Rating: 
Summary: Don't spend your money on anything else
Review: Actually the title says it already. This is by far the best book on Flash Action Scripting I have read. In fact, it is the best computer related book I have read. Detailed and advanced, yet comprehensive. Though the author obviously knows Flash Scripting inside out, he's able to look at things from the student's point of view, to anticipate questions and to offer answers and explanations immediately. I am really happy I bought this book and you will be too.
Rating:
Summary: open your scripting mind
Review: after read this specific book on actionscript, a miracle is happen. Now i'm able to understand this strange-but-exciting language. Now I'm able to read other book on programing with actionscript.
True this book doesn't have a lot of picture, but please bear in mind that this book is teach you how to think, hear and talk in Actionscript language instead of how to draw picture in flash
Rating:
Summary: Feels like the book was written specifically for me.
Review: I chose "ActionScript in Action" because I felt like it was best suited to someone with my experience: a beginner with a basic understanding of Flash 5. Even though the book teaches in a way that people new to programming can follow, the author is able to present a tremendous amount of ActionScript information effectively without treating me like I am a child. His lessons are easy to understand, paced very well, and leave you with a real sense of accomplishment when completed (For example, in Chapter 3, the author has you actually create a simple shooter-type space game).The book also includes a CD containing all of the files for you to work with during the lessons. The graphics are created for you, so you can jump right into the coding parts without having to spend extra time creating your own graphics (this is a programming book, after all) or settle for making circles and squares move around interactively. Overall, this is an excellent book. I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: easy to follow tutorial
Review: I really like this book because the author leads the reader step by step and he gives lots of examples. The appendix part at the end of the book is very helpful. Although there are parts that are not-so clear, if you follow it through it'll be clear at the end. I would definitely recommend this book for somebody who just started using actionscript.
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Summary: Perfect for this designer
Review: I'll be honest - I bought this book because I flipped through it in the bookstore and it had the best illustrations. However, I've been totally impressed with the author's explanations of ActionScript - it's so well-written that I felt like the author was in the room with me, just chatting. I'm new to programming, but it was so easy to learn that within a few days I was combining Flash and XML without any problems! Incredible. I even emailed the author with a question and he emailed me back within a day! Damn, I hope this Livingston guy writes more.
Rating:
Summary: A Flash 5 ActionScript Book to replace all others!
Review: I've been developing and designing in Flash for over a year and a half and have built a small library of books on the subject, but Advanced Flash 5 ActionScript In Action by Dan Livingston is the only book that covers it all in a clear and straightforward manner; every block of code presented is explained in such detail and clarity the one can not help but learn. This is also one of the very few books out there that uses "real" examples, not just shapes, such as an online store and games. Even without the CD-ROM with all of the source files (invaluable in-and-of-itself) this book presents each example in such a way the one can not help but understand what is going on and how it all works. The ActionScript reference guide is the most comprehensive and useful one I have come across and will be the only one I return to again and again as it not only explains all the different bits and pieces of ActionScript, it presents clear examples and offers up "real-world" uses for them as well. Buy this book if you want to lear ActionScript, you won't be sorry.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent way of learning actionscript.
Review: Like having an instructor walk you through with examples.
Rating: 
Summary: Good reference guide
Review: Livingston does a good job of introducing action script to those who have had little previous exposure to it. In particular, his examples tend to be interesting. I agree with him in that to get to know action script well its best to use expert mode so that all of the scripting must be typed in--though it can be a lot of typing. The one thing that keeps this from being a great book is that in the last two-thirds of the book the examples can be tricky and the example fla's on the CD are not necessarily in the state the book places them in--most of the time they have stuff that you won't learn about until later so it interferes with the current example. I was particuliarly disappointed with the 4th chapter that the author states is the hardest, yet the major example is mixed up...I finally skipped it.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent example based book
Review: Of the books I've read regarding Actionscript programming, there have been none who have really concise and down to earth examples (not to mention the necessary WORKING code) to make you really understand the why and how of things. This books takes you by the hand, from the most simple examples like instances and simple interactivity, to some really hair raising works of art. This is all done gradually, letting you work at your own pace, which is quite nice for most of us. Don't like to read the newbie stuff? Then just skip a few pages and get immersed into a completely different subject, all taken from examples included in the CD ROM with the book. In my opinion, this book really helped me understand a lot of things which were not really self explanatory, including the Actionscript manual included with Flash 5. So, if you want to learn ACTIONSCRIPT, then buy the book. If you want to learn how to USE FLASH, then buy another book, or use the manual included with the software. THIS IS A PROGRAMMING BOOK, not a design or user's guide to Flash 5.
Rating: 
Summary: YUCK
Review: OK - I like "HOW TO" books and I like simple easy to understand things WITH LOTS of pictures? WHY? Because this is a GRAPHICS PROGRAM! Show me how it works and how it is supposed to look! This won't do that - I am already in school so I don't want to STUDY TECHNICAL JOURNALS to get FLASH!
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