Work like a Pro with Excel 5

Book Review by David Ailshire, Alamo PC

Author: Anne Prince
Publisher: Mike Murach and Associates
ISBN number: 0-911625-89-5
Suggested List Price: $20.00

User Group members receive 40% off all Murach PC books. Contact Cristine Allen at Mike Murach and Associates, toll free: 1-800-221-5528.

Anne Princes’ “Work like a pro with Excel 5” deals with basic Excel skills. It is a very good book for first time Excel users or for people who are moving from another spreadsheet to Excel. Some more experienced spreadsheets users may not find this book very helpful, since the data entry and formatting among different spreadsheets is very similar.

The book is laid out in four sections:

An introduction dealing with basic DOS and Windows skills needed to use Excel 5,
Eight chapters introducing the user to basic Excel 5 functions,
An appendix telling the user what isn’t covered in this book, which is quite a bit, and where to look to find the information on these subjects, and
The ubiquitous index.

Although this book is about very basic spreadsheet functions, information is easily found by using the table of contents. If the table of contents isn’t specific enough, each chapter begins with a list of skills and techniques to be covered. If you still haven’t found what you’re looking for, try the index or appendix.

The author makes this manual very easy to read with its informal style. The page layout encourages the user to try each technique as they read the book. The exercises are simple and easy to understand. The ordering of the exercises and material makes it easy to build from one skill to the next. The detail is enough to allow the user to manipulate the data without being overwhelming. The data used in the book is simple enough to be entered directly from the keyboard while doing the exercises so no disk with the exercises saved is needed. The same data is used in each example to further simplify the process of learning Excel. Also interesting and very useful, is the inclusion of keyboard controls that help people who touch type to speed up production by omitting the change between keyboard and mouse. If you are a touch typist, you know how annoying that can be.

If you know nothing about spreadsheets, you’ll like this book and it will be worth the 12 bucks. The book is easy to read and the exercises easy to follow. If you are familiar with spreadsheets, you don’t need this book, but Mike Murach and Associates has other books with more information on advanced functions. Call Cristine Allen at 1-800-221-5528 for information about “The Essential Guide: Excel 5.0 for Windows”, also from, list price $25.00 (before discount) and “Excel 5: Lists, Pivot Tables and External Databases”, list price $11.95, for information on using functions, databases, etc. Don’t forget to ask for your 40% discount.