Customer Reviews

SolidWorks 2009 Bible

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

This book is nothing but a glorified command reference. The blurb by the publisher says that the book goes into the "why" instead of just the "how". To put it mildly, this is not true. The "tutorials" are nothing but lists of instructions with no insight as to how OR why. I repeatedly find myself trying to fill in the blanks between steps when one instruction does not logically follow another, or is so poorly defined that you have to look ahead three steps to figure out what it means. You never know what you are doing until you are done, and sometimes not even then.

There is nothing instructional about this book. The body of the chapters is a long list of descriptions of features. The idea that people learn by doing is lost to this author. You are expected to memorize the long boring diatribe about the features so that when you get to the "instructional" part at the end of the chapters the author can bark commands at you without having to explain anything. I really tried to give this a second chance by going back and trying to do some of the stuff that is being talked about in the text of the chapters even though it does not tell you to. This approach did not help anything. It makes no impact to look at settings and menus if they are not being needed in the context of a drawing, part, or assembly. All I ended up accomplishing was to get my interface into different modes that I didn't know the relevance of (or how to undo without using "undo").

Nearly every time the text references a drawing the drawing is on the next page, so you annoyingly have to be flipping pages all the time when trying to learn. A PDF version would help this immensely, but hey, they lied about that too. There isn't one on the CD. The method of writing in this book makes Matt Lombard come off as a self righteous blow-hard and displays zero understanding of the learning process. His publisher apparently pays him by the page. This is one of the few books I have purchased in my lifetime that actually had me boiling over angry at it's uselessness.

THIS BOOK IS NOT FOR BEGINNERS. Only buy this if you are looking for a command reference.

I learned more in 1 day of online tutorials than I did spending two solid weeks with this book. Buyer beware.

I purchased this book with confidence after after reading the "AutoCad 2009 Bible" by the same publisher. I've been very disappointed with this book. Although there is a lot of good information, your software will NOT behave as illustrated in the exercises. You'll be left searching around online to figure out how to complete the tutorials. There are a lot of very odd/confusing sentences, as if there was no editing/proofreading done. I hope to work all the way through the book, but wish there was a simpler, clearer book with exercises to work through, as there were in the AutoCad book.

I've been waiting for this book since August 2008 when it was posted on Amazon.com. I am not sure that I'm pleased or displeased with it.

I'm very familiar with the Wiley book series; namely the Bible for AutoCAD by Ellen Finkelstein. As an AutoCad user earlier in my day, Ellen was the person! It was only natural when I started to use SolidWorks, to migrate over to the SolidWorks Bible series. The SolidWorks Dummy series in my humble opinion (free copy) turned out to be a large marketing brochure with very very fundamental information.

The Bible is more of a desk reference book for the SolidWorks user who is looking to do something that he/she hasn't done before. Do not purchase this book if you have not been formally trained in SolidWorks or have not read any real SolidWorks instructional manuals or books.

This first 200 pages, oh well, what can I say but skip it. The book is written like a blog. The book does cover a lot of information, not always in the most rational manner, but the author seems to be very narcissistic, and after the first 500 hundred pages or so, it wears thin on ones soul.

Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of material covered in this book, but it is presented in a fashion to make you reflect, and speculate on things that can open larger doors of contemplation without answering your original question. After writing this review, I have decided, No, I am displeased with this book! Has anyone heard of quality and quantity, plus the description states there is a pdf version included on the CD - I could not find it anywhere.

I heard good things about the Bible series, but I guess not all authors are equal. I found the book very disjointed and confusing along with areas of boredom. It reads more like a SolidWorks Help file than a quality text book. This is not a book for a new SolidWorks user nor for anyone that wants to understand and follow along. My book came with a ruined CD. I've been trying to contact the publisher for additional information. It's been weeks, no one home?

This is THE reference book that sits beside my keyboard. It goes beyond the how and gets to the why something is done. I can understand the process not just immitate it.

I also like the best practice suggestions from the author's real world experiences.

Lastly, the previous reviews aren't accurate and I disagree with them whole heartedly. This is a book worth having in your collection.

The book reminds me of someone trying hard to please everyone (long breadth) but falls short in numerous ways (wisdom). Do not get me wrong, Matt knows Solidworks, (he will be the first one to tell you) but after talking with other user group leaders, vars and SolidWorks employees, his opinions do not always follow good modeling practice. The book is weak as it pertains to: drawing, motion studies, Photoworks, Photoview, TolAnalyst, (most of the Evaluate tab components), Standard, Advanced and Mechanical mates (explaining them to the normal user and how they do not work if you do not create a perfect model as on pages 440- 442), Dimxpert, and any type of Add-in. It states, "Packed with step-by-step tutorials." One - two broken tutorials per chapter with little or no instructions does not constitute packed in my world. The good thing about the book; it's not written like a blog nor a comic strip anymore. I'm sure I will be hearing from someone on my opinion.

This could be a useful book if you have a year or more experience with SolidWorks and are not looking for a book that provides a lot of detail or hand holding on any single topic. I would not recommend this book for a beginner, as other reviewers on Amazon agree to. There is a lot of information provided, I'm not sure, all is needed to fill the 1100 pages plus, nor is everything covered very well. Example: I did not care for the Visualization Techniques section: Real view, Appearances, Apply Scenes, Scenes, etc.) and the MotionManager section. I thought it was more fluff than substance and read very much like a SW VAR course which I took last year and the SolidWorks help files. The authors writing style is not to my taste. My CD arrived damage, and I will either contact Matt or the publisher to address. At this time, I can't comment on the provided models.

Though not touted as a strickly tutorial approach to learning the software, the tutorials that are presented at the end of each chapter are sometimes not clear on all aspects of the steps to take to achieve the desired result, as a consequence I found myself "reverse engineering" the projects by opening the start and finished versions' on the CD, and trying to compare the two. I don't know if this approach is intentional on the part of the author to help reinforce the material, but it was a bit frustrating at times. Overall the author provides useful insights, and does not hold the reader by the hand, I believe the reader will retain the knowledge for a longer time frame.

There is only one way that you can know (and remember) evertything about SoldiWorks software and that is with this book.
If you use SolidWorks on a professional basis than you must own this book, without it your just an amateur.
Due to the downturn in Automotive Industry I am seeking SolidWorks work. Please contact me[...] if you could use some help.

You wouldn't read this book cover to cover. It's not a step-by-step guide. But if you have a question about a topic, go and read the chapter on that topic, and the answer has got to be in there. What I like most about this book is that it covers a lot of "best practice" topics. I haven't seen that kind of stuff in any of the other SolidWorks or other CAD books I've read over the years. The approach lombard takes is different from the basic college text book, and it's not a hand-holding tutorial, but it is an excellent resource of knowledge and real world based tips.