimisation are in here, 24 Jul 2008
I was coming at search engine optimisation from an entirely new perspective. I found this book incredibly easy to read with highlighted areas which helps you find the most important things to remember. This gave me a brilliant grounding on where to start with search engine optimisation. It gives a clear step by step guide as to how to improve your rankings. Also I had one question that I needed an answer to and I emailed Jon thinking that it would probably take ages for someone to come back - he emailed me back in 2 mins with really good advice - superb!!

this is a bad boring book..., 30 Sep 2008
this book is really bad!! other than telling us that blogs are the new PR and that content is king, nothing is NEW, the book keeps repeating itself..i dont reccomend it to anyone!

Authoritative and eminently readable, 27 Aug 2008
Reputed consultant and keynote speaker David Meerman Scott hits the bull's eye with a timely, well-written and thoroughly enjoyable book that does just 'what it says on the tin'.

Full of relevant examples and in a conversational tone, Mr Meerman Scott reveals the new rules of PR and online marketing and shows how to engage in a meaningful dialogue with clients and stakeholders bypassing the traditional media stronghold on information.

Not to be missed.

Excellent resource for online marketing, 20 Aug 2008
My business targets pre-start ups, new businesses and established businesses and I have found this book extremely helpful in its extensive detail about the ever-increasing opportunities for companies to promote themselves online. If you have a limited marketing budget this book will give you lots of ideas which can be implemented at a manageable cost. As a marketing strategist who always insists on goal setting and target audience definition as a starting point for any business or business project, I particularly liked Section III, which deals with establishing organisational goals and identifying buyer personae for products and/or services. An excellent resource which is very relevant to the modern world of online marketing.


New lamps for old, 03 Mar 2008
There are some real gems and lots of good, solid, practical insights in this book. And I have to admit after some initial scepticism, this book is the first to provide me with real insight into how the Web, and blogging more specifically, can be used to aid PR and marketing strategies.

This said, I found Scott less good with the underpinning theory; he has a tendency to make a few too many assumptions and is a bit too loose with the generalisations. This isn't necessarily a bad thing in itself, as it can make the writing `pacy' and accessible. However, I would certainly take issue with the way he defines marketing. It's a pretty one-eyed view, and to make matters worse its advertising he focuses on in the list he draws up detailing its shortcomings. At the best of times resorting to `man of straw' arguments is dubious rhetoric, and initially this made me doubt the book's `authenticity' or thought leadership, as Scott would perhaps call it.

I would also argue that `interruption advertising' still has its place both of itself and when integrated into Web-based strategies. The creative variations of Cadbury's `Gorilla' advertisement on YouTube offer an intriguing insight to what can be achieved.

The issue I have with Scott's book is, that to begin, he is so concerned to argue the old marketing and PR rules are dead, that he dilutes the message about how the old and the new might be better integrated to deliver more effective communications, at whatever level of access. But by the end of the book, his more measured, thoughtful and practical approach had turned me around.

For me, Scott sums up his book in the following statement. The new publishing model on the Web is about. . . delivering content when and where it is needed and, in the process, branding you or your organization as a leader. When you understand your audience, those people who will become your buyers, you can craft an editorial and content strategy just for them. . . . In order to implement a successful strategy, think like a publisher.

Two final comments: understanding your audience is classic, `old marketing'. Secondly, thinking like a publisher is not exactly easy, but it's what conventional PR attempts to achieve when crafting messages for its audiences. So, let's be careful not throw out the baby with the bath water.


A quick read about how the Internet has changed marketing and PR practices, 21 Jan 2008
David Meerman Scott asserts that the Internet has transformed marketing and public relations forever, and he's undoubtedly got a point; however, his argument is extremely light on facts and figures (the text contains hardly any numbers at all), and heavy on case studies. Based on Scott's blog, the book is anecdotal, chatty, easy to read and occasionally repetitive. Scott is an evangelist for using the Web in new ways, and his ideas are useful and practical. getAbstract recommends this book to experienced marketers who are unfamiliar with or skeptical of new media and techniques; younger readers may find it superficial or obvious.

The Emperor has no clothes, 10 Oct 2008
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
A highly disappointing text from an erudite and capable author. The book is fallacious, mislaeding and mischievious. The abuse of simple statistical distributions alone warrants not taking it seriously. It is oversold by the blurb and does not do what it says on the cover. Extremely disappointing.

Good for teachers of Critical Thinking?, 02 Oct 2008
There are already many reviews here so I'd simply like to add that this could be useful to anyone teaching Critical Thinking. It's full of neat little stories and interesting points. The author often contradicts himself or ignores his own warnings (possibly deliberately to keep the readers on their toes) so it should be used carefully.

Interesting, but an ego-trip, 01 Oct 2008
I have to agree with most of the other reviews, that although this book is an interesting read which lets you look at some of the problems in "routine statistics in practice" from a different angle.
However, at the same time the book is one big ego-trip with the author being very full of himself and people who share his ideas, while looking down on everyone else. For some reason the authors feels that almost everyone involved in statistics has no idea about the data he or she is working with, no idea of variability of data, and no idea of its shortcomings. Everyone, except himself and some friends...
To illustrate this, the author uses interesting and entertaining examples which make the book a good read. Unfortunately, some of his examples and the thought process used to make his point are flawed.
Nonetheless, i would recommend this book to people routinely working with data just to be aware of the different angles on the same topic in an easy to understand language, while simultaneously being entertained.

Suddenly, it all made sense ..., 01 Oct 2008
Nothing short of ABSOLUTELY REVALATORY ... notwithstanding other reviewers' comments regarding arrogance, ego, verbosity etc., I found this book to be nothing short of life altering; entertaining and funny in it's written style, too.

Working in a profession which constantly deals with unpredictability, including extremely high-impact unpredicability, this book holds up a bright light to the anti-intellectual lunacy prevading my own profession and brings me a clarity of thought I wondered if I'd ever enjoy.

NNT was willing all throughout this book to highlight his disdain for 'anti-scholars' who peddle 'anti-knowledge' and I have to accept that some who've missed his main point will take this as arrogance, ego, etc.. I've found throughout life that it takes some extremely confident, contrary and often arrogant people to set the new standards and shock people into seeing the light.

AWESOME BOOK; Iimmediately bought several copies to distribute as Christmas presents to the un-enlightened and ordered his previous book 'Fooled by Randomness' which I can wait to devour upon arrival today.

strong character, strong book, 26 Sep 2008
I just read the book whilst in Colombia a bit more than a week ago. Though it shines through that Nassim Nicholas Taleb is an opinionated man (in all positivity) with a rather big than small ego, it certainly needs a character like this to be able to step back from common (dis-)believe and make a critical point can has the potential to smash many of our assumptions about nothing less than life itself. Looking at rare phenomena from an economic and philosophical point of view, he (if his numbers are right) makes a strong point against the industry of predictability for the least. Reading from his experience and research, it makes me think of when I first read Stephen Johnson's 'Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities and Software', John Gray's 'Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals, or Naomi Klein's 'The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism'. All those books, written in the last few years show how we are slave of our own misconception about our own history, decisions, believe in the power of prediction and generally our 'greatness' as a species.

It is very sobering to see that we still keep getting things wrong most of the time, despite the claim of being part of any of the many groups of 'a chosen people' or the more secular view of having 'progressed' into something better, higher (whatever that might be). Despite all our knowledge, we now have scientists as the new scriptwriters and painters of how armageddon looks like (see 100 years ahead predictions of rising sea-levels and the 5 billion deaths it's supposed to cost us). But maybe armageddon is the only Black Swan we can't fully imagine but we been predicting long enough to get one of the many dates right.

Essential reading, definitely get's you away from the craziness that is London commuting.


Welcome to the Magic Circle, 21 Jun 2008
Search Engine Optimisation has acquired a status which might be regarded similar to that of the magic circle:
It's secretive - only those in the circle really know the tricks
There's an element of magic - SEOs do things we don't understand
It's competitive - we all want to get to the top
It's closed - those within the circle do not disclose all the tricks
They even categorise their tricks as good and bad with the terms "white hat" and "black hat"

Well, in this excellent new book David Viney has let us all into the circle, and what we learn is that it's not magic!

However, I should like to follow that statement by immediately saying that it is plainly not easy either. Also, by the very nature of the fierce competition for the top spots, it will always be competitive, and you will always have to work at it.

What this particular magician sets out for us all here is a structure and a method which we might follow to improve our own success.

The author uses the analogy of cookery; there are ingredients, recipes to follow - and I would add, a great deal of time needed to be spent in the kitchen!!

You will be surprised to learn the breadth of things that you will need to do to be in with a competitive chance. The book covers the many factors that contribute to your ultimate success. I was surprised at just how many areas contribute to a site becoming successful, in 240 pages David Viney covers a lot of ground.

The title is so clever; Step 1 in David's plan focuses on finding the "phrases that pay", and sure enough, the title of his book is of course just one such example - nicely wraps-up in a phrase what the book is all about AND is what we are all searching for!

As other reviewers have written here, the book strikes an excellent balance in readability, suitable for reading and use by other professional SEOs and equally works very well for the novice.

The seven step procedure does categorise the areas of focus well, and does give a guide to chronology, but it's not his intention that you should remain in a step until you have done everything you possibly can, more that you need to do a wide number of things, and that over the longer period you will need to track back and forth through the steps and re-visit activities.

The book does a great job of illustrating the size of the market, the strength and importance of Google in that market, and the potential prizes available to the top of page one winners.

"Having your site in the top 10 is like having your store right on Main Street or near the entrance of the largest shopping mall in human history. Being outside the top 20 is like having a corner store on the very outskirts of town."

You should buy and read this book before building your website, probably even before naming you business. The tips within it on subjects such as targetting a niche, phrases that pay, finding and targeting keywords, domain names, hosting locations, etc. are all key considerations in the choices you should make in the very early days.

But there's no need to worry if you are already well into the life of your business and your website, there is plenty within this book for all to heed and follow.

I would strongly recommend the book to anybody interested in getting their website "to the top on Google", you will learn a great deal, and will be able to take action based upon the guidance within the book.

However, go into this exercise with the awareness that it is a long game. You may read the book in just a few hours, but you will need to work persistently at your website's optimisation continuously to reach the top and stay there .........The prizes are Great. It is fiercely competitive. The web is continuously evolving. Your competitors will read this book too.

This is probably the best book on this subject that you can buy.
Take the first step, buy and read the book.
Then keep it next to your computer, keep dipping into it, follow its recommendations.
Then, be prepared to buy an updated version or follow-up next year, with more and new recommendations for you to implement!

The Mother of all SEO Books, 16 Jun 2008
I want to keep this short and sweet as copywriting is not my strong point. If you are looking for a book that spells out the key issues on SEO in an order that actually makes logical sense - then this is the book for you. Rather than a book full of information (although it is very informative) - its best used a step-by-step tool to any SEO project. I can understand why one of the reviewers read it twice.

I had purchased SEO for Dummies but that was really a 'bits n pieces' kind of book and left me unguided. This book follows a chronological path and makes you stick to it.

I shall be using it on every SEO project from now on.

5/5

Buy IT! BUY IT!, 19 May 2008
I have read this book from cover to cover TWICE!!! Then I bought my collegue a copy for his birthday so he wouldn't keep taking mine!!
This is full of practical knowledge to get you up and going and also a great reference book for the more knowledgable. BUY IT NOW!!! You wont be dissapointed!!

A book that covers EVERYTHING finally...., 15 May 2008
I have to admit, I couldn't wait for this book to come out so I purchased a few other before hand and wasn't too impressed! When the book arrived I said to myself that I would read it through once quickly and then go over it in more closely 2nd time round. Well, I just finished it for the 1st time and it took me 2 weeks LOL - I just had to test everything as soon as I read it!

This book is by far the best of 6 SEO books I have read (not going to name the others) - I can't recommend it enough, you will gain so much from reading it - right, i'm off to start it for the 2nd time - kudos to David Viney aka "LEGEND"

Handy guide to being first on Google search results list, 08 May 2008
The information in this very specific book can help you increase the effectiveness of your Web efforts and gain better visibility among the Web search results on Google and other search engines. David Viney shares his expertise in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in helpful detail. Have you wondered if you need professional input in this area? Read here to find out how expert guidance, copywriting, site design and Web master services can supplement your efforts, and boost your visibility and sales. Viney explains how to assess your current results. He tells you how to make sure your Web page appears among search results in productive positions, but he doesn't overpromise about what you can accomplish. Much of his information is quite detailed and technical, but relatively accessible and applicable. However, it is somewhat vulnerable to becoming outdated, in places, if Google alters its current parameters. getAbstract expects future editions to handle that little problem quite nicely.

Worth a Read, 20 Sep 2008
This book contains much good advice and tips on how to improve and optimise your website. I like the fact he recommends you steer clear of unethical approaches such as hidden text, and that you should stick to simple html with a lot of text-based content that can be easily read. The other big factor in this book is it's compact size and straightforward short chapters, meaning you can concentrate on implementing one recommendation at a time.

On the downside, some of the information is very outdated, considering the recent publication of the book itself. For starters, the Overture keyword search helper is overused and therefore very hard to even access nowadays, if at all, and is being phased out. Secondly, some of the items recommended such as Wordtracker are far from free and therefore only relevant for large businesses rather than the one-man band web developers likely to be attracted to a book like this.

All in all, 4 out of 5. Good and worth a read, you will most probably get your money back and more through increased exposure of your website using the suggestions within.

Clear, simple, and very quick to read, 19 Sep 2008
I've been building websites since 1994 and things have changed hugely since then - especially with the arrival of Google in the late '90s. This book presents 52 short and sweet tips for improving your ranking on search engines (not just on Google, though that's where the book places most of its emphasis).

It's a small book (about 6 inches by 4.5 inches) and a short one (just 174 pages of main content), but that's definitely a positive in my view. The advice is very distilled and easily readable. We cut straight to the chase. Each of the 52 general pointers concludes with "Here's an idea for you": a simple practical tip you can immediately try.

I knew almost all the tips already but hadn't bothered to do anything about them. The virtue of this book is that it served as a wake-up call to action. Reading through it in a couple of days, I finally felt motivated to optimize my site. I have no idea whether I'll see much benefit, but if you make a significant proportion of your income from the Web, it certainly can't hurt. Even a small improvement would pay for the cost of the book, and the time invested, many times over.

One thing worth pointing out: I felt the book was geared mainly towards websites selling products or promoting small businesses. Though much of the advice is general, the book doesn't really tell you how to optimize a content-rich, newspaper- or magazine-like site (or blog) that makes its money from advertising. That's probably a whole separate 52-idea book! If your site falls into that category (information-based rather than product-based), with dozens or hundreds of separate pages, you'll find the ideas here helpful but less relevant. If your site has just a few pages and it's promoting, say, a local florist or building business, I think you'll find it very helpful.

Simple and effective , 15 Sep 2008
This is a really easy book to use.
Yes, there are more complex books that go into SEO in greater depth than this but the fact is that if you have a small or medium size business employing less than 10 people, then the really advanced techniques aren't really for you anyway and are really not worth worrying about because you wont have time to implement them, even if you knwo about them.
For people like you, this book is probably all you will need -and it is all very clearly explained in non tecnhical jargon.
I even managed to read it on hols - yes, that's sad I know! But it lends itself to that kind of easy reading because it is explained so clearly in short bite size chunks that take all of about 10 minutes to read and digest.
OK, I found the odd thing listed as free (which now isnt) - and I see another reviewer noticed that too, but given the fast pace of chnage in this area, that cannot really be a serious criticism

Great little book that is not a drag to wade through, 10 Sep 2008
At last! A book that's good for me, but is easy to read and concise and gives me loads of tips every few pages that I immediately bookmark and want to implement. I'm getting teally tired of 'How-to' books that make you wade through several hundred pages of padding: this book is the antidote.

Great book - all the basics of good web optimisation are in here, 24 Jul 2008
I was coming at search engine optimisation from an entirely new perspective. I found this book incredibly easy to read with highlighted areas which helps you find the most important things to remember. This gave me a brilliant grounding on where to start with search engine optimisation. It gives a clear step by step guide as to how to improve your rankings. Also I had one question that I needed an answer to and I emailed Jon thinking that it would probably take ages for someone to come back - he emailed me back in 2 mins with really good advice - superb!!

this is a bad boring book..., 30 Sep 2008
this book is really bad!! other than telling us that blogs are the new PR and that content is king, nothing is NEW, the book keeps repeating itself..i dont reccomend it to anyone!

Authoritative and eminently readable, 27 Aug 2008
Reputed consultant and keynote speaker David Meerman Scott hits the bull's eye with a timely, well-written and thoroughly enjoyable book that does just 'what it says on the tin'.

Full of relevant examples and in a conversational tone, Mr Meerman Scott reveals the new rules of PR and online marketing and shows how to engage in a meaningful dialogue with clients and stakeholders bypassing the traditional media stronghold on information.

Not to be missed.

Excellent resource for online marketing, 20 Aug 2008
My business targets pre-start ups, new businesses and established businesses and I have found this book extremely helpful in its extensive detail about the ever-increasing opportunities for companies to promote themselves online. If you have a limited marketing budget this book will give you lots of ideas which can be implemented at a manageable cost. As a marketing strategist who always insists on goal setting and target audience definition as a starting point for any business or business project, I particularly liked Section III, which deals with establishing organisational goals and identifying buyer personae for products and/or services. An excellent resource which is very relevant to the modern world of online marketing.


New lamps for old, 03 Mar 2008
There are some real gems and lots of good, solid, practical insights in this book. And I have to admit after some initial scepticism, this book is the first to provide me with real insight into how the Web, and blogging more specifically, can be used to aid PR and marketing strategies.

This said, I found Scott less good with the underpinning theory; he has a tendency to make a few too many assumptions and is a bit too loose with the generalisations. This isn't necessarily a bad thing in itself, as it can make the writing `pacy' and accessible. However, I would certainly take issue with the way he defines marketing. It's a pretty one-eyed view, and to make matters worse its advertising he focuses on in the list he draws up detailing its shortcomings. At the best of times resorting to `man of straw' arguments is dubious rhetoric, and initially this made me doubt the book's `authenticity' or thought leadership, as Scott would perhaps call it.

I would also argue that `interruption advertising' still has its place both of itself and when integrated into Web-based strategies. The creative variations of Cadbury's `Gorilla' advertisement on YouTube offer an intriguing insight to what can be achieved.

The issue I have with Scott's book is, that to begin, he is so concerned to argue the old marketing and PR rules are dead, that he dilutes the message about how the old and the new might be better integrated to deliver more effective communications, at whatever level of access. But by the end of the book, his more measured, thoughtful and practical approach had turned me around.

For me, Scott sums up his book in the following statement. The new publishing model on the Web is about. . . delivering content when and where it is needed and, in the process, branding you or your organization as a leader. When you understand your audience, those people who will become your buyers, you can craft an editorial and content strategy just for them. . . . In order to implement a successful strategy, think like a publisher.

Two final comments: understanding your audience is classic, `old marketing'. Secondly, thinking like a publisher is not exactly easy, but it's what conventional PR attempts to achieve when crafting messages for its audiences. So, let's be careful not throw out the baby with the bath water.


A quick read about how the Internet has changed marketing and PR practices, 21 Jan 2008
David Meerman Scott asserts that the Internet has transformed marketing and public relations forever, and he's undoubtedly got a point; however, his argument is extremely light on facts and figures (the text contains hardly any numbers at all), and heavy on case studies. Based on Scott's blog, the book is anecdotal, chatty, easy to read and occasionally repetitive. Scott is an evangelist for using the Web in new ways, and his ideas are useful and practical. getAbstract recommends this book to experienced marketers who are unfamiliar with or skeptical of new media and techniques; younger readers may find it superficial or obvious.

Full of glaring mistakes!!!, 03 Feb 2006
Note This review applies only to the 4th edition.

This 4th edition book was recommended on a reading list for an economics related course and I duly bought it. Big mistake! There are numerous errors; decimal points omitted, plus signs where there should be minus signs and x's where there should be y's. Some of these mistakes are more obvious than others. In one example that I noticed 'in' has been left out from the word inefficient and the sentence has a completely different meaning.

Imagine my surprise when I checked a third editon copy and found it free from these mistakes. I wish I'd just bought a second-hand copy of the 3rd edtion. All in all it is a very poorly edited text. Lecturers out there - please do not recomend this edition to your studies so that hours of confusion can prevented!

Use by all students, 29 Nov 2005
Although one of the more expensive books around, it's certainly the best. It's not only useful for MBA and Doctoral students, but I am constantly using it as an Undergraduate taking a Finance course. Highly recommended.

The Emperor has no clothes, 10 Oct 2008
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
A highly disappointing text from an erudite and capable author. The book is fallacious, mislaeding and mischievious. The abuse of simple statistical distributions alone warrants not taking it seriously. It is oversold by the blurb and does not do what it says on the cover. Extremely disappointing.

Good for teachers of Critical Thinking?, 02 Oct 2008
There are already many reviews here so I'd simply like to add that this could be useful to anyone teaching Critical Thinking. It's full of neat little stories and interesting points. The author often contradicts himself or ignores his own warnings (possibly deliberately to keep the readers on their toes) so it should be used carefully.

Interesting, but an ego-trip, 01 Oct 2008
I have to agree with most of the other reviews, that although this book is an interesting read which lets you look at some of the problems in "routine statistics in practice" from a different angle.
However, at the same time the book is one big ego-trip with the author being very full of himself and people who share his ideas, while looking down on everyone else. For some reason the authors feels that almost everyone involved in statistics has no idea about the data he or she is working with, no idea of variability of data, and no idea of its shortcomings. Everyone, except himself and some friends...
To illustrate this, the author uses interesting and entertaining examples which make the book a good read. Unfortunately, some of his examples and the thought process used to make his point are flawed.
Nonetheless, i would recommend this book to people routinely working with data just to be aware of the different angles on the same topic in an easy to understand language, while simultaneously being entertained.

Suddenly, it all made sense ..., 01 Oct 2008
Nothing short of ABSOLUTELY REVALATORY ... notwithstanding other reviewers' comments regarding arrogance, ego, verbosity etc., I found this book to be nothing short of life altering; entertaining and funny in it's written style, too.

Working in a profession which constantly deals with unpredictability, including extremely high-impact unpredicability, this book holds up a bright light to the anti-intellectual lunacy prevading my own profession and brings me a clarity of thought I wondered if I'd ever enjoy.

NNT was willing all throughout this book to highlight his disdain for 'anti-scholars' who peddle 'anti-knowledge' and I have to accept that some who've missed his main point will take this as arrogance, ego, etc.. I've found throughout life that it takes some extremely confident, contrary and often arrogant people to set the new standards and shock people into seeing the light.

AWESOME BOOK; Iimmediately bought several copies to distribute as Christmas presents to the un-enlightened and ordered his previous book 'Fooled by Randomness' which I can wait to devour upon arrival today.

strong character, strong book, 26 Sep 2008
I just read the book whilst in Colombia a bit more than a week ago. Though it shines through that Nassim Nicholas Taleb is an opinionated man (in all positivity) with a rather big than small ego, it certainly needs a character like this to be able to step back from common (dis-)believe and make a critical point can has the potential to smash many of our assumptions about nothing less than life itself. Looking at rare phenomena from an economic and philosophical point of view, he (if his numbers are right) makes a strong point against the industry of predictability for the least. Reading from his experience and research, it makes me think of when I first read Stephen Johnson's 'Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities and Software', John Gray's 'Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals, or Naomi Klein's 'The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism'. All those books, written in the last few years show how we are slave of our own misconception about our own history, decisions, believe in the power of prediction and generally our 'greatness' as a species.

It is very sobering to see that we still keep getting things wrong most of the time, despite the claim of being part of any of the many groups of 'a chosen people' or the more secular view of having 'progressed' into something better, higher (whatever that might be). Despite all our knowledge, we now have scientists as the new scriptwriters and painters of how armageddon looks like (see 100 years ahead predictions of rising sea-levels and the 5 billion deaths it's supposed to cost us). But maybe armageddon is the only Black Swan we can't fully imagine but we been predicting long enough to get one of the many dates right.

Essential reading, definitely get's you away from the craziness that is London commuting.


Welcome to the Magic Circle, 21 Jun 2008
Search Engine Optimisation has acquired a status which might be regarded similar to that of the magic circle:
It's secretive - only those in the circle really know the tricks
There's an element of magic - SEOs do things we don't understand
It's competitive - we all want to get to the top
It's closed - those within the circle do not disclose all the tricks
They even categorise their tricks as good and bad with the terms "white hat" and "black hat"

Well, in this excellent new book David Viney has let us all into the circle, and what we learn is that it's not magic!

However, I should like to follow that statement by immediately saying that it is plainly not easy either. Also, by the very nature of the fierce competition for the top spots, it will always be competitive, and you will always have to work at it.

What this particular magician sets out for us all here is a structure and a method which we might follow to improve our own success.

The author uses the analogy of cookery; there are ingredients, recipes to follow - and I would add, a great deal of time needed to be spent in the kitchen!!

You will be surprised to learn the breadth of things that you will need to do to be in with a competitive chance. The book covers the many factors that contribute to your ultimate success. I was surprised at just how many areas contribute to a site becoming successful, in 240 pages David Viney covers a lot of ground.

The title is so clever; Step 1 in David's plan focuses on finding the "phrases that pay", and sure enough, the title of his book is of course just one such example - nicely wraps-up in a phrase what the book is all about AND is what we are all searching for!

As other reviewers have written here, the book strikes an excellent balance in readability, suitable for reading and use by other professional SEOs and equally works very well for the novice.

The seven step procedure does categorise the areas of focus well, and does give a guide to chronology, but it's not his intention that you should remain in a step until you have done everything you possibly can, more that you need to do a wide number of things, and that over the longer period you will need to track back and forth through the steps and re-visit activities.

The book does a great job of illustrating the size of the market, the strength and importance of Google in that market, and the potential prizes available to the top of page one winners.

"Having your site in the top 10 is like having your store right on Main Street or near the entrance of the largest shopping mall in human history. Being outside the top 20 is like having a corner store on the very outskirts of town."

You should buy and read this book before building your website, probably even before naming you business. The tips within it on subjects such as targetting a niche, phrases that pay, finding and targeting keywords, domain names, hosting locations, etc. are all key considerations in the choices you should make in the very early days.

But there's no need to worry if you are already well into the life of your business and your website, there is plenty within this book for all to heed and follow.

I would strongly recommend the book to anybody interested in getting their website "to the top on Google", you will learn a great deal, and will be able to take action based upon the guidance within the book.

However, go into this exercise with the awareness that it is a long game. You may read the book in just a few hours, but you will need to work persistently at your website's optimisation continuously to reach the top and stay there .........The prizes are Great. It is fiercely competitive. The web is continuously evolving. Your competitors will read this book too.

This is probably the best book on this subject that you can buy.
Take the first step, buy and read the book.
Then keep it next to your computer, keep dipping into it, follow its recommendations.
Then, be prepared to buy an updated version or follow-up next year, with more and new recommendations for you to implement!

The Mother of all SEO Books, 16 Jun 2008
I want to keep this short and sweet as copywriting is not my strong point. If you are looking for a book that spells out the key issues on SEO in an order that actually makes logical sense - then this is the book for you. Rather than a book full of information (although it is very informative) - its best used a step-by-step tool to any SEO project. I can understand why one of the reviewers read it twice.

I had purchased SEO for Dummies but that was really a 'bits n pieces' kind of book and left me unguided. This book follows a chronological path and makes you stick to it.

I shall be using it on every SEO project from now on.

5/5

Buy IT! BUY IT!, 19 May 2008
I have read this book from cover to cover TWICE!!! Then I bought my collegue a copy for his birthday so he wouldn't keep taking mine!!
This is full of practical knowledge to get you up and going and also a great reference book for the more knowledgable. BUY IT NOW!!! You wont be dissapointed!!

A book that covers EVERYTHING finally...., 15 May 2008
I have to admit, I couldn't wait for this book to come out so I purchased a few other before hand and wasn't too impressed! When the book arrived I said to myself that I would read it through once quickly and then go over it in more closely 2nd time round. Well, I just finished it for the 1st time and it took me 2 weeks LOL - I just had to test everything as soon as I read it!

This book is by far the best of 6 SEO books I have read (not going to name the others) - I can't recommend it enough, you will gain so much from reading it - right, i'm off to start it for the 2nd time - kudos to David Viney aka "LEGEND"

Handy guide to being first on Google search results list, 08 May 2008
The information in this very specific book can help you increase the effectiveness of your Web efforts and gain better visibility among the Web search results on Google and other search engines. David Viney shares his expertise in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in helpful detail. Have you wondered if you need professional input in this area? Read here to find out how expert guidance, copywriting, site design and Web master services can supplement your efforts, and boost your visibility and sales. Viney explains how to assess your current results. He tells you how to make sure your Web page appears among search results in productive positions, but he doesn't overpromise about what you can accomplish. Much of his information is quite detailed and technical, but relatively accessible and applicable. However, it is somewhat vulnerable to becoming outdated, in places, if Google alters its current parameters. getAbstract expects future editions to handle that little problem quite nicely.

Worth a Read, 20 Sep 2008
This book contains much good advice and tips on how to improve and optimise your website. I like the fact he recommends you steer clear of unethical approaches such as hidden text, and that you should stick to simple html with a lot of text-based content that can be easily read. The other big factor in this book is it's compact size and straightforward short chapters, meaning you can concentrate on implementing one recommendation at a time.

On the downside, some of the information is very outdated, considering the recent publication of the book itself. For starters, the Overture keyword search helper is overused and therefore very hard to even access nowadays, if at all, and is being phased out. Secondly, some of the items recommended such as Wordtracker are far from free and therefore only relevant for large businesses rather than the one-man band web developers likely to be attracted to a book like this.

All in all, 4 out of 5. Good and worth a read, you will most probably get your money back and more through increased exposure of your website using the suggestions within.

Clear, simple, and very quick to read, 19 Sep 2008
I've been building websites since 1994 and things have changed hugely since then - especially with the arrival of Google in the late '90s. This book presents 52 short and sweet tips for improving your ranking on search engines (not just on Google, though that's where the book places most of its emphasis).

It's a small book (about 6 inches by 4.5 inches) and a short one (just 174 pages of main content), but that's definitely a positive in my view. The advice is very distilled and easily readable. We cut straight to the chase. Each of the 52 general pointers concludes with "Here's an idea for you": a simple practical tip you can immediately try.

I knew almost all the tips already but hadn't bothered to do anything about them. The virtue of this book is that it served as a wake-up call to action. Reading through it in a couple of days, I finally felt motivated to optimize my site. I have no idea whether I'll see much benefit, but if you make a significant proportion of your income from the Web, it certainly can't hurt. Even a small improvement would pay for the cost of the book, and the time invested, many times over.

One thing worth pointing out: I felt the book was geared mainly towards websites selling products or promoting small businesses. Though much of the advice is general, the book doesn't really tell you how to optimize a content-rich, newspaper- or magazine-like site (or blog) that makes its money from advertising. That's probably a whole separate 52-idea book! If your site falls into that category (information-based rather than product-based), with dozens or hundreds of separate pages, you'll find the ideas here helpful but less relevant. If your site has just a few pages and it's promoting, say, a local florist or building business, I think you'll find it very helpful.

Simple and effective , 15 Sep 2008
This is a really easy book to use.
Yes, there are more complex books that go into SEO in greater depth than this but the fact is that if you have a small or medium size business employing less than 10 people, then the really advanced techniques aren't really for you anyway and are really not worth worrying about because you wont have time to implement them, even if you knwo about them.
For people like you, this book is probably all you will need -and it is all very clearly explained in non tecnhical jargon.
I even managed to read it on hols - yes, that's sad I know! But it lends itself to that kind of easy reading because it is explained so clearly in short bite size chunks that take all of about 10 minutes to read and digest.
OK, I found the odd thing listed as free (which now isnt) - and I see another reviewer noticed that too, but given the fast pace of chnage in this area, that cannot really be a serious criticism

Great little book that is not a drag to wade through, 10 Sep 2008
At last! A book that's good for me, but is easy to read and concise and gives me loads of tips every few pages that I immediately bookmark and want to implement. I'm getting teally tired of 'How-to' books that make you wade through several hundred pages of padding: this book is the antidote.

Great book - all the basics of good web optimisation are in here, 24 Jul 2008
I was coming at search engine optimisation from an entirely new perspective. I found this book incredibly easy to read with highlighted areas which helps you find the most important things to remember. This gave me a brilliant grounding on where to start with search engine optimisation. It gives a clear step by step guide as to how to improve your rankings. Also I had one question that I needed an answer to and I emailed Jon thinking that it would probably take ages for someone to come back - he emailed me back in 2 mins with really good advice - superb!!

this is a bad boring book..., 30 Sep 2008
this book is really bad!! other than telling us that blogs are the new PR and that content is king, nothing is NEW, the book keeps repeating itself..i dont reccomend it to anyone!

Authoritative and eminently readable, 27 Aug 2008
Reputed consultant and keynote speaker David Meerman Scott hits the bull's eye with a timely, well-written and thoroughly enjoyable book that does just 'what it says on the tin'.

Full of relevant examples and in a conversational tone, Mr Meerman Scott reveals the new rules of PR and online marketing and shows how to engage in a meaningful dialogue with clients and stakeholders bypassing the traditional media stronghold on information.

Not to be missed.

Excellent resource for online marketing, 20 Aug 2008
My business targets pre-start ups, new businesses and established businesses and I have found this book extremely helpful in its extensive detail about the ever-increasing opportunities for companies to promote themselves online. If you have a limited marketing budget this book will give you lots of ideas which can be implemented at a manageable cost. As a marketing strategist who always insists on goal setting and target audience definition as a starting point for any business or business project, I particularly liked Section III, which deals with establishing organisational goals and identifying buyer personae for products and/or services. An excellent resource which is very relevant to the modern world of online marketing.


New lamps for old, 03 Mar 2008
There are some real gems and lots of good, solid, practical insights in this book. And I have to admit after some initial scepticism, this book is the first to provide me with real insight into how the Web, and blogging more specifically, can be used to aid PR and marketing strategies.

This said, I found Scott less good with the underpinning theory; he has a tendency to make a few too many assumptions and is a bit too loose with the generalisations. This isn't necessarily a bad thing in itself, as it can make the writing `pacy' and accessible. However, I would certainly take issue with the way he defines marketing. It's a pretty one-eyed view, and to make matters worse its advertising he focuses on in the list he draws up detailing its shortcomings. At the best of times resorting to `man of straw' arguments is dubious rhetoric, and initially this made me doubt the book's `authenticity' or thought leadership, as Scott would perhaps call it.

I would also argue that `interruption advertising' still has its place both of itself and when integrated into Web-based strategies. The creative variations of Cadbury's `Gorilla' advertisement on YouTube offer an intriguing insight to what can be achieved.

The issue I have with Scott's book is, that to begin, he is so concerned to argue the old marketing and PR rules are dead, that he dilutes the message about how the old and the new might be better integrated to deliver more effe