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Book Review of:
Excel 97 Annoyances 

From the January, 2001 issue of PC Alamode Magazine
by Lou Haveman III 
coverIf you're an Excel user (beginner or experienced) allow me to say this first: Buy this book now!

Ok, back to sensibility.

To begin, and for some reason, the title threw me. I think I was looking for serious issues that Excel has, but what I learn after spot reading a few pages, and much to my delight, this is truly a first class Tips and Tricks book. In other words, this book is a must read for anyone who works with Excel.

Come to think of it, and to show some error in my perception, an application that has a book that dedicates 320 pages to problems would deem the application useless. Oh well.

Secondly, any book published by O'Reilly scores big with me. They also have a wonderful site on the net www.oreilly.com that is full of resources, and, what I enjoy most is their conference area where you can sign in, choose your subject and ask questions. Within a day or two, inevitably, someone, a user like you and me, will respond with an answer/solution. At the very least, point you in a direction.
 

Speaking of finding solutions on the net. My favorite resource is the Newsreader. Thousands upon thousands of listing varying from "Christmas in India" (not really-that was just the first extreme that popped into my head to give you an idea) to your favorite sports team to "Programming in C++" exist. I've never not found a subject I was looking for. But like the web, there are also groups I wouldn't even suggest to my friends "in low places". So be aware!

Thirdly, as much as I praise this book, there was one line that irked me (I know, I'm being a bit picky). It states: "(yada, yada, yada). . .you don’t need to be told you're a dummy, an ignoramus, or an idiot, and that annoying feeling is your fault." I'm going to assume here that they were referring to books like the "…. For Dummies" series. Listen, all books are reference materials. Each one will help you to do your work easier or better or help you get the most out of an application. To belittle one to promote another is not in good tastes.

I find IDE's "…. for Dummies" series an excellent reference for the layman and would always suggest them. Again, it all depends on what you're looking for.

Hmmm, how am I going to review this book without going into details and taking up more space than I already have in this PC Alamode rag? Personally speaking, every page raises an eyebrow, encourages an "Oh wow, I didn't know it can do that!" or, my favorite, "This is so COOOOOL!"

Can I now end this review by saying "Buy it now!"?

Ultimately, the best way for you to review a book before buying it is to scan through the book yourself. Unfortunately, you can't go to Barns and Noble and borrow a book for the day. What you can do is borrow the book from somebody. . .like me.