Special Edition Using Microsoft Excel 2000 [Paperback]

Patrick Blattner (Author), Ken Cook (Author), Laurie Ulrich (Author), Timothy Dyck (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0789717298 | ISBN-13: 978-0789717290 | Publication Date: May 13, 1999

Special Edition Using Microsoft Excel 2000 puts a renewed emphasis on realistic applications and uses of the program features. This book does NOT take the cradle to grave approach in coverage. You get the most focused content and value of the essential intermediate to advanced level coverage. Additional coverage of undocumented features, often ignored topics, and practical advice on how to set up a "designer" look spreadsheet is provided. There is no waste of space--or your time--on beginner level coverage.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If data rules your life, odds are you're using (or you soon will be) Excel 2000, Microsoft's revised version of its premier spreadsheet application. Excel's complexity can be daunting, especially if you're a power user who intends to use it at advanced levels. With Special Edition: Using Microsoft Excel 2000, you can get a jump on the new and advanced features with clear, concise instructions written by people who've been deep inside Excel.

Beginning with the basics, this book quickly moves to advanced charting techniques, interacting with other users and Office applications, Visual Basic automation, Web and SQL use, and much more. The screenshots and other images are sharp and appropriate, the indexing makes navigation easy, and the tips and tricks peppering the text will save you time and hair loss.

On the CD-ROM, you'll find a wealth of Excel-related files and applications, including Spreadsheet detective and Evolver, as well as the complete text of this book. If you're a serious number cruncher, you'll need both Excel and Special Edition: Using Microsoft Excel 2000. --Rob Lightner

From the Back Cover

Special Edition Using Microsoft Excel 2000 puts a renewed emphasis on realistic applications and uses of the program features. This book does NOT take the cradle to grave approach in coverage. You get the most focused content and value of the essential intermediate to advanced level coverage. Additional coverage of undocumented features, often ignored topics, and practical advice on how to set up a "designer" look spreadsheet is provided. There is no waste of space--or your time--on beginner level coverage.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 1088 pages
• Publisher: Que (May 13, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789717298
• ISBN-13: 978-0789717290
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 3.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,552,955 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is the best of its class!, June 3, 1999

By 

Robert Banghart - See all my reviews

This review is from: Special Edition Using Microsoft Excel 2000 (Paperback)

In "Using Excel 2000", Patrick Blattner sets new benchmarks for clarity, thoroughness, and progressive teaching of its subject matter. It is actually a joy to read its 1000+ pages.

I was probably a low-end intermediate user of Excel when I purchased the book. I started at the beginning of the book to refresh and upgrade my understanding from Excel 97 to Excel 2000. I constantly found myself amazed at what I was learning and there were several times when I actually felt drawn in to reading 20 or 40 more pages than I had originally intended to read at one sitting because I wanted to see what came next. Within the first couple of days of owning this book, I was committed to reading the book cover-to-cover and moving up to becoming a power user of Excel.

I have been raving about the quality of Blattner's book to clients, associates and friends and highly recommend it to Excel users of any skill level. For the first time I actually look forward to reading future books by a specific author of books on computing. Patrick Blattner is that caliber of a writer. I also look forward to what he and Que put on their respective book websites to expand my Excel learning experience

The CD is a gold mine of Excel Workbooks from the book, and contains many additional resources worth at least the cost of the book. My only disparaging remark is that Que choose to include a .PDF copy of the book on the CD with the copy, past and print functions disabled. A fully functioning .HTML version would have been so much more valuable. I got spoiled reading the .HTML chapters of the book at the mcp.com BetaBooks site before it was published. I used those chapters like I use the hard copy of the book by highlighting text and inserting comments, etc. and I miss capability with the .PDF and will therefore only use it when I am on the road without my hard copy. I am sure Que choose to do what they did out of concern for intellectual property protection but I think their logic is faulty and encourage them to switch formats in the future.

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, June 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Special Edition Using Microsoft Excel 2000 (Paperback)

This is by far the most uselful book I've bought this year. I consider myself an above-average user when it comes to Excel, and wanted to get a head start on this new release before my office upgrades. When I purchase a computer book I want something that reads easily, and explains the workings of the software in a coherent way. I'd bought Laurie Ulrich's books in the past and stuck with her for just these reasons. Blattner's chapters read almost as well, and I guess that's why the publishers teamed them up: they know what they're talking about, and know how to explain it. The best thing about this book is you don't need to be a rocket scientist to get something out of it. My wife, who's not a computer person, has been using the book too and feels it's one of the few books that doesn't make her feel inadequate because she's not a "power-user". What more can I say? I highly recommend it.

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars When trainers write, everybody wins, November 17, 2000

By 

"hargus1304" (Arizona) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Special Edition Using Microsoft Excel 2000 (Paperback)

This Special Edition Using Excel is the exception to my personal rule that Really Big Computer Books are boring and hard to use. This book is accessible and clear, but doesn't baby you. Having taught myself to use Excel, I had a lot of holes in my own knowledge base, and this book helped me master basic things (like setting up a worksheet, editing my data) and the more advanced stuff I need to do (like setting up pivottables, building macros, and adding Excel objects to other applications). If you have other needs, you'll find them covered in this book.

Now about that training ---- I am a big fan of training, and have taken a lot of computer classes, both live and online. I never got around to taking an Excel class, though, but after using this book, I feel like I did take a class. This is probably due to fact that one of the writers (Ulrich) is a trainer. The book starts with basic concepts, to make sure everyone has the foundation topics down and then moves through an impressive spectrum of Excel features, covering most of them thoroughly but not cryptically. I work with technical people and find that they like to impress you with what they know, but don't really care if you "get it" when they show you how to do something. Trainers on the other hand, want to make sure you understand before moving on. You get that feeling from most of the chapters in this book, and in the chapters that assumed more previous experience than I have, the foundation built in the earlier chapters saw me through.

I recommend this book to users of all levels, even "newbies" even though these NYC-Phonebook-thick computer books aren't meant for new users. The patient, friendly style is easy to read, but the book won't disappoint even the most powerful of power users.