Acknowledgments

No book can be written alone, and a successful book is the product of cooperation between a number of great people. I want to start by thanking my literary agent, Carole McClendon, for her unflagging efforts to help me write books that are interesting to me and to my readers. She shows me her professionalism and dedication every day.

Next, I want to thank Kristin Weinberger, my project editor at Addison-Wesley who inherited the book on short notice and shepherded it through the writing and editing processes. Without her steady hand, you wouldn’t be holding this book in your hands.

I also want to thank the group of editors and reviewers who looked at this book and provided me with invaluable feedback. This group includes Mike Hernandez, who is the keeper of the For Mere Mortals standard. I especially want to thank my good friend Tony Barcellos, who took time out of his busy schedule (including writing his own book) to review this book and provide helpful and humorous suggestions. I would also like to thank Lawrence Smith, Ben Shneiderman, Rebecca Riordan, and David Whiteman for their technical editing.