Do you ...?

"If you want to dotcom, the best advice I can give you is to leave all your preconceived notions of what work should be at the door," writes Gustav Carlson. This, along with other useful suggestions on how to recognizeyour readiness for the dotcom industry, are offered in Carlson's book, Do You DotCom?: A Field Guide to Understanding Life at an Internet Company (Amacom, $17.95).

The lively prose provides several scenarios that test your readiness for the dotcom world. Find out, for example, whether you're a "dotcom dynamo" or a "corporate toady" by taking various quizzes in the book. The author also does a wonderful job of balancing the pros and cons of the dotcom industry, rather than trying to persuade you to ditch the corporate world.

But if the idea of joining or starting up a dotcom still intrigues you, pick up a copy of Do You Dot-Com and measure your readiness.

"If you yearn to simplify your life without compromising your career, Dot Calm offers practical solutions," write Debra Dinnocenzo and Richard B. Swegan.

In their book, Dot Calm: The Search for Sanity in a Wired World (Berrett-Koehler, $14.95), Dinnocenzo and Swegan suggest ways to overcome the "pressure to do more with less."

In fewer than 100 pages, the book includes surveys and anecdotes to help you find solutions to balance your home and work life, while providing useful information for achieving Dot Calm in this increasingly complex world.