Excel 2007 Bible
by John Walkenbach
|
List Price: Our Price: $20.35 You Save: $19.64 (49%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $14.94 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Excel 2007 Bible
Book Review: Another Great Book by Walkenbach
Summary: 5 Stars
For the past couple of versions of Excel, I have always used John Walkenbach's books for learning and reference. His books provide quiet a complete reference for Excel users and this book is no exception. This edition contains forty-five chapters covering all aspects of Excel. I pretty much read through the entire book in order to familiarize myself with the latest features of Excel 2007.
This version is a significant upgrade to the previous versions. The biggest change is the ribbon bar. Yes, it is something new to learn, but once you become familiar with this, you will probably find that this really is a much better idea.
Walkenbach covers all aspects of Excel in his books such as:
1. Formulas and functions
2. Charts
3. Graphic objects
4. Advanced features such as data validation, number formats, sharing data, etc.
5. Analyzing data with pivot tables, what-if analysis, goal seeker and solver
6. A whole section (seven chapters) on VBA programming
His book also contains appendixes covering worksheet functions, Excel resources and Excel shortcut keys. Included also with the book is a CD-ROM containing the complete text of the book. But, what I really like about the included CD-ROM are the sample files. Sample files are included for each chapter. You can load them into your Excel directory and access them as you read the chapters and practice what you are learning thereby not just reading but getting hands on experience.
Yes, I know at this point in time, you can now order Office 2010 and Walkenbach has released his book on Excel 2010, but I would say that, based on my experience with Walkenbach's previous versions this review would probably also apply to the 2010 version I'm sure. Of course, many people will not be using Office 2010 for some time to come, such as myself, so I decided to write this review anyway for those who will be using Excel 2007 for the near future.
Book Review: Good Book for Instructors
Summary: 4 Stars
I teach Excel on a regular basis. My students are all working people who need to be able to use Excel in their jobs. I teach at the beginning, intermediate and advanced levels. This book makes an excellent text, and each student gets a copy. For each topic I discuss in class, I give them directed reading in this book. It makes a great reference. In some other reviews, I have seen complaints that this book is very difficult to learn Excel from. I can see where that would be true; but, once you have a base of Excel knowledge, this book is very good for building further skills. It is not for the novice who has no other source of learning.
Excel is such a huge topic, that it is impossible to cover it all in one book. As with all other Excel authors, Walkenbach has omitted some things. The most glaring omission is the Subtotal command (not the function). I am continually amazed at the people who have been using Excel for years and don't know about this command. It is not covered in John's book (at least, I haven't been able to find it even with a PDF search), but the subject is covered pretty well in Help and is easy to find there. The other subject I wish he had included was Advanced Filtering. Advanced Filtering is a true workhorse in Excel. Any heavy user of Excel should know how to use it. I feel it is more valuable to the daily user than the intricacies of array formulas. If he had covered those two topics, I would have given him five stars. Regardless, this is a very good book.
Book Review: Make do with this book if you can't find a better one
Summary: 3 Stars
If you like me, having used Excel for years and all of sudden facing the totally overhauled Excel 2007, scrambling to find your familiar functions, and desparately looking for a book to avoid the fancy Excel 2007 slow you down, and you got this book and read it and will feel a bit being let down...
To start with, you won't learn a lot. Chapter 2, What is New in Excel 2007 is the most valuable one.
I am a heavy user of Pivot table so I read Chapter 34 Introducing to Pivot Table and Chapter 35 Analyzing Data with Pivot Table letter by letter. I have learn very little from these two chapters. As I play around Excel 2007, I actually have figured out much more than what the two chapters have covered.
It seems to me that John was in hurry to write up this book rather than taking time to really provide something useful. Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of his Excel 2000 Bible and 2003 Bible. I actually own the latter.
If you have any previous Excel bible, arrange a 20 minutes book-store-skim for this book. Everyone is catching up with Excel 2007; you might be a quicker learner yourself.
Book Review: Good book for the money
Summary: 4 Stars
The Excel 2007 Bible is a good book for the money. It gives lots of interesting and useful tools to use Excel in ways I didn't know about. I do wish there were more explainations on all of the formulas it does list, but there is enough in here to keep me busy for a while. I'm sure there are other books that are better for non-financial users, but this has helped me tremendously. I'm relatively new to Excel, and everything i've learned up to the point of buying the book was self-taught. I've used Excel extensively for the last two years, and had become the office 'guru' because i knew it could be done, and i went out to find it. This book just helped to cut down on the research time. It's inexpensive, it's useful, and it's easily understandable.
Also, before i bought the book, i looked at the reviews as well. There were 3 or 4 bad reviews that complained about the type color and paper color. I don't have great vision, and i had absolutely no problem reading the text. The text is a dark grey rather than black-black, but it's not hard to read. It would be no harder to read than a newspaper.
Book Review: Grow Into a Power User w.Excel 2007 Bible!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of THE BEST books on Excel 2007! I've compared this book to the following: Excel 2007 the Missing Manual & Excel 2007 Beyond the Manual. I found that the Bible version to be not only a good overview of the changes in Excel 2007, but also a guide that explores the many uses and possibilities of using the program.
It is well organized, detailed and serves as a good resource for new & intermediate. It is not, however for those who are advanced users who are looking for something on advancing their skills in Pivot Tables, VBA or advanced formulas. If you are looking for a book on intricate formulas or a cookbook, then I recommend Formulas and Functions with Microsoft Office Excel 2007 by Paul McFedries. There are also other books out there geared specifically towards VBA and Pivot Tables.
So, to sum it up, it's an outstanding overview and delve into Excel 2007 that will benefit beginners and intermediate users the most and can help this group grow into power users! It also makes a pretty good refresher for advanced users. Either way, you can't go wrong!