This book has some great tips as responses have noted. My one issue - at least a quarter of the book -- possibly more -- are tips that apply only to PCs. While often there will be a separate entry for PCs (usually longer) and Macs, there are a good number of suggested tools/tricks that only apply to PCs. I would have like to be able to read through only relevant ones.

If there's one book that's provided me with value for money recently, this is it. I've had it for over a week and I look at it every day. The other reviews here do a fine job of telling you the content, so mine is a more personal review.

I have plenty of experience in computers, so I can see the advantage of many of the tips. Since buying the book I have changed my browser from IE and my e-mail from Yahoo to Thunderbird, as well as downloading some of the many freeware programs she recommends. It's improved my life immensely, and often the time spent downloading has been paid back in minutes.

I stop short at some of the suggestions for advanced users, but that's because I don't want to change things for the sake of changing them. Otherwise I have more programs that I know what to do with, but that's because there are so many of them.

What's good is that Gina has covered the recommendations down to the last detail, especially living your life with them. Too many books on software run through the features with no recommendations as to where and how to use them. So if you're a person with any level of computer experience you will be using these programs and tips more or less from when you adopt them.

So thank you Gina (and Terra) for bringing this book about. I would guess it's made me 50 percent more effective in the first week. I can't think of anyone who wouldn't do marvels after reading this.

I remember reading the first edition of Gina Trapani's Upgrade Your Life: The Lifehacker Guide to Working Smarter, Faster, Better and thinking how wonderful it was. Of course, when the second edition came out, I had to get that one too. And as with the first one, I have all sorts of post-it notes scattered throughout the book for reference and "go back and try this" notes. Well worth the time and money you spend here.

Contents:
Control Your Email; Organize Your Data; Trick Yourself into Getting Done; Clear Your Mind; Firewall Your Attention; Streamline Common Tasks; Automate Repetitive Tasks; Get Your Data To Go; Master The Web; Hone Your Computer Survival Skills; Manage Multiple Computers; Index

Over the span of the chapters above, Trapani presents 116 different "hacks" that you can incorporate into your daily computer life to, well... work smarter, faster, and better. As with most books that are a compilation of different tips, some will resonate strongly with your current needs, while others are skimming material that may not be relevant. For instance, the hacks in the first chapter, Organize Your Data, hit home. I'm working towards consolidating multiple email addresses with Gmail, and I'm cutting down the number of folders I have, relying on search to find what I need. Master The Web also had some cool tricks, like having multiple home pages in Firefox and using Google Notebook for web clippings. I wasn't quite into the Managing Multiple Computers as much, as my current setup doesn't call for that. Still, it's good information to have around should you need it at a later time.

I actually found a couple different things occurring as I read through the material. There were hacks where some software was presented that did a certain task, and I'd realize I've been looking for something just like that. Similar to scratching an itch that you couldn't quite reach. Then there were the hacks that opened your eyes to whole areas you didn't even know you needed. Let's call that finding AND scratching the itch you didn't know you had five minutes prior. After going through some of the Automate Repetitive Tasks hacks, I have started to look at a lot of things I do with a view towards eliminating the manual repetitive effort that I just accepted as necessary before.

I highly recommend this book to everyone who spends most of their waking hours in front of a computer, and/or earn their living in front of one. Taking away even a small handful of nuggets can radically change the way you do things.

Upgrade Your Life is a great book. I've followed the blog for several years, but it's nice to have an analog version when you want to practice the best techniques available.

Recommended for information or technology workers who need to get more productive to survive and/or avoid insanity.

This is a collection of hints, tips and hacks for the technologically inclined. Areas covered are email, organizing your data, tricks to overcome your procrastination, clearing your mind, focusing your attention, streamlining common tasks, mastering the web, honing your computer survival skills and managing multiple computers.

Not at all ironically, the people for whom this book will be most useful - real geeks - will already know some, not all, of these things. I am most definitely a geek, but I did learn many new things and happy for that.

In some ways, the book will a half-loaf for many. There's a lot of Macintosh stuff that will not be helpful to Windows users and vice-versa. There's Windows Vista material that will not be useful to those (most of us, perhaps?) who are sticking with Windows XP. But this is not a major problem: the book has so much good stuff in it, that there is plenty for everyone.

Trapani's writing style is wonderfully clear, direct and concise.

Overall, other than calling it useful, versatile, eclectic and well-done, this book is difficult to classify. It merges real life (remembering to pick up the milk) with the technical (setting up a VPN) and lots, lots more. It is definitely a fun book to browse, packed with lots of great information.

A very worthwhile addition to your library.

Jerry

I suspect most people will find some useful tips in this book. As always, they are only useful if you actually do them. But many are fairly simple to implement which helps! And the book is written so you can go immediately to those areas of most interest to you, if you like.

I'm not the most disorganized person on the planet, but I'm not the most organized either. I found the book to be a good reference and helpful in getting things organized. The chapter on e-mails - first chapter - actually worked. I feel my inbox is managed well. 200 new messages a day (that's not as much as some folks!) and I'm breezing through them without backlog. On the down side, I found a few tips a little too "organized" for my taste. I'm more about simple effective solutions and this book provides quite a few. It's well worth the investment.

Great book. Very good to organize your life and ways to work. It should include more contents special for geek and very technical computer user. It is a must have for those who worry about get organized and get the things done! :)

I have been working my way through this book and finding it so relevant for the modern day lifehacker (person who loves the computer revolution and the internet)

It is great to try new tools have had to get through a few hoops before being recommended.

It is very easy to actually read too. The size of the text makes cruising through the book quite easy too.

I have a small blog www.keepordump.wordpress.com which is really about whether to keep or dump new software I have tried. This book has provided a lot of inspiration to keep adding to it.

Two thumbs up.

Tony
Sydney, Australia

This book is insanely helpful! Can't recommend it enough for people who spend lots of time on the computer.

I absolutely love this book. I picked it up on recommendation at the BlogHer Business Conference 2008 and so appreciate Gina's simplicity tips that are easy to understand and execute. With all the virtual clutter that we have in our lives at the moment, it's a necessity to have a sage like Gina to help us figure out how to manage it all.

This is a great book. The hacks described in this book can simplify anyone's work (and personal) life. If you are too hard-pressed to implement even the simple suggestions of the productivity guru David Allen, Gina Trapani makes them even simpler. I randomly implemented some suggestions from the first edition of the book with very satisfying results. I believe that this edition is a major upgrade and I hope to get a lot more out of it. (I haven't finished reading it yet -- but what I have read and implemented so far is impressive enough.)If you are not a full-time geek, it is hard to figure out all the shortcuts to streamline your work and make it as "online" as possible. This book not only describes many hacks but provides step-by-step instructions to implement them. This is one of the best practical books on streamlining your life. I'm glad Gina Trapani wrote it. (I guess that anyone whose last name ends in "rapani" has to have something going for them.)

LifeHacker and Gina Trapani Are great for productivity, and have tons of good advice. I would recommend it to multi taskers and busy professionals, or anyone looking to save time and be more efficient, or just to have a few neat tricks to show your friends.

Gina Trapani is a productivity guru, able to take virtually any aspect of technological life and make it faster, easier, or just plain better. Whether you're trying to get a grip on an overstuffed e-mail inbox or learn a smarter way to manage your to-do list, you'll find it in this book. The first step to upgrading your life? Buy a copy of Upgrade Your Life. Then buy another one for your friend.