SolidWorks for Designers Release 2004

Rating:
Summary: Not letting us buy books
Review: Hi, I am a common user of SolidWorks software and amazon being the major bookstore, I looked for the books here. I wanted to buy a book on SolidWorks 2003 and 2004. But somehow I see some similar kind of 1 star reviews on most of the SolidWorks 2003 books and this 2004 book. Its seems that there is a person around who is posting these reviews for some 2003 books as well as for this book to make sure somehow people dont buy books at all. These reviews are so similar in nature (check the 1 star reivews for this book and those on Planchard's books and tickoo's 2003 book). I bought this book as well as Planchard's book and I did not find any problem as mentioned in these reviews. There is a review that says that the graphics in this book are terrible, but I find them one of the best. The Planchard's books are not bad either. They surely teach whatever they are supposed to.

I thought it as my duty to inform the amazon buyers about this person who is writing 1 star reivews for all the books so that they could ignore these 1 star reivews. I hope I was of some help to these buyers.

Rating:
Summary: The BEST buy
Review: I am a new user of SolidWorks, approximately 14 months. Before I used Pro/E, five years. I purchased this book by Sham. I also purchased a SolidWorks 2003 book by Planchard and Planchard. I wanted to learn SolidWorks and to understand the differences between 2003 and 2004. My company will eventual move to 2004.

I read reviews on this book; some good and some not so good. In general the book is OK. Nothing great, "not a five star book", but not a one star. The graphics are fine, but I did fine a few mistakes in the menus, and screen shots that are common for 2003. I did you use any of the supplementary materials.

I not sure if the 2004 information is correct until we switch. The book does assume that you have previous knowledge of design and jumps from a to z in numerous locations. It is not a step by step book.

I question Sham's five star ratings. They sound like he walks on water, also read his reviews on his Pro/E books, in my opinion this is not a five star.

I agree with another reviewer that there is someone out there that is writing bad reviews for both Sham and Planchard. Each book has its strengths. I purchased a few of the Planchard and Planchard books and was very happy in certain areas.

Rating:
Summary: What do you get for $69 ?
Review: I am a new user of SolidWorks, approximately 14 months. Before I used Pro/E, five years. I purchased this book by Sham. I also purchased a SolidWorks 2003 book by Planchard and Planchard. I wanted to learn SolidWorks and to understand the differences between 2003 and 2004. My company will eventual move to 2004.

I read reviews on this book; some good and some not so good. In general the book is OK. Nothing great, "not a five star book", but not a one star. The graphics are fine, but I did fine a few mistakes in the menus, and screen shots that are common for 2003. I did you use any of the supplementary materials.

I not sure if the 2004 information is correct until we switch. The book does assume that you have previous knowledge of design and jumps from a to z in numerous locations. It is not a step by step book.

I question Sham's five star ratings. They sound like he walks on water, also read his reviews on his Pro/E books, in my opinion this is not a five star.

I agree with another reviewer that there is someone out there that is writing bad reviews for both Sham and Planchard. Each book has its strengths. I purchased a few of the Planchard and Planchard books and was very happy in certain areas.

Rating:
Summary: A good buy!
Review: I got hold of this book recently and was amazed by the quality of book the author has produced on SolidWorks 2004.

This book has helped me a lot in learning SolidWorks 2004. The blend of graphics and text helps the reader to learn SolidWorks 2004 efficiently.

Yes, the free learning material that comes with this book is very helpful. I recommend this book to all the SolidWorks users.

Rating:
Summary: good way to learn
Review: I like the tutorials in this book... learned a lot from them. Tips also help in additional knowledge. In all a good reference book to learn solid works 2004.

Rating:
Summary: Using it without any problem
Review: I must have been among the first batch of buyers of this book because I received it in the second week of November. Since then, I am using this book day in and day out without any problem. In fact, I rate this book among the top few books I have read. The method of using automatic mirroring that I learnt from this book has increased my productivity because most of the components that I design require that technique. Then I received the learning resources like drawings, answers to exercises, etc from the publisher. This made this book without any doubt the best book I have ever read.

But what I see on amazon is that as soon as someone writes a good review about this book, someone else writes a 1 or 2 star review, which is totally fake. I can bet the person writing these 1 or 2 star reviews has not even seen this book, forget about reading it. Well... I cant do anything about it, but I wanted to write a review so that I could express my views about this book. I really liked this book and am sure everyone who uses this book will learn a lot from it. Take my words on it!!!

Rating:
Summary: A good buy!
Review: I question book reviews from Sham. Sham created an 800 page book of questionable information. The book is filled with gaps, miss spellings, menu and command mistakes, etc.

Sham does not even explain the native design philosophy of SolidWorks itself. If you are looking for a balanced introduction to SolidWorks, or for a reference guide, do not buy this book.

Rating:
Summary: ***Great book from beginner to advance, FULL REVIEW***
Review: Much like most of you, I was very skeptical about chosing this book. I usually try to base my opinions on previous reviews, however I noticed that some very not very happy with the book. I took the risk and bought it. I am currently in my last semester of Mechanical Engineering technology here in Montreal. The book itself is aimed at people with no previous knowledge of the software to advanced users, as it goes from learning basic 2D sketches from scratch to complex 3D Assemblies. One thing I did not like however is that the author would go on explaining examples in words and lacked some key illustrations in the tutorials. For example he would say Draw a line from the outer arc without specifying which one, meanwhile there are 3 outer arcs. That sort of thing. Some more illustrations would have been helpful. The other thing I found, it is a BIG plus to have previous experience with autocad and / or drafting knowledge. The author automatically assumes you have a certain knowledge such as "what a datum is" and such. However if your patient, things are fairly well explained however there is some repetition. The reader quickly realises that solidworks truly is a powerful program and that possibilities are endless. There are examples at the end of each chapter as well as theory review questions to help out. The examples themselves are quite good, and ALL the material learnt in that chapter goes into them. Now for those of you who haved previously used previous versions of Soliworks, what I liked is that the author would put a note wherever there were new features of 2004. Overall, I was happy with this book, there is a lot of knowledge you can learn for 70$. Keep in mind, I do recommend most of you freshen up on your engineering terms if you've been out of the field for THAT long as it is a big help in understanding key parts of the book. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me on MSN under [e-mail] . Hope this helps some of you make your choice.

Rating:
Summary: A negative star book
Review: Sham Tickoo should stop writting books. Sham organizes the book around a few types of design projects. This is one of the most terrible books I have ever seen in my entire life.

This is why there are used books on Amazon. The graphics and text are terrible. Why to people buy his books? Do no make the same mistake that I did!

Rating:
Summary: Not for a new user. I am a new user.
Review: The SolidWorks for Desingers 2004 book is a good book, I think for advance users. I am not sure. I am a new user. I am using SolidWorks for 3 months. My company moved from Pro/E to Solidworks. Good move. [...] I am concern with learning SolidWorks quickly. [...]

The book is filled with pictures and figures, but I do not understand the commands and layout. The book is not helping me with explaining the terms, commands, menus and layout. The exercises do not make sense and I have located mistakes in the book. [...] I am sure that Professor Tickoo book will increase my knowledge, once I understand how to use it.