"Genealogy Quick Steps" by Marty Mathews and Bobbi Sandberg

The Genealogy Quick Steps authored by Marty Matthews and Bobbi Sandberg provides easy to follow how-to steps. The authors engage the readers immediately. First, the reader should answer why they want to learn more about a family and what will be done with these findings. The authors consider these questions so important that six pages have been devoted to these topics. Consider suggestions such as resolve disputes, leave to heirs, write a book or create a website. Second, write down your thoughts and explore your answers. Third, set your objectives (page 8-9).

Published in effective straightforward formatting, this book is for everyone, especially a visual learner. The chapter color coding matches the chapters listed in the contents (pages ix-xii) The formatted conventions make easy to follow outlines and quick references. Explanations of the conventions are on page xvii. Examples, a check mark will reference a QuickFacts sidebar or small capital letters are used for keys on the keyboard.

Bobbi provides the genealogy content with her own experiences (pages 16-18) and the shared examples of other family historians. This book is for the first time family historian asking, "What do I do?" On page 26, the authors explain family relationships with both QuickFacts and a drawing of these relationships. In chapter three, GEDCOM (sharing protocol) is explained and demonstrated in several software programs. Chapter three offers suggestions for evaluating genealogy software or using alternative sources such as spreadsheets and notes. Published in 2012, check the web for genealogy software updates.

Chapters four through six review internet sources, for example, how to search and where to look. The authors cover websites including Cyndislist, My Heritage, Ancestry, Family Search and RootsWeb. These websites are active today. Some of the information may have changed as the sites upgrade their software. The remaining chapters provide How-To tips including: tour a cemetery, connecting with a group, getting around roadblocks and publishing your family. The authors provide a resource for the new family researcher and a reminder for the advanced family researcher.

What makes this book unique?

• Actively engages the reader
• Shares examples of personal research
• Formatting uses colors, special conventions and detailed examples
• Quick steps for easy reference

With the excellent detailed material, comes the price of dated computer and internet data. The material can easily be updated researching the internet. This is a beginning of family research and not the end.

Matthews, Marty and Bobbi Sandberg. Genealogy Quick Steps. New York: McGraw Hill. 2012.

Check area libraries, this book is available at the Gwinnett County Public Library, Georgia. Ask yourself, does this book help me advance towards my genealogy goals? Comments or questions, please contact Selma Blackmon, Thank you!