Book Review: Quick and Easy Guide to #RaspberryPi – Do Not Buy

The Quick and Easy Guide to RaspberryPi

Rating: 2/10

I previously featured this book when it was free over the course of one weekend. I’ve now read it. I’m sorry for anyone who has downloaded and spent time reading this poor excuse for a guide.

  • This book takes a full 15% of it’s content to explain what it’s going to do rather than actually explaining anything useful. This is before the individual chapters which, themselves, introduce the content. I estimate that these introductions take up another 5% of the book. Oh, and there’s an additional 10% of summation at the end of the book. So, in total, 30% of the book tells us what it’s going to do, and what it’s done, rather than actually doing it.
  • It’s really badly written. The book contains such gems as “The kicker is that it only costs $25-35”. “Kicker” isn’t a word that should appear in any serious guide, in my opinion, and points to the probable lack of experience of the author. There are more examples of this kind of loose language, but I can’t be bothered to list them all.
    One of my personal favourite bad sentences: “(The graphics processor) adds a new kind of speed to multimedia processing, ensuring that you don’t have a slow time dealing with multimedia on your Raspberry Pi.” That’s right – the Raspberry Pi has fast graphics because it is fast.
  • The guide compares the model A and model B but the author is clearly not impartial as he pushes the model B for the entire length of the (very short) chapter. He doesn’t mention that the model A isn’t even available yet and he doesn’t seem to recognise that the two models are for two different types of user.
  • It’s written more like a blog than a book. Appparently, “…if you’re not a luddite, you shouldn’t have a problem coming up to speed on how navigate the system, so don’t let it (Linux) scare you away.” First of all, luddite is a derogatory term and, secondly, it’s well-known that Linux is not all that easy-to-use anyway. This sentence is more likely to put people off getting a Pi!
  • When the USB Hub is mentioned as being an accessory to get, it is not mentioned that you need a powered hub.
  • The author blithely recommends that you buy a Belkin wireless adapter without any consideration of models or compatibility with the Pi.
  • There is no step-by-step guide to preparing the SD card for the Pi. Hardly comprehensive.
  • A username and password to use when first logging into the Pi may not apply to all distros that you can download.
  • There is no mention of RiscOS which is now an officially distributed OS for the Pi.
  • No guidance is given on updating the OS or installing the Pi Store if necessary.
  • The author states that you won’t be able to use languages like C++ and Java. This is simply untrue. Other languages might need installing but you can still use them!
  • The very first programming example is titled “Popping My Python Cherry”. This is bordering on disgusting, especially considering that the Pi is aimed at education of youngsters.

To buy (if you should be so inclined, but I don’t recommend it):

UK people click here to get it from the Kindle store on Amazon.co.uk. (£2.27 at last check)

International people click here to get it from the Kindle store on Amazon.com.

 

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