About Our Books

We specialize in the ...For Dummies books focused on the digital home. We think it is important to know the "why" before you know the "what" though. Way back in 1997, Danny bought a home up off the coast of Maine, a nice place at an old 20th century military base, the former Fort McKinley and now called Diamond Cove. Given this was to be Danny's vacation home for many many years, he wanted to make sure that the wiring and infrastructure he put into the walls made sense for all the changes coming down the road.  The last thing he wanted to do was to restore his 1890s Victorian home and then have to make holes in his precious plaster walls.  He really likes his plaster walls.

 

Try as he did, he could not find any resources at the library or online that could give him a consistent answer to the simple question:  "What do I put in the walls to make sure I can handle my voice, data, video, audio, security, intercom, and any home automation needs that may arise over the next 10-20 years."  The answers were all over the place.  Danny and Pat work in their "day" jobs trying to figure out new products and services for the telecom service providers to launch, and so they knew a lot of what was going to happen in the near- to mid-term, and wanted to be prepared.

 

So Danny of course turned to Mr. Know-It-All Pat, and when Pat said he was not sure either, an adventure began that culminated in a lot of information for Danny's contractor.  With all this information in hand, it only made sense to compile it into a book to help others with the same problem.

 

Our first book on the digital home, Smart Homes for Dummies was designed to help people think about the whole home, not just the entertainment center or the computer room, and not just about the audio and video network or the Internet connections, but all of it together.  After all, it is all converging towards each other, where you will get phone calls over your Internet connections, and watch movies through your computer.

 

If you are building or remodeling a home, or trying to get the most out of your present home or apartment, then this book is the best investment you can make in order to limit your up-front exposure in buying "the wrong stuff."  Smart Homes for Dummies does not mandate a massive buildout of home automation;  rather, it gives a modular and incremental approach so that you can create your smart home at your own pace.

 

Following on that book, which has gone into multiple printings and a second edition, Pat and Danny have extended the home wiring discussion with a home wireless discussion, in Wireless Home Networking for Dummies. It's a lot of hassle to set up a home wireless network — at least one that works correctly. If you are trying to optimize your home for wireless computing and entertainment, this is the book for you.

 

Subsequent books have explored the home entertainment and computing realm, in Home Theater for Dummies and Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 PC for Dummies. These books help you master the complexities of setting up a home theater and of installing a computer to run it all.

 

We're working on HDTV for Dummies now for late 2004 release.

 

This site is meant to help keep you current on things we've seen that may be of interest to you in reading any of these books — things that we want to tell you in-between editions.  If you've got comments, be sure to send us an email. We'd love to hear from you.

 

-Danny and Pat