Customer Reviews

Special Edition Using Microsoft Excel 2002

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Unlike lots of tech books which just take you thru the menus and cmds, this book actually teaches you how to use Excel's finer points in the context of real-world business applications. I found the explanation of pivot tables and the concrete examples employed to be the best I've encountered. The tips on charting have definitely improved the appearance of my reporting products. The reference section on functions comprehensive and something I frequently refer to. Highly recommended.

I have been using Special Edition books for years in my computer teaching. I was very dissatisfied with this edition and won't use it for my next class.
For example:
Numerous tables enumerate methods of navigating in a presentation, keyboard shortcuts. The header row on each table is incomplete. The titles on the header rows contain just a few letters, leaving the reader guessing at what the author means.
Instead of directing the reader to a specific page as the prior version's book did, we are left with see chapter so and so.
Organization Charts are barely covered, instead they are lumped in with other types of charts. Very skimpy directions.

I've purchased a library of guides for different applications over the past two years and I now own 2 Special Edition Books... If you want to go to the next level with Excel this is the book. It has detailed function, chart, and list management coverage and is worth checking out... A great book.. Thanks

Outstanding resource for functions, charts, and data management. I work in a large organization where data management is key. The 10+ chapters on functions with examples are extremely helpful...

We also have presentations on a monthly basis and the chart examples and chapters are analyst quality.. A great help and would strongly recommend. I've been able to generate one chart that actually is tied into all of our data so I can generate any report via a drop down menu... A great time saver...

Special Editions's Using Microsoft Excel 2002 by Patrick Blattner is well worth the investment. Working in marketing, I need to know how to use Excel. When I have questions, I need to be able to find the answers quickly and easily. This book is easy-to-use, thorough, and provides examples with descriptive text and screen shots depicting what I want to do, such as filling in a series, creating a spreadsheet with grouped data, and creating customized functions, in a business scenario.

This is truly a great title.. After purchasing the 2000 version I was interested in seeing new additions that could help in our business. Some of the new coverage I was extremely please to see.

**Charting examples and information that looks like it came directly out of one of the major news magazines.

**Multiple examples of using charts with form controls for dynamic charting

**10 function chapters with spreadsheet examples for every function covered.

**Great OLAP coverage if you're using Excel with large amounts of data

In summary. This is a great title with great coverage.

I have found other books in the Que Special Edition series to be very useful. This one has thorough coverage of the topic, but is extremely poorly written. The author's careless use of terminology, poor choice of examples, and lack of clear definitions and explanations makes what should be fairly simple subjects very difficult.

I was hoping to use excerpts from this book to supplement the text in a class I am teaching, but it is completely unsuitable.

I am very disappointed that the editors at Que did not do any kind of quality control on this. I guess they are just concerned with getting books on the hot topics cranked out. I will hesitate to buy any Que Special Edition book after this experience.

This is an extremely powerful guide to Excel. Not only have I learned about when and why to use certain functions, there's a time and place for supplementing PivotTables as well... Not being familiar with PivotTables until now I found out why they're so valuable. They save time, file size and headaches... Anyways, a really powerful reference that's easily worth the price of the book..

Tons of stuff.. With all the examples and functions I don't think I could have picked a better book.. Packed with charts, functions, and enough business strategies to keep me busy for quite some time. Our online business can really benefit from this one.

Would highly recommend.

This book is a great reference and excellent starting point for users that would like to be at an intermediate level. Blattner does a good job with formulas/functions, pivots, formatting, etc. He also threw in a few good tips. It would be nice if QUE would cover more VBA. They touch on it a bit with macros, but do not include the Object references.

I have always enjoyed the Special Edition QUE books and highly recommend them for beginner / intermediate users.