Rating: 
Summary: Sorry sorry sorry book
Review: Adobe's books are generally poorly done, but this one takes the cake for sorry instructional books. It takes ambiguity to new hights. If you enjoy being lost... this book is for you! You should have a fair head of hair before starting this book for when it's over you will have pulled most of it out.Adobe should be ashamed for publishing this book.
RIP OFF
Rating:
Summary: Sorry sorry sorry book
Review: Adobe's books are generally poorly done, but this one takes the cake for sorry instructional books. It takes ambiguity to new hights. If you enjoy being lost... this book is for you! You should have a fair head of hair before starting this book for when it's over you will have pulled most of it out. Adobe should be ashamed for publishing this book.
RIP OFF
Rating:
Summary: CD Rom Problems-Be Warned!!!
Review: I bought this book on a Thursday, tried to load the practice files on Friday and they wouldn't load. I called Adobe help, who directed me to PeachPit Press, the makers of the CD. They have a "get back to you in 24 hours" policy, which is not very helpful over a weekend I was hoping to study. Monday, I left repeated messages. Finally got a call back Tuesday. A pleasant woman said she would look into it. I have called her repeatedly to get an answer. She explained she had to contact Adobe to work on the problem. I was fortunate that I was able to return the book. As of this day, almost 2 weeks later, no call back as to how to correct this problem. I assume they are still working on it.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't expect to learn program in a weekend.
Review: I liked the book and was excellent by itself. Illustrator is not a program or subject which can be learned in a weekend it takes time. This book walks you through the information step by step. It's frustrating at first if your a windows guy like me the set-up is so different in the Adobe environment. What's neat is that the cd within book works on either MAC Apple or MS Windows operating systems for the tutorials. If you can take a class in conjunction with this book and your learning curve will greatly increase plus lowering your fustration. It took me approximently five to six weeks to get through the complete book of lessons, but it was well worth the time spent. I was naive at first, that I could use book and learn illustrator 9.0 in 24 hours, since I have already worked with many other drawing platforms such as Auto CAD 2000. After learning the program I can draw like you would not believe its a very powerful graphic drawing program simialar to CAD. But is designed for the artist or illustrator instead of the engineer. I can design my own christmas cards, web illustrations, blueprints, and other professional drawings with ease. As my title explains this is not a beginers book, but a "course book" of 15 lessons take your time and work through the lessons on your computer and you to will discover the benefit of illustrator 9.0 for yourself.
Rating:
Summary: Don't expect to learn program in a weekend.
Review: I liked the book and was excellent by itself. Illustrator is not a program or subject which can be learned in a weekend it takes time. This book walks you through the information step by step. It's frustrating at first if your a windows guy like me the set-up is so different in the Adobe environment. What's neat is that the cd within book works on either MAC Apple or MS Windows operating systems for the tutorials. If you can take a class in conjunction with this book and your learning curve will greatly increase plus lowering your fustration. It took me approximently five to six weeks to get through the complete book of lessons, but it was well worth the time spent. I was naive at first, that I could use book and learn illustrator 9.0 in 24 hours, since I have already worked with many other drawing platforms such as Auto CAD 2000. After learning the program I can draw like you would not believe its a very powerful graphic drawing program simialar to CAD. But is designed for the artist or illustrator instead of the engineer. I can design my own christmas cards, web illustrations, blueprints, and other professional drawings with ease. As my title explains this is not a beginers book, but a "course book" of 15 lessons take your time and work through the lessons on your computer and you to will discover the benefit of illustrator 9.0 for yourself.
Rating:
Summary: Worst of the series easily
Review: I tend to purchase the Classroom in a Book series for most Adobe products, but I'll be steering away from this one. The Illustrator 8 Classroom in a Book was a disgrace to the series, and this one doesn't appear much better. A good chunk of the text is lifted directly from that last version, too.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I was looking for a tutorial to get me up and running, and after learning more from the manual than realworld Illustrator, I assumed that Adobe's own book would help me out. Unfortunately, I was sorely disappointed. If anything, this seems like a supplement to the manual, covering in more depth areas that the manual just skims upon. Much of the material seems to be a duplicate of what I've found in the manual as well.
Rating:
Summary: Not a reference, A course presented through tutorials
Review: I was so surprised to see this book being trashed by so many others. I found it was superb at getting me up and started with Illustrator. Many other reviewers accused this book of being a rehash of the manual; this is true. The book in fact contains less info than the manual, and is much less of a reference, BUT unlike the manual, it has tutorials which start with the fundamentals and work towards more advanced techniques (much like a CLASSROOM course would). I am a normal person who learned Illustrator using this book, and was never upset by any aspect of it. I'm not sure what everyone else expected their copies to do, they won't take out the garbage or mow the lawn, it's a book, try reading it.
Rating:
Summary: Not sure what it is good for
Review: I've just started reading this, so my comments are preliminary. The good parts about this book is that there is a lot of visual aids and a lot of logical steps for doing things. Plus, the author does a very good job of setting up hands-on activities for for the user to do. However, my complaint is that too much time spent explaining very basic functions that most illustrator users would already know. How to save? how to change the font? Potential buyers might consider looking at the advanced book first (which also covers Photoshop) or buying both books in combination. Otherwise, this book is for people who really are starting fresh and might not well experienced in Illustrator at all. Perhaps one of the problems is that this book duplicates the manual and the writer is left with explaining the obvious. That is why it might be good to find a book that explains the more advanced functions.
Rating: 
Summary: As good as usual
Review: I've read a lot of computer books, and the classroom in a book format is one of the best. If you're unfamiliar with it, it is entirely tutorial based. And excellent. This book includes 15 tutorials, all of which are worthwhile. The amazing part about the book is that is it is easy enough for beginners to follow, while providing plenty of tips, and techniques for the more advanced user. Definately beneficial to beginners and intermediate, and possibly some advanced users too. If you read the book, you'll know the program well.
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