Book Review: SharePoint 2010 Plain & Simple

SharePoint 2010 Plain & Simple is a "SEE-HOW guide to SharePoint" and a good book for IT Pros or developers who are absolute beginners to SharePoint 2010. The book assumes that you already have all the required software installed & some Features activated.

It shows how to perform the following 140+ Tasks with step-by-step instructions and screen-shots -

• Create a Site Based on the Team Site Template
• Create a Document Workspace 
• Change the Title and Description of Your Site
• Turn Off the Quick Launch Bar
• Change the Color Theme of the Site
• View All Site Content
• Save a Site as a Template
• Open Site Columns
• Browse Site Columns
• Create a Site Column
• Edit Site Columns
• Access Content Types
• Inspect Content Types
• Associate a Document Template with a Content Type
• Associate a Workflow with a Library
• Start a Workflow
• Check the Status of a Running Workflow
• Create a List or Library
• Delete a List or Library
• Add a List Item
• Edit a List Item
• Delete a List Item
• Create a Folder to Organize Items in a List
• Create a Column in a List
• Edit Column Settings
• Add a Validation Rule to a Column
• Add a Validation Rule to a List
• Sort a List
• Filter a List
• Create a List View
• Select a List View
• Sort a List View
• Filter a List View
• Create a Document Library
• Modify the Document Template  for a Document Library
• Modify the Document Template for a Content Type
• Upload Multiple Files with Internet Explorer
• Upload Multiple Files with Windows Explorer
• Display the Check Out Status on a Document Library View
• Check Out a Document
• Check In a Document
• Require Document Check Out on a Library
• Enable the Document ID Service for tracking Documents
• Configure Document ID Settings
• Locate the Document ID on a Document
• Use the Find By Document ID Web  Part to search for a document
• Use the Send To Menu
• Add a Custom Send To Location
• Enable the Document Sets Site Collection Feature
• Configure Document Set Options
• Enable Document Sets on a Document Library
• Create a Document Set
• Enable the SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure Feature
• Enable the SharePoint Server Publishing Feature
• Create an Asset Library
• Enable Enterprise Keywords
• Enable Metadata Navigation
• Tag Files with Windows Explorer
• Upload Files to an Asset Library
• Connect an Asset Library to Office
• Insert Pictures or Video into PowerPoint
• Insert a Picture from SharePoint
• Insert a Video with the Media  Web Part
• Enable Auditing
• View an Audit Report
• Enable Document Labels
• Insert a Label in a Document
• Enable Document Bar Codes
• Insert a Barcode in a Document
• Enable an Expiration Policy
• Create a Project Task List
• Add a Project Task
• Update Multiple Tasks with the Datasheet
• Zoom the Gantt View
• Configure Task Columns
• Create a Calendar List
• Switch Calendar Views
• Schedule a Meeting
• Create an Issues List
• Configure Issue Categories
• Create a Discussion List 
• Start a Discussion Thread
• Reply to a Discussion Thread
• Sync MS Project 2010 with a Tasks List
• Manage Synchronization Fields
• Add a Quick Link to a SharePoint Site
• Save a Document to a SharePoint Site
• Manage SharePoint Site Quick Links
• Connect a Calendar List to Outlook
• Copy or Move SharePoint Calendar Items to Outlook
• Add Outlook E-Mail Messages to a Discussion List
• Create a Slide Library
• Publish Slides from PowerPoint
• Copy Slides from a slide library to a PowerPoint Presentation
• Broadcast a Slide Show
• Import a Spreadsheet to SharePoint
• Export a List to Excel from SharePoint
• Export a Table from Excel to SharePoint
• Opening a SharePoint List in Access
• Create a SharePoint Workspace Account
• Sync to SharePoint Workspace
• Create a Blog Site from Your SharePoint Profile
• Change Your Blog Picture
• Edit Your Blog Description
• Create a New Category within a Blog
• Edit a Category
• Create a Blog Post
• Publish a Blog Post Previously Saved as a Draft
• Add a Comment for a Blog Post
• View, Edit, or Delete Comments
• Publish a Blog Post from  Microsoft Word
• Add People to Groups
• Create a Group
• Grant an Individual  Permissions
• Break Inheritance to change an object’s permissions 
• Grant Access to a List or  Library
• Grant Access to Individual  Items
• Remove Someone from a  Group
• Remove a Group’s Site Permissions
• View Permissions on a Library
• Upload Content to Your My Site Shared Documents
• Upload Content to Your My Site Personal Documents
• Add a Colleague to My Site
• Edit Colleague Information
• Remove a Colleague
• Update Your Status
• View Colleague Status
• Create a Note on Content Within SharePoint
• Add the SharePoint Tags And Notes Tool to Your Favorites
• Add a Note to Content on an External Site
• View Notes
• Create a Search Center
• Access a Search Center
• Perform a Search with Search Center
• Create a Search Scope
• Add Rules to a Search Scope
• Use Refiners
• Create a Best Bet
• Subscribe to Search Results as an RSS Feed
• View Search Feeds in Internet Explorer 8
• View Search Feed in Outlook 2010
• Use Advanced Search

It doesn't get into the details of what practical scenarios these tasks could be useful for.

At 250+ pages, this is probably the slimmest book on SharePoint 2010. It does a good job of explaining the commonly used out-of-the-box features in SharePoint 2010 in plain-English. I recommend this book to beginners who may be daunted by the complexity of SharePoint 2010.  It provides enough information to find your way ahead.