The Facebook Effect by David Kirkpatrick

Book Review: The Facebook Effect - The Inside Story of the Company That Is Connecting the World

Facebook is now the king of social networking leaving behind it competitors like Myspace, Hi5 and Orkut way behind as the company grows at an unbelievable pace. Therefore it is the perfect time to bring forth a detailed study on the social networking behemoth! Its history and state of affairs. It has gained half a billion users and this number is still growing while also gaining a lot of private funding. Facebook is unquestionably the most important social utility to ever hit the web.

In the book "the Facebook Effect", former fortune magazine technology editor David Kirkpatrick studies the structure of the company that has gained a strong foothold in the networking sector. He delves into the causes and the inner workings that made Facebook the current Media giant that it is. All the famous stories - from the "borrowing" (stealing?) of the original concept from ConnectU and houseSYSTEM, to the fever-pitched growth, through early stage investor meetings, the move from Harvard to Palo Alto.

The book seems to have received favourable support from most of the big names associated with the company that is still very young. There are multiple interviews conducted with Mark Zuckerberg himself. From all these insights, David speaks of the young company that went through all the turmoil that every young company faces while still remaining true to its goal of making society open, while creating and maintaining the "social graph".

He also gives his take on why some of the features and applications became a raving success like Farmville and Mafia Wars while some turned into utter failures like Beacon. Other issues are also explained like privacy, advertising vs. user experience that are related to the applications themselves.

The author also delves into the life of Mark Zuckerberg in relation to his company Facebook. He seems to have changed himself when the investors wanted more maturity infused into the company. For example he states that when he found a girlfriend, he actually negotiated 100 minutes of time in a week for her. That is how detailed the book is about Facebook and everything related to it.

The revolutionary change in social behaviour that emanates from a 19 year old student is the Facebook effect.

Find Lowest Airline Fares With My Airfare Secrets

If you love to travel, there is an e-book penned by a fired travel agent that can save you a ton of money. Wondering where to get the lowest airline fares? My Airfare Secrets has a wealth of information to save you money on your family vacations or spur-of-the-moment weekend getaways.

When I first took note of this book I was really tempted to purchase it right away since it is relatively inexpensive, but I held off for a few days. Eventually I just had to know what those secrets were! Yes, I was quite curious. And anyway, there was a money-back guarantee if I didn't like it.

The basic premise is, the author of the book was a long-time employee of a major airline, and was let go after many years of excellent service. As his revenge, he decided to write this book which would outline all the major travel agent tips and insider secrets to finding cheap airfare.

I would say he did an excellent job. The inside information in this book is outstanding. After going over the book the first time, my head was spinning with a number of methods I wanted to use to save some money on my upcoming vacation.

Now, was every single thing mentioned in the book going to be helpful to me? No, but I found a lot more beneficial information than I actually expected to. I had already decided if I found even 2 or 3 things that could save me some money on airfare I'd be happy. I found much more than that. There were a few things I had heard of before but quite a lot of tricks and tips I never knew existed, and a few of the tips are really worth the price of the book all by themselves.

I think the information in My Airfare Secrets is really well above average. One of the things that really aggravates me in a lot of informational books like this is there is way too much fluff. I am not sure if the authors are just trying to fill up space or what, but to me it's just a waste of time. Thankfully, this e-book dispenses with that and just gets right to the point. I really appreciated that as I didn't feel I was wasting time reading a bunch of nonsense while waiting to get to what I paid for.

All in all, I feel that if you are looking to save money on your travel, find some great ways to save on cruises, or just find the lowest airfare possible, you could do a lot worse than My Airfare Secrets. Considering the amount of money you may be able to save, it's quite a bargain.

Air Force One: A Detailed History of Every Aircraft Flown As the Flying White House

Air Force One By Robert F. Dorr 2002, MBI Publishing Company Hardcover, 156 pages, $29.95

Former president Theodore Roosevelt wasn't scheduled for a biplane ride in 1910, but as he told a reporter afterward, "You know, I didn't intend to do it, but when I saw the thing there, I could not resist it." That was just seven years after the Wright brothers' historic flight at Kitty Hawk.

The first sitting president to take to the air was the other Roosevelt, FDR, who flew across the Atlantic to meet with Prime Minister Winston Churchill in 1943. For that historic meeting he rode in a seaplane, a four-engine Boeing 314 called the Dixie Clipper.

Aviation and American history buffs will find a wealth of such detail in Air Force One, a reference book chronicling all of the aircraft assigned to transport the U.S. presidents. Author Robert F. Dorr, a U.S. Air force veteran and retired diplomat, has been writing about military aircraft for decades and brings his years of expertise to bear in this handsome coffee table book. With over 150 color and black-and-white photographs, the authoritative volume allows you to climb aboard and catch a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes of the flying White House.

Dorr was aboard SAM 27000, a Boeing 707-353B, on its final flight from Andrews AFB, Maryland to San Bernardino, California on September 8, 2001. This famous Air Force One had flown every American president since 1972. It carried Richard Nixon to China, Jimmy Carter to Germany (to meet the Iran hostages after their release) and George W. Bush to Texas. At San Bernardino the historic aircraft was disassembled and trucked in pieces to Simi Valley, California where it is now on permanent exhibit at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

Today, two identical Boeing 747s, a special military version of the familiar passenger plane, wear the imposing presidential livery of Air Force One. The first of the twins was delivered (15 months late) to the 89th Airlift Wing in August 1990, the second followed in December. The first president to fly in it was George H.W. Bush on a trip to Topeka, KS in September, 1990.

Here's a photo caption under a classic shot of the huge aircraft lifting off:

One Air Force officer described Air Force One as "magnificent... like a cruise ship." The high angle of attack is made possible by the enormous push of the four General Electric F103-GE-180 turbofan engines, each rated at 56,750 pounds thrust. Although the aircraft is not aerodynamically capable of it, the engines are powerful enough to stand the 747 on its tail and make it climb straight up.

For extensive coverage of the top secret aircraft currently used by President Obama and exactly what happened in the air on September 11, 2001, Air Force One has the inside information. The book has recently been updated and is available at most bookstores or directly from the publisher: http://www.motorbooks.com