Rating: 
Summary: Good, detailed book for beginners
Review: I had never created a database before and needed to learn. I found the book very helpful in instructing me from square one. The book, however, is not a good reference tool. I also was frustrated a few times with errors in the book and in the examples but if you can get by that, it's a good book. If you're a beginner that wants to learn Access 97 or database skills, I recommend the book to you.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Good Book for Beginning to Intermediate Developers
Review: I have read this entire book, as well as the 3 "bonus chapters" included on the CD-ROM (in MS Word format), and (suprisingly) truly enjoyed the process. I found it to provide an excellent step-by-step methodology for developing Access 97 applications, with each of the major aspects (tables, forms, reports, macros, and modules) laid out clearly with beginning and later advanced sections and chapters. There are lots of examples to illustrate each aspect or feature, which I believe is a great way to learn. 1 minor flaw: nothing specific on the rules of data normalization (kind of brushed over with some ideas in the Pet store examples), which really is the foundation for all good database development. Overall, an EXCELLENT book for someone who wants to know everything about Access 97 without getting into serious VBA programming (which is where I'm headed now). If Mr. Prague and Mr. Irwin come up with a book on that, I'll buy it without second thought.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent reference-well worth the money!
Review: I have taken classes on Access 97, but was having difficulty putting together a complex database. This book has been a very helpful resource, and I would recommend it highly. I agree with another reviewer, however, that the software examples that come with it aren't the greatest. You can't manipulate them easily, which makes it more difficult to learn with them. But, overall a very good book.
Rating: 
Summary: Great for Instant Review Bad for Access in Depth
Review: I have to give the writers a thumbs up on the book for its intentions. It is a great book for instant reviewing and quick answers. Great book for Beginners and ones who wish to learn the Access Database Structure. However I can not give it 5 stars due to the simple fact of limited programming and when they did talk about programming it was skimmed over. I learned alot about this book when it came to structuring a database and implimenting its usage. But I like to customize the things I do and this all requires VBA usage and DAO usage and this book does not do a good job of covering these items. For what its purpose is I will give it a better rating but do not recommend it for advanced users and developers.
Rating:
Summary: Great learning and reference guide.
Review: I knew nothing about designing databases before picking up this book. This book is fantastic, it lays out the information in a way that is easy for people who are not computer savy to understand. It covers essentially everything you want to know about tables, queries, forms, reports and macros but only scratches the surface of modules/VBA. If your looking for a book that covers VBA this is not the book for you. After 3 months I not only learned Access but built a pretty savy database at work. I definitely recommend this book to all beginners and people who just want to improve their database design. Overall very pleased with the book.
Rating:
Summary: Great learning book!
Review: I learned Access 97 pretty well from this book. I would recommend it for any beginner. I had almost no experience with Access before this. It covers just about every topic, and has plenty of screen shots and step-by-step instructions. It gives a good overview of more advanced topics as well, including 2 chapters on Macros, 1 chapter on web pages, and 2 chapters on VBA. I'll probably pick up another book to learn more about VBA.One complaint though, the CD-ROM didn't coincide very well with some parts of the book. It has a great example database, but some instructions didn't work exactly the way they were supposed to with it. I think publishers should just put there files for download on a web site. That way they could be updated easily. Also, I like it when a publisher posts "errata" (error corrections) to their books on a web site. As far as I know...only Wrox does these things.
Rating: 
Summary: Carelessly designed and written
Review: I must preface this short review with the confession that I am using this book without the CD.
In any case, the material is laid out in a very haphazard way and does not build up the example in stages. In addition, I have noticed that a number of the components in the example are actually incorrect! There is a general sense that the authors put no time into planning or proofreading and rushed the entire book. In some areas the explanations are so bad that they lay the onus on the reader to derive the conclusions, where the conclusions should be made clear by the authors.
Rating:
Summary: Great book for novice users
Review: I purchased the Access 97 Bible awhile back and feel it is a great book for novice Access users such as myself. I needed to get up and running with Microsoft Access and wanted a book with good examples on building an access database. This was the book for me. I felt the authors did a wonderful job of explaining complex, technical topics so that they were easy to understand and comprehend. Unlike many technical books, this book contains many pictures and examples which helped me to understand the topics covered in the book. I did find some inconsistencies with some of the items on the CD, but a quick email to the author resolved my problems. They were very helpful on answering my questions with the book as well as other questions I had on Access. Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking to learn about Microsoft Access and building database in Access.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book for beginners and refreshers
Review: I purchased this book and found it very useful and practical. It didn't scare me with a lot of cryptic terminology and charts. And it didn't lose me in a sea of mind-boggling technical jargon I was not familiar with. It stepped through the building process comprehensively, for the most. There were a few glitches on the CD, and in some parts some of the exercises didn't seem to work or produced an error message. But overall, it was a good, comprehensive book. Not for computer gurus, definitely, but for someone needing the basics or looking to refresh, it is very useful. I had tried some of the Idiot's books on Access as well as a much more expensive copy from Microsoft Press. The Idiot's books tended to insult my intelligence, while the Microsoft Press book found me snoring on my keyboard. This one kept me awake and informed.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book for beginners and refreshers
Review: I really like the Bible series and for the subject (Access 97), it is a pretty good book. However, Access 97 is getting outdated and this review is whether or not you should upgrade to Access 2000 books. The answer is yes. Here's why. If you do not have Access 2000 and are thinking about this book because you only have Access or Office 97, I HIGHLY suggest getting Access 2000 Bible anyways. Access 2000 really hasn't changed much from Access 97, and most of the things that have changed do not apply to a beginner's book, which I would consider this to be. The menu commands and basics of database design, tables, queries, forms and reports have not drastically changed between Access 97 and 2000. You can get away with using a 2000 book if you are still on 97. Having said that, if you have either finished this book or are looking for the "next step" Access book to use after this one, please check out "Access 2000 Developer's Handbook Volume 1: Desktop Edition", ISBN 0782123708. It is a great follow-up, intermediate Access user's book.
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