It does tell one how to do various tasks with various tools. I'm not a programmer either. I recommended it because it gives a quick overview of how things can be done efficiently - common tasks in working with various kinds of (mainly text) data. Presumably an IT manager would want to have some familiarity with the various tricks of the trade to be able to understand what his/her people were trying to do and the various issues; at least s/he should know the jargon. It's nice having those tricks together in one place, rather than having to skim through a dozen more-detailed books.

There are probably other books out there that address things more appropriately for a manager, but I can't think of any and I thought it was worth mentioning. You, and he, know his needs/wants better than me. :-)

Cheers,
Scott.