Rating: 
Summary: Inside Solid Works...
Review: I've struggled with a number of 3rd party publications on Solid Works and found myself continually frustrated in wanting information specific to something I was having problems with. I came across Inside Solid Works at one of the 'other' bookstores and paid full price for it. This afternoon, I check ... and there it was. A few months ago, I don't think it was. I picked up the others through .... I'm sorry I didn't know it was available. Free shipping included. I would have saved the {$$$}.The book is excellent. I can't say enough to encourage those of you wanting to learn the program to make the investment. A teacher, not a technical writer, writes it. I've been spending hours going through it, picking up solutions to problems I was having, learning other skills along the way. Very clear. Easy to follow. I compliment David Murray, the author, for doing a superb job of making certain that what he wrote actually tracks in real life application. Well done... Robert Yanasak
Rating: 
Summary: Good for learning, not so good to look up
Review: If you have to start with SolidWorks, this book is for you. It begins at the basics and moves up to quite advanced topics. This book is made for learning, and you better not leave out any topics, since some of the interesting features of SolidWorks are mixed into chapters where you won't expect them. Just start at the first page, and even if it sometimes seems like deja vu (especially if you've made the mistake of reading the SolidWorks online documentation first), continue to read (which is not to hard, since well written). Some of the nuggets are quite hidden, and you have to dig for them and better remember them, since it is not too easy to find them again within the 784 pages. I like this book, the information is detailed, so are the examples, and both is enriched with lots of useful pictures. I would give it 5 stars if the index would be better (a hint index would be a fine extra). Besides, the expected Companion CD did not come with the book ...
Rating: 
Summary: Less than helpful
Review: Murray organizes his book around a few types of design
applications, such as castings and molds. However, the
reader who wants to learn techniques for one of those
will soon find that he has to skip back and forth to
many other parts of the book to fill in gaps. Nowhere
in the book does Murray explain the native design
philosophy of SolidWorks itself. In general, this book
is useful only if one intends to read it in full in
the order of the page numbers. If you are looking for
a balanced introduction to SolidWorks, for a reference
guide, or for a genuinely application-oriented view of
SolidWorks, look elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: The best CAD book I have ever read!
Review: My background goes back to the drafting board. Since then, I have learned four CAD systems. Because of that, I have read many CAD instructional books and this is the best and most complete one that I have worked through.
When I decide to start into a book, I am expecting to get enough information from it to be proficient with the software. What I usually get is a "kindergarden" dose of instruction and have to find more books to take up the slack. This book actually covered so many features and in such a clear way that I have been compelled to write this review. How others in this section were able to be so critical, I cannot begin to guess. Other books such as "SolidWorks 2001 Tutrial", one with a higher four star rating, I found to be of the lesser quality I just mentioned. Hey, serious CAD users out here want a lot more information...we can handle it, trust me!
Some of the reviews here suggest that the book is full of errors but I did not find them to be significant and nothing that stopped me in my tracks.
The book is big and takes time to work through (three weeks if you are determined) but you will not be short changed by receiving "beginers only" information. The features touched on are many and could not be any clearer. If you have the capacity and desire and want good information on Solidworks, get this book.
Rating:
Summary: Great introduction to a lot of nuances in the software
Review: People who go to the SolidWorks user group on Deja News know Dave Murray as a regular poster who really knows his stuff; his book confirms the breadth of his knowledge, and does it in the same easy to access style that he writes with to the newsgroup. I had been a 40+ hour a week user of SolidWorks for over a year when I ran across Inside SolidWorks. Reading this book got me excited, because even after all of my time with the software (with tons of experimentation and late nights attempting to create 'challenging' parts) this book opened my eyes to a lot of stuff that I would have never thought to try on my own and would otherwise have had no real good reason to know. Every few pages I ran across a little nugget that increased my productivity, or encouraged me to try something I didn't know was possible. Though the majority of it will be review, I think that advance users will get their 50 bucks worth just out of learning a few things that will get them home a little earlier. (note to advanced users: don't expect to learn much new stuff about sweeps, lofts, or filleting. In depth details on these black arts are beyond the scope of this book) It's beginners, however, that will realize the greatest benefit. After doing the standard 30 minute jump start tutorial, I would recommend that a new guy put aside the tutorial book that comes with the software and instead spend their time digging into Inside SolidWorks. It does a very clear job of introducing the software (especially the mindset required for modeling with a feature based modeler), with a special focus on how to avoid the standard problems and sidestep the pitfalls that new users usually encounter. I wish that I had Inside SolidWOrks when going through the steep part of my learning curve. The big disappointment with the book? Like most SolidWorks tutorials, this book almost completely sidesteps the most challenging and potentially rewarding part of using the software: building parts in the context of an assembly (what is often called the 'top down' method). An extra chapter on 'in context relationships', good modeling practices when building parts from inside assemblies, and a good introduction on how parametric relationships can make or destroy your parts would have made this a five star book. Every user who builds from the top down knows the crushing pain of moving a component in an assembly and seeing the feature trees of some or all of his/her components turn red with rebuild errors (the guy I sit next to refers to this phenomenon as seeing his screen fill with blood); I would have liked to see the author tackle this complicated issue with the same thoroughness and competence that he approaches all of the other subjects
Rating:
Summary: Great for beginners
Review: This book and its tutorials are excellent for the novice, but leaves many unanswered questions for the true designer. I went through each of the tutorials after work during an internship and it brought me up to speed but not up to skill. If you're new to solidmodeling, this will get you on the right track. For students, not professionals.
Rating: 
Summary: this author only thinks about his $$$
Review: This book is filled with sentences like very straightforward, easy to carry out , "using the by now familiar shortcut", it is insulting how this "manager" throws stuff at you, omitting important steps so that you just can't do it. Also, the author preferred to just type and type instead of adding icons and steps, resulting in a book that looks like: "Now you could do this, but you have learned this earlier, so we can skip this, then you can do this and this or you could also do so and so". Then when things start looking like a structure you want to make, you are on your own again, i cite "by the way there is more than one way to create a spring of this type. If you do not want to use the suggestions here and have some ideas of your own that is fine. So how did you do? If you managed to create the tension spring, give yourself a pat on the back" Talking about a waste of words, and that is what this book is about. If fact, the "suggestions" he gave are definitely not enough, not even for experienced users, he is too lazy to write it down correctly and help you out. He is just sitting behind his computer writing this book babbling on, while sipping brandy, I presume, laughing at all the guys who work hard and earn less (engineers, NOT managers). Fortunately i can return this book within seven days.
Rating:
Summary: this author only thinks about his $$$
Review: This book is filled with sentences like very straightforward, easy to carry out , "using the by now familiar shortcut", it is insulting how this "manager" throws stuff at you, omitting important steps so that you just can't do it. Also, the author preferred to just type and type instead of adding icons and steps, resulting in a book that looks like: "Now you could do this, but you have learned this earlier, so we can skip this, then you can do this and this or you could also do so and so". Then when things start looking like a structure you want to make, you are on your own again, i cite "by the way there is more than one way to create a spring of this type. If you do not want to use the suggestions here and have some ideas of your own that is fine. So how did you do? If you managed to create the tension spring, give yourself a pat on the back" Talking about a waste of words, and that is what this book is about. If fact, the "suggestions" he gave are definitely not enough, not even for experienced users, he is too lazy to write it down correctly and help you out. He is just sitting behind his computer writing this book babbling on, while sipping brandy, I presume, laughing at all the guys who work hard and earn less (engineers, NOT managers). Fortunately i can return this book within seven days.
Rating:
Summary: Less than helpful
Review: This book is full of errors when it comes to SolidWorks 2003. Not only that, it attempts to present long involved lectures about the functionality that I guess you're supposed to memorize. It offers page after page of "how to's" instead of practice in real usage. One feels the author was too lazy to create a real world set of examples and instead loves to hear himself expound on his CAD knowledge (which sadly is very faulty).
Rating: 
Summary: Not Worth the Effort to Read
Review: This book is full of errors when it comes to SolidWorks 2003. Not only that, it attempts to present long involved lectures about the functionality that I guess you're supposed to memorize. It offers page after page of "how to's" instead of practice in real usage. One feels the author was too lazy to create a real world set of examples and instead loves to hear himself expound on his CAD knowledge (which sadly is very faulty).
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