About the Author Greg Harvey, the author of more than 75 computer books (and he just keeps on going and going and going), has been training businesspeople in the use of DOS, Windows, and software applications programs, such as Word, Excel, WordPerfect, Lotus 1-2-3, and dBASE, since 1983. He has written numerous training manuals, user guides, and books for business users of software. Harvey is the author of Excel 2000 For Windows For Dummies, 1-2-3 For Dummies, Internet Explorer 5 For Windows For Dummies Quick Reference, DOS For Dummies Quick Reference, and WordPerfect 9 For Windows For Dummies Quick Reference, all from IDG Books Worldwide, Inc. Greg Harvey is a product of the great American Midwest, born in the Chicagoland area in 1949 (thus his saying "I'm only as old as China," - Red China, that is) in the dark ages of the Cold War before the age of McDonald's, MTV, and, certainly, personal computers. On the shores of Lake Michigan, he learned his letters and numbers and showed great promise in the world of academia. In 1966 (ah, the Sixties), he entered the University of Illinois at Urbana, Illinois where he was greatly influenced by such deep philosophers as Abbie Hoffman and Mahatma Gandhi. In the summer of 1968, he purchased his first pair of handmade sandals (from Glen, a hippie sandal maker who'd just returned from the Summer of Love in San Francisco). At the beginning of 1971 (January 12, in fact), Greg migrated West from Chicago to San Francisco (with flowers in his hair). Deciding it was high time to get a skill so that he could find a real job, he enrolled in the Drafting and Design program at Laney College in Oakland. After that, he spent nine years working over a hot drafting table. In 1981, following his engineering career, Greg went back to school at San Francisco State University, this time to earn his secondary teaching credential. Upon completion of his teacher training, he bought one of the very first IBM personal computers (with 16K and a single 160K floppy disk!) He still vividly remembers poring over the premier issue of PC World for every piece of information that could teach him how to make peace with his blankety, blankety personal computer. Greg worked in various software evaluation and training jobs. After a few more high-tech jobs in Silicon Valley, Greg turned to software training to get, as he put it, "the perspective of the poor schmoe at the end of the terminal." During the next three years, Greg trained a whole plethora of software programs to business users of all skill levels for several major independent software training companies in the San Francisco bay area. It was at this time that he started writing computer books. In the fall of 1986, he hooked up with Sybex, a local computer book publisher, for whom he wrote the computer training book, Mastering SuperCalc. And the rest, as they say, is history. Currently, he operates a multimedia company called Mind over Media, Inc. To get in touch with him, send your fan e-mail to
[email protected] or visit the Mind over Media Web site at www mindovermedia.com.