Access 97 for Windows for Dummies

Rating:
Summary: simple databases for people who don't often use computers
Review: The beginning of the book was informative and helpful. It defines the way data should be characterized and input (but NOT in-depth). I would not recommend this book for anyone who is trying to utilize Access for more than creating phonebooks and other simple databases. I should have read more of the other reviews before spending my money. The author used to many jokes to try and make the book seem less dull. But what do you expect, it is a learning gude for Databases! I would rather have had the book boring and dull with information i could use, than jokes and information that does not help accomplish my goal. This book DID NOT effectively help in trying to create databases in a professional environment.

Rating:
Summary: A great beginner's guide
Review: The book was an excellent source for the first time user to get up and running. It gave a good description about how a database should be organized and how to build an elementary database. Although it didn't contain a lot of in-depth information (it wasn't intended too), it gave an excellent starting point. I will be buying another Access book so I can get the "specialized" knowledge I now want. All in all, an excellent starting point (and the humor was good too).

Rating:
Summary: Really basic, weak for $
Review: The other dummies books I have read have been much more informative than this one. I was brand spanking new to access and it helped a little, but as soon as I needed to really do things with any power to them, the book stopped short. It is a brief intro into a wide variety of topics, it barely scratches the surface, I admit I am disappointed. Maybe not a bad place to start if you can pick it up fropm a used book store, and definitely don't plan on it being the only book you use for access, no matter how basic your work with access is.

Rating:
Summary: Enough with the jokes!
Review: This book aims directly at folks who have never used Access (or any other database software) before. For its targeted audience, this book is a fun read (even if the jokes are a little weak, it beats the monotonous tone of the books aimed at the veteran users). It gives a fine introduction to a complex topic and presents a broad view of many of Access' features. But it doesn't go into depth on any of them. The critical reviews I've seen here seem to come from people who thought this was a reference book. Far from it! This is strictly a tutorial. When the reader is through with this, they won't be intimidated by the book they'll purchase next if they need to do anything challenging with the software. Power users can skip this one. You newbies, jump in! (P.S. I teach MS Access to CPAs and use this for the class text. I have read a dozen books on the subject and could have chosen any of them.)

Rating:
Summary: A great way to start out; broad but shallow
Review: This book aims directly at folks who have never used Access (or any other database software) before. For its targeted audience, this book is a fun read (even if the jokes are a little weak, it beats the monotonous tone of the books aimed at the veteran users). It gives a fine introduction to a complex topic and presents a broad view of many of Access' features. But it doesn't go into depth on any of them. The critical reviews I've seen here seem to come from people who thought this was a reference book. Far from it! This is strictly a tutorial. When the reader is through with this, they won't be intimidated by the book they'll purchase next if they need to do anything challenging with the software. Power users can skip this one. You newbies, jump in! (P.S. I teach MS Access to CPAs and use this for the class text. I have read a dozen books on the subject and could have chosen any of them.)

Rating:
Summary: Extremely basic with too many unnecessary jokes
Review: This book disappointed me from the start. I bought this book the day I began working with Access. After reading the first 50 pages, I really had not learned anything very useful. It was returned.

Rating:
Summary: I can't believe it's ranked so high
Review: This book is almost impossible to read. 75% of it is VERY BAD JOKES. Not only are they not in the least bit funny, but completely distracting from your task. I wish I paid more attention to the previous few reviews before I went out and bought this. Doesn't IDG have editors? Who let this thing get passed? And how much did they pay Amazon to wind up so highly ranked? I'm sure they won't print that. I'm really angry I wasted my money on this book.

Rating:
Summary: Enough with the jokes!
Review: Too much of this book is taken up by distracting jokes and remarks. It seemed that just as I would get into some "technical" detail, a joke or snyde remark would throw the book back into the realm of uselessness. Further, I found the technical level to be very superficial - which is a sad commentary considering that I'm a beginner with Access!

Rating:
Summary: Finally I learned how to use ACCESS 97!
Review: Well ok, I admit that I didn't have an easy time with this dummy book compared to others. But database is something very new to me so I know I had to spend more time reading the book. I don't think there's an easier way of learning Access 97, all the other books seems to technical to me (needs knowledge in dbase, etc) while this book assumes you don't know nothing yet about database. The author catches the reader's attention by being funny every now and then. This isn't like other dummy books--you need at least to be a high school graduate to understand this one. :)

Rating:
Summary: Not very good,poorly organized and inconsistent.
Review: Windows Access 97 for dummies, if you paid money for it your the dummy. I recommend Microsoft press Access 97 and Access 97/VBA. They're much easier to follow.