Rating: 
Summary: I was forced to give one star but I really give 0 stars
Review: Even the Technical Review by the highly qualified Robert Rosenberg cannot save this book.I was wooed by the size of the publisher, Que, into buying this virtually useless book. At 1063 pages, there MUST be some useful information here, right? In a nutshell, this book is essentially a less-eloquent, less-accurate, puffier rehash of the Excel Help file, written in a confusing manner with paragraphs that editorially fight with one another. The layout of the book is difficult to understand and the typeface does not enable easy "digestion" of the overworded sentences. AND it is printed on very heavy stock. AND there are way too many screenshots! The first bullet point on the reverse side of the book says : "Manage employee costs with VLOOKUP..." Ok, let's start with an analysis of VLOOKUP, which is Que's number 1 selling point: VLOOKUP: Pages 297 to 299 go into detail of the function. About 1/4 of page 619 and 1/3 of page 620 discuss more. The writer of this section begins with an example for creating a Lookup Table for test scores, stating: "The table needs to be set up so that the values you are looking up (in this example, the test averages) are in the leftmost column (as shown in Figure 11.19) and sorted in ascending order." Anybody who has experience with VLOOKUP knows that the first column of the Table_Array *only* has to be "sorted in ascending order" *if* the last argument of the function is TRUE, and it does not have to be sorted if the argument is FALSE. Who do the authors consult with while writing function descriptions out? Most worksheetfunction writers want exact matches, and therefore prefer the logical value of the Range_Lookup argument to be FALSE. Why, then, did the authors start their discussion with a convoluted example of what a small percentage of worksheetfunction writers would utilize? Is that it for VLOOKUP, Que? What about using wildcards? Wildcard characters, which can dramatically enhance most worksheetfunctions, is not discussed in any of the worksheetfunctions sections, but is only mentioned in passing as a "tip" on page 518 in the AutoFilter section. One of the biggest VLOOKUP stumbling blocks is a #N/A - value not found - error message. Again, Que lacks on detail because most worksheetfunction writers depend on methods to suppress these error messages. Que does not supply an adequate way to do this, devoting a single sentence to the ISERROR function on page 989, with NO EXAMPLE. And again, the user is forced to rely on Excel's Help file for more information. Shouldn't there be at least one non-trivial examples of how to use such an important worksheetfunction in a 1063 page book that says it is "A Must-Have Reference for Microsoft Excel 2000!"? The above synopsis is a cross-section of my overall experience with this book. My numerous inquiries of the functionality of Excel have either not been covered, or been lightly glossed over by this book. I don't recall a single question I have had that has been answered by this book. Que claims that this book is for User Level Intermediate to Advanced. I don't think so. It is clearly for the beginner who doesn't want to use the Help File. The book costs $40, and is a huge waste of money.
Rating: 
Summary: Another well-done 'Using... Que' guide
Review: I bought this because I had previously found the 'Using Excel 1997' guide very useful--it seemed that 90% of the time I could actually find exactly what I wanted via the index! I used that guide to teach myself new functions (to me) and to enhance my use of others I knew slightly--but was continually amazed that I could find what I wanted in the index--something that usually doesn't happen. When I started using Office/Excel 2000 I wanted to improve my knowledge of some areas--particularly the Pivot Table/Charting enhancements. The 2000 guide has come through again--giving me the additional information I wanted in a useable way. And, the index, once again, works!
Rating: 
Summary: I would give it more stars if there were available
Review: I have been comfortable with Excel since the first time it was taught to me. This book maintains that level of confidence between the program and my experience. I sought after complicated issues and VBA and this book helped me quite a bit. I didn't pay attention to the beginner's section but I would say that it covers just about enough in the advance level.
Rating:
Summary: If you use Excel, you need this book!!
Review: I have been very impressed thus far with this book, it is logically written and full of useful knowledge. Recently, I had a problem that I couldn't find inside the book, so emailed one of the authors and she actually wrote back to me within 24 hours to help me with my problem. This provided all the convincing I need to know that the people who wrote this book really know what they are doing and stand behind their work. If you need an excel book, spend a couple more bucks and get the only one you will ever need. I wholeheartedly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: This book is fantastic!
Review: I really wish I'd had this book last year when I set up the spreadsheets for our organization. I did so many things the hard way, even though I THOUGHT I was an advanced user and assumed I knew how to do what needed doing. Now I realize how many of even the basic things I didn't know how to do properly. I see from her Amazon interview that one of the authors (Ulrich) is a trainer, and that's quite obvious in the book because the steps in the instructions are really very clear, and the descriptions of how to use the button or the feature or whatever it might be are really simple to understand without sacrificing detail. I found the coverage of taking Excel data to the web to be especially useful. The book covers everything, so I've got some great ideas for improving my sheets and making some new ones, things I didn't realize I could do. To the authors: A job well done!
Rating:
Summary: A great reference for just about anyone who uses Excel.
Review: I was given this book at work to help me teach myself to use Excel. I was originally put off by the sheer thickness of the book, but I've found that it's a great reference for any level of user. My assistant borrows it all the time, and she's a new to both Excel and to spreadsheets. We may never even read some of the chapters, but it's a great book to have around for clear explanations and relevant examples of spreadsheet construction and general use. Don't think you have to be a math geek to read it!!
Rating:
Summary: An excellent source of help for Excel 2000!
Review: I'm a small business owner in Southern California. I finally have an example of managing my employee costs with the combination of a Vlookup and a PivotTable. It's easier than I thought. Great Examples!!!!! A must for anyone in business! Patrick Blattner definitely knows how to make examples look great. Great Job Que!
Rating:
Summary: PATRICK & LAURIE ARE GREAT !
Review: I'm preaparing for the MOUS exam,this book has learned me the excel from another view,the tips great,It's an excellent book once you start reading you can't put it down actualy it's the best book on excel that I have ever read.I suggest this book to anyone both beginner and advance learners.
Rating:
Summary: This is the REAL Excel "bible"!! A great reference book.
Review: I've had this book for about three months, and I refer to it at least twice a week. The coverage is thorough and clear, and even on the general topics, I learn something new every time I skim through. There's something for everyone: for people who use Excel for accounting, for people who use Excel to storing data (I keep my bosses client lists in Excel), for people who use it for invoicing and keeping track of sales. There are parts of Excel I don't use, but they're covered in this book, too, and I know I can rely on this book to help me if I ever decide to use those parts. In my job I support seven CPA's at a large firm, and whenever they don't know how to do something in Excel, they ask me. I haven't told them how I know so much, but it's this book that makes me the office "guru" on Excel. I owe my job security to Laurie & Patrick!
Rating:
Summary: This book is the best of its class!
Review: 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.
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