I'm afraid my bookshelf resembles most of you reading this. It's littered
with dozens of technical books from Access 95 (left as a joke by one of my
coworkers) to my bright red Wrox books. Like many of you, I strive each day to
not become obsolete, constantly learning new programming languages and admin
tips. Striving to do this, has come at a huge cost though. Recently my wife
looked at our credit card statement after I retooled for SQL Server 2000 and put
me on book restriction.
Needless to say, books don't come cheap, with an average book running about
$39 on the cheap side to $49 for some of the larger books. As an author of two
tech books, I've better stop complaining about these prices at this point.
Recently, I was given the opportunity to look at a IQReference by IQ
Destination. This product allowed me to comb through complete books, up to 300
at the time of this review. Each month, another 10 are added also. The combined
price of those 300 books would on the low-end run above $10,000.
IQReference
allows you efficiently search for a keyword that can be found in any
chapter out of their library. IQReference then ranks the search and tells
you which books and chapters have the keyword in them. For example, a search for
DTS, returned 20 books. The search showed me exactly what chapters I could find
DTS content in and after I selected the chapter, the word DTS is highlighted for
easy reference.
By registering with IQReference, you can receive a 7 day trial membership
that has some limitations. By contacting a sales representative, you can receive
a fully functional 7-day free membership. Normal membership costs $299 for one year.
SQL Server Central has arranged for a couple of specials, through October 7th, 2001, you
can take advantage of the following specials:
I found the tool invaluable and as you find material you like you can
bookmark the page. These bookmarks can be shared with others at your company. If
you find a book you'd like to keep, you can click the Bookshelf button to add it
to your bookshelf. I liked the tool because it made resources available wherever
I traveled without having to lug around tons of books. There were books
available that I would never buy under normal circumstances, but read just
because they were available. If you like a book you read well enough to buy, you
can buy it on the site in conjunction with FatBrain.com at even stronger than
their normal discount.
For more information about the program, click
here.
