Which books should I get?

[BWF89]

So my birthday is coming up (December 4th) and I'm going to ask for some software books for Firefox and OpenOffice.

But there are so many. Here are the ones I'm looking at. Which do you reccomend? (I only want to get one for each)

For OpenOffice:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0764542222/qid=1131933469/sr=8-3/ref=pd_bbs_3/002-6417660-3172836?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0672326183/qid=1131933469/sr=8-9/ref=pd_bbs_9/002-6417660-3172836?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0131879928/qid=1131933469/sr=8-14/ref=pd_bbs_14/002-6417660-3172836?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

For Firefox:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0471748994/qid=1131934970/sr=1-5/ref=sr_1_5/002-6417660-3172836?v=glance&s=books (from the description it kinda seems like this is aimed at newbs)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0596009283/qid=1131934970/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-6417660-3172836?v=glance&s=books (is this mainly for developers?)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0764596500/qid=1131934970/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/002-6417660-3172836?v=glance&s=books

[Lovechild]

I wouldn't get any of them, none of them will grant you a better preception of the programs than using them, if you want to learn about details of the programs figure out what your questions are first. Say "I can't figure out how to do such and such that I need in OpenOffice", if your questions are very basic, get a basic guide book to help you on your way.
If on the other hand you end up with a bunch of questions that are fairly technical and it still interests you - O'Reilly makes a lot of really good technical books that are wellworth the investment.

*edit*

Stupid me, I even forgot... Happy birthday mate! *throws confetti*

[BWF89]

Has anyone else read these books and could give me a description of which is best?

[jrib]

I've read the O'reilly firefox hacks one. Most of it was useless to me (either because I had no use for the hack or it was something I had already wanted to do and had found out how online). I agree with lovechild, you will probably learn a lot more by reading about this sort of thing online. There are plenty of places. And you'll learn by actually doing things and trying them. I don't know about the openoffice books, but I'd suspect that it would be similar.

I know you probably want something that is well-structured so you can follow it through (I like this approach too). Maybe you can try a well-written programming book. That would be something I'd prefer anyway.

Happy Birthday!

[floppy]

While I haven't read them, I have looked through these books in a bookstore.

For OpenOffice, get OpenOffice.org for Dummies by Gurdy Leete, Ellen Finkelstein, Mary Leete. It gives a pretty good overview and some useful info.

For Firefox, go with Hacking Firefox : More Than 150 Hacks, Mods, and Customizations by Mel Reyes. You'll find it useful in learning how to customize the browser.

Have a Happy Birthday!

[BWF89]

While I haven't read them, I have looked through these books in a bookstore.

For OpenOffice, get OpenOffice.org for Dummies by Gurdy Leete, Ellen Finkelstein, Mary Leete. It gives a pretty good overview and some useful info.

For Firefox, go with Hacking Firefox : More Than 150 Hacks, Mods, and Customizations by Mel Reyes. You'll find it useful in learning how to customize the browser.

Have a Happy Birthday!
Thanks, I was thinking with going with OpenOffice for Dummies but I've never read a "For Dummies" book before.

[BWF89]

One last question: While reading some of the pages of OOo for dummies at Amazon I noticed that the screenshot they show of it is of the 1.0 series.

I never went much deeper into OOo other than useing spellcheck but most of you probably have. Is doing things in the 1.0 series pretty much the same as in the 2.0 series?