Friday, February 13th, 2009...12:30 am
Product Review – CS4 The Missing Manual
This past weekend, I was fortunate enough to get my hands on a copy of Lesa Snider King’s new book – Photoshop CS4: The Missing Manual. Now, I love Lesa. I have been a fan of her tutorials for quite a while so I have to admit, had it not been her name on the cover of this book, I think I would have disregarded it without much thought. New books about Photoshop come out all the time and they always claim to be "the best." So when I picked up this book, love for Lesa aside, what I expected to see was just another book filled with tutorials on fancy tricks you can do with all the new features of CS4, but not much else. However, what I did see when I opened the book left me amazed and beyond impressed. This book, is not really a book, it is the Photoshop program in bound form. Rounding up to about 750 pages after you cut away intros, indexes and filler, this manual is hands-down the most complete guide to Photoshop that I have ever seen. And true to Lesa’s style of not only explaining the "how to" but the "why" which is something that I find is often left out of most Photoshop books. This manual covers every program menu, every tool, and every feature from web to print and contains information on where to download practice files. It is also beautifully laid out with loads of images to show you what to expect when working with the features of the program. And because the information is so thorough, the book actually becomes valuable to CS, CS2, and CS3 users as well. So if you have yet to work up the finances to upgrade to CS4, then this book is still worth having in your collection.
In short – this book, makes me wish I had a rating system in place just so that I could give it top marks! And when you read the comment "This is the book that should have come with the program." that is not just a piece of clever advertising – that is stone cold fact! So, if you are a lover of Photoshop, no matter what your skill or version – Click the pic* and get this book!
*Oh and by the way – it’s half the price if you get it on Amazon vs getting it in the book store. 
You’ve convinced me! I’ve got to get one! Thanks, buddy!
Howdy Firgs! Thanks so much for the book love; I really appreciate it! I’m very proud of The Beast, as I’ve come to know it and tried to put a little of everything in it that a pixel jockey needs to know (typography, color theory, animating gifs, how to make a painting from scratch, etc.).
Will I see you in Boston for PSW?
Hugs,
-L
Woo-Hoo! How fun is this to have the author stop by my little site! Thanks for dropping the comment love Lesa!
Heck yes I’m gonna be there and I can’t wait to see you!! 
I love Lesa Snider King! I had the opportunity to talk to her at Photoshop World in September; she was amazingly cool with her Star Trek inspired dress. I just bought CS4, but I’m waiting to get academic authorization from Adobe before I get my serial number. This may be just the book I need.
Even though I have other CS4 books, I decided to get this one since I follow Lesa on twitter. Boy was I glad. What a great book!
Just bought the book today. I expected a general book about PS4 but Lesa King goes through everything and more in this book. Over 750 pages worth. So far its one of the best resources i’ve got on the new photoshop.