ACKNOWLEDGMENTSiv
Acknowledgments
Russ Unger
This book would never have come close to being completed without the
support of my family, friends, colleagues, and a host of people who were
completely unknown to me prior to typing the first few keystrokes.
My beautiful wife, Nicolle, who willingly and knowingly married a geek with
an overachiever bug, managed to double up on parenting duties through-
out most of the writing of this book. Our daughters, Sydney and Avery, often
poked and prodded their near-comatose father to life to get him to dance,
sing, and play Spore. I unwittingly thought that writing a book with a newborn
in the house would not be that big a challenge. I quickly learned otherwise.
And Nicolle stepped up to bat, time and time again, to rescue me and allow
me to have the focus that I needed to complete this project. She’s the hero I
rely upon the most; she keeps our house in order amid the chaos. She’s the
center of our world here, and she lets us all o the hook entirely too easily.
Nicolle, along with Sydney and Avery, manage to make me look like a pretty
good father, and I’m grateful for that. I live in a house with three girls, and I
couldn’t imagine loving any of them with anything less than all I have to give.
Carolyn kept me on track. There were times when it seemed that this project
would never begin or end. She always kept things moving, explored ideas,
and moved us in the right direction. The collaboration has been great, and
I’ve learned a lot through this! She’s definitely a great UX yin to my UX yang.
Michael Nolan was our acquisition editor, and he has been the perfect guide.
Michael is honest and kind, and he has really helped to keep things moving
smoothly. Rebecca Freed has been the juggler, managing every aspect of the
book, keeping us on task, and often sending e-mails to us late, late at night.
Sadly, she often got near-immediate responses from me! Linda Laflamme
was our development editor and once I got used to her Red Pen of Doom,
it was pretty clear that was she steering me in the right direction, no matter
how hard I tried to drown her in incomplete thoughts and run-on sentences.
Leslie Tilley gave the words a final polish; Tracey Croom brought production,
layout, and graphic elements together; and a real book appeared.
Steve “Doc” Baty read every chapter before it ever saw light of day in the
Peachpit oces. I would often send Steve chapters around 2 a.m., and he
