Basics of Structural Equation Modeling

Rating:
Summary: If really interested in SEM, do not buy this book.
Review: I have just browsed through "Basics of Structural Equation Modeling." Quite frankly, I am very disappointed. The title implies the book is concerned with SEM; however, SEM is actually addressed from Chapter 8 on, as explicitly stated by the author in the first paragraph on page 178: "This chapter presents the basics of latent variable SEM." Pages 29-173 (61% of the book) is spent addressing path analysis, with one chapter addressing factor analysis. Pages 177-270 (39% of the book) is spent addressing SEM. If I had wanted to buy a book on path analysis, I would have bought a book on path analysis!

Rating:
Summary: great book for those who find McArdle/Loehlin tough reading
Review: I'm a doctoral student in a longitudinal data analysis class and have really appreciated this book. I don't have the extensive stats background of some of my peers, and this book is very helpful as it explains matrix algebra, latent variable SEM etc. in a way I can understand. If you are struggling with reading the "classics" in this field, you want this book. (Of course, you do need some background in stats...at least thru multiple regression. It doesn't make SEM so easy that you don't need that!)

Rating:
Summary: Whatta book!
Review: I'm working on my Ph.D. using SEM. This book was very, very helpful. In fact out of about 20 books that I used, this was the most simple and easy to understand.

Buy it!