Customer Reviews

Word 2010 Bible

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

 

 

After reading almost the entire book, I must say this book is amazing, both for newcomers to Word and old time users. And it covers almost everything. I know my way around in Word pretty well, and still, I became much more informative after reading this book, with so many tips and tricks, some known (for me) and some hidden.

Also, reading this book is a pleasure. I previously also bought "Windows 7 Bible" book in addition to "Windows 7 secrets", and while Windows 7 bible covers more subjects, I loved Windows 7 secrets more simply because the way they write, they're more personal, like a friendly teacher, making some jokes once in a while, and sometimes will talk about other stuff to give you better examples; Windows 7 bible on the other hand was very basic and "dry", too much to the point, way too serious, so I expected the same in "Word 2010 bible" as well. How wrong I was! I was pleasantly surprised by the well-written humorous language, I actually burst out laughing many times in the first few chapters. It was very enjoyable, time well spent, both becoming informative and laughing a lot in the same time.

This is a thick book, and in order to pack so much information into it the fonts are pretty small, smaller than other comparable books, which is a plus for the content you get, but can get your eyes tired sometimes. Also it is just in grayscale, I love some other books that makes things come to life with another color, like blue (Examples, "Windows 7 secrets"; "Word 2010 Inside Out", which is by the way worthless IMO compared to Word 2010 Bible, requiring you to have a CD inserted into your computer to do homework, and while it may work for some, I want to read my books away from my computer, like in bed, or on the porch, etc.)

Bottom line, I compared this book to Word 2010 inside out, Word for Dummies, and so far this book surpasses them all. Recommended.

If you are upset that Microsoft changed Word considerably in 2007 and want someone to commiserate, you'll love this book. If you want to go back 20 years when word processing was accomplished with hundreds of mind-numbing key shortcuts, you'll think this is a great book. But if you really want to learn the new Word 2010 paradigms, look for a different book. Take out all the references to keyboard short-cuts and the quick access toolbar (QAT) and this book is 30% smaller.

I must say that the author does do a good job of describing how "direct formatting" is dangerous and how styles can make things more efficient. But I wish more time was spent on how to set up an efficient process to achieve this in Word 2010. Instead, the book falls into the trap of listing a myriad of different ways to do things that just confuses the reader. After thoroughly reading the relevant chapters on styles, I still don't understand how to set up "style sets," how to use a table or list type style and what does it mean when a style is based upon another style. I can't believe that after buying a book that's over 2 inches thick, that I need to find these answers in a different place.

If you are a new user, do not buy this book. It continually recommends methods that are only in Word 2010 for backward compatibility. After diligently writing down dozens of needless keyboard shortcuts and reading about the good old days of Word 2003, you'll come to the conclusion that Word 2010 is hopeless and just start using direct formatting by pressing the most obvious buttons on the ribbons.

The author is very detailed and provides many ways to do each thing. However there is very little discussion of the basics. I'm only about 200 pages into the book. I got this because I liked the PowerPoint Bible but am dissappointed. The Inside Out is not available yet but I wish I had waited. This book is more about how the program works and not about how to use the program. For beginners I would recommend the Plain and Simple or the Dummies books. I would recommend the Inside Out books for more detailed explainations.