Greg Harvey, Ph.D.

In May, 2005, having successfully defended my dissertation entitled "Can Wisdom Be Taught? Uncovering the Truths of Chan Buddhism in the Teachings of Greek Philosophy," I received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Humanities with a Concentration in Philosophy and Religion and with an Emphasis in Asian and Comparative Religion from the California Institute of Integral Studies.

Excel Workbook For Dummies

The Excel Workbook For Dummies is my newest title for Wiley Publishing due out in the bookstores in April, 2006. This book is a departure from my other reference-type works on Excel (Excel 2003 For Dummies and Excel 2003 All-In-One Desk Reference For Dummies). Offering no less than 131 exercises covering all aspects of using Microsoft Excel, this workbook gives users of all different experience levels the opportunity to learn new features by practicing them. These workbook exercises not only introduce users to Excel features that they may not yet have had an occasion to use but also emphasize how to combine features to enhance the overall productivity and efficiency in performing certain tasks.

Windows Vista and Office Excel 2007

Microsoft Corporation has been hard at work on its new operating system for PCs, originally code-named Longhorn and recently renamed Windows Vista as well as its latest version of Microsoft Office, code-named Office 12 and rumored to be named Office 2007. Both the operating system and Office suite upgrades are currently slated for release by the end of 2006. This means that I will be busy revising my Windows XP For Dummies Quick Reference as well as my Excel 2003 For Dummies and Excel 2003 All-In-One Desk Reference For Dummies for publication in the coming year coinciding with their releases.

Windows Vista looks to me to be a really significant and important enhancement to the Windows operating environment. The planned enhancements promise to deliver the typical business user a whole new arsenal of features for keeping on top of the enormous amount of information that he or she deals typically with. On top of the that, Windows Vista sports a great new look and is poised to bring personal computing into a whole new era of fast communications and computing. For more specific information Microsoft's plans for Windows Vista, visit the Windows Vista Home page on the Microsoft Web site.

Expect the biggest changes in the Office suite to come in Excel 12 application. I am excited about several of the feature enhancements (some of which seem to me to be long overdue). Just be aware that these enhancements come at the price of a new way of working in Excel, as Microsoft has substantially redesigned the user interface for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. For specific information on this new user interface and more on the planned, go to the Future of Microsoft Office page on the Microsoft Web site.

Under Consideration

As Dr. Harvey, I am still considering how best to put my hard-earned and long-in-coming Ph.D. to work for me in the publishing arena. One of the first projects I'm interested in pursuing concerns publishing my English translation of LaoZi's DaoDeJing (Tao Te Ching) in some form. I have been exploring the idea of releasing this translation as part of a self-help type book that discusses Daoist teachings as found in the DaoDeJing in the context of the challenges we all face in modern living. I'll keep you posted... 

Last modified: 01/25/06