Rating: 
Summary: FORMULAE & FUNCTIONS ARE THE KEY TO EXCEL
Review: A LOT OF MICROSOFT OFFICE USERS - EVEN QUITE SOPHISTICATED PEOPLE - TREAT EXCEL AS IF IT WERE LITTLE MORE THAN A JAZZED UP CALCULATOR. A KIND OF NUMERICAL 'WORD'.THE TRUE MASTER OF EXCEL TREATS IT AS A 'MODEL' OF HIS OWN NUMERICAL THINKING PROCESS. A TOPRATE SPREADSHEET TELLS YOU A LOT ABOUT THE 'THINKING' OF ITS DESIGNER/USER - NEVER MIND THE CALCULATIONS. AT THE HEART OF SPREADSHEET THINKING LIE FORMULAE, FUNCTIONS AND MACROS. THIS BOOK COVERS FORMULAE, AND IT DOES IT WELL TOO. FLUENCY IN KNOCKING OUT EFFICIENT FORMULAE, ON THE RUN, IS A VERY USEFUL CAPABILITY - QUANTIFYING THE FLEETING THOUGHT WITH A FEW KEYSTROKES. FUNCTIONS, OF COURSE, ARE PRE-WRITTEN FORMULAE, AND THEY ARE WELL WORTH MASTERING TOO. WALKENBACH DOES A GOOD JOB OF EXPANDING OUR FORMULA CREATIVITY. IT IS NOT FOR THE FAINT-HEARTED/LAZY. DON'T BUY THIS BOOK IF YOU WANT AN EASY WAY PAST THE HARD WORK. WALKENBACH MAKES IT EASIER, BUT HE DOESN'T MAKE IT EASY. HE JUST MAKES IT WORTH THE EFFORT. A GOOD INVESTMENT IN YOURSELF, CAN PAY FOR ITSELF IN JUST TWO OR THREE GREAT INSIGHTS.
Rating: 
Summary: This is a great Excel 2000 book
Review: After going through all the major chapters inside, I've learnt many techniques which I had never thought that Excel can do.
Most importantly, the array formula took me to master level of excel. I got 200% or more upgrade in excel.
Buy and read this book before telling others you're an expert in excel formulas.
Rating: 
Summary: Wrong disk enclosed..and without it virtually worthless
Review: Although entertaining.. the production of this book was obviously very sloppy... Most of the text refers to an enclosed CD rom .. unfortunately the CD rom attached bears no relationship to the book.. and of course the Web site of the publisher and the author are let us say less than helpful.
Rating:
Summary: Hidden things you thought Excel should do but couldn't find
Review: Anyone who is more than a casual user of Excel - PC support people, finance people, statistical people, etc. - will benefit from the secrets unlocked in this book. Ever wonder how to get Excel to calculate an employee time sheet that crossed over the midnight barrier into a new day? It's there on p 167, "Summing times that exceed 24 hours" -- and you'll never find it in Excel's help. Ever load a database that imports names in all caps, and you need it in upper/lower case? You could re-enter it manually, or you could use the "PROPER" function as described on p 94. This is not a book for beginners, but an essential resource for intermediate users who want to unlock advanced techniques and hidden features that should be better documented in Excel. Walkenbach has added a number of real-life examples of how to use these techniques (I did a lot of "oh, so THAT'S how to do it," while reading); as a result, the information is not only thoroughly presented, but a pleasure to read (though I wouldn't wait for the movie).
Rating:
Summary: Great resource for Excel Formulas
Review: As a mid-high experienced Excel user, I found this book to be a useful resource to round out my Excel knowledge with coherent and concise explanations of Excel formulas and useful examples. While I don't think this book is a great resource for the beginner, I think it is useful for anyone who's job requires them to use Excel anyhwere from 10 hours a week or more OR for experienced Excel users who want to round out their overall Excel knowledge. I particularly liked the author's ability to solve commonplace Excel logic problems with formula examples (i.e. finding the the number of unique experiences in a data set with a combination of clever formulas put together). His solutions and examples are clearly written and explained, particularly sections on dates and text manipulatios). Where I think the book has shortcomings is in its struggle to pull these great solutions out from the more basic instructional writings. I have, however, heard many great things about this author and look forward to reading other works by him.
Rating:
Summary: A great tool for anyone looking at advanced features
Review: As an intermediate Excel user, I was comfortable with writing basic formulas, simple conditional formating, pivot tables, etc. I've been using Excel for ten years, and was very familiar with writing formulas in previous versions, but needed to brush up on 2000 in my new job. I read this book nearly non-stop, from cover to cover, almost as one would read a novel, instead of a text book. Walkenbach writes in a style that is understandable, and presents outstanding examples and tips which will definately take you to the next level. There are so many useful examples that this book is now permanently located within reach on my desk top. The section on using lookups, and the section on array formulas were very useful, as was the section included within working with databases and dealing with advanced filtering - which may give you techniques that are just short of amazing. Drawbacks: If you're a beginner to Excel, this may not be the best choice. Furthermore, the book is not always logically organized; it can be difficult to find that example that you KNOW was given, but don't know exactly where you saw it. Finally, the last three chapters on programming with VBA would have been better left to a whole seperate book, as there was only enough detail to add confusion (in fact, I believe this author has a book devoted to that).
Rating:
Summary: Take yourself to a new level
Review: As an intermediate Excel user, I was comfortable with writing basic formulas, simple conditional formating, pivot tables, etc. I've been using Excel for ten years, and was very familiar with writing formulas in previous versions, but needed to brush up on 2000 in my new job. I read this book nearly non-stop, from cover to cover, almost as one would read a novel, instead of a text book. Walkenbach writes in a style that is understandable, and presents outstanding examples and tips which will definately take you to the next level. There are so many useful examples that this book is now permanently located within reach on my desk top. The section on using lookups, and the section on array formulas were very useful, as was the section included within working with databases and dealing with advanced filtering - which may give you techniques that are just short of amazing. Drawbacks: If you're a beginner to Excel, this may not be the best choice. Furthermore, the book is not always logically organized; it can be difficult to find that example that you KNOW was given, but don't know exactly where you saw it. Finally, the last three chapters on programming with VBA would have been better left to a whole seperate book, as there was only enough detail to add confusion (in fact, I believe this author has a book devoted to that).
Rating:
Summary: =¿An excellent resource guide¿
Review: As an intermediate user of Microsoft Excel, and new to the 2000 environment, I was fortunate enough to stumble upon John Walkenbach's Excel 2000 Formulas. Unlike many other books on the market filled with minutia , Excel 2000 Formulas is a straightforward no nonsense reference guide. The examples in the book are simple to follow as well as duplicate on your own without having to spend countless hours recreating sample spreadsheets. I am in a financial oriented work environment and have found numerous examples applicable to my everyday tasks that I was unaware of prior to my purchase. Bottom line....... a must have on any Excel 2000 user's desk.
Rating:
Summary: This book is a keeper
Review: As with most everyone who is frustrated with the pathetic state of OEM software doumentation, I buy a lot of computer books. Unfortunately, many books on the market may contain only 1 or 2 chapters of useful information; the remaining chapters essetially pap. Not too much different from musical CD's. On rare occasion I come across book that is well-crafted, coherent, and actually contains a lot of useful information. Excel 2000 Formulas is one of those books. I am quite competent in Excel but I still get stumped from time to time. This book has already provided me with new apporaches to old problems. I'll wear the cover off this book. Good job, Mr. Walkenbach!
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Summary: Best Book to Expand Excel!
Review: Assuming that you know the basics of Excel, this book presents methods to expand it to its fullest. With VBA you can just about do anything that a full blown language provides without having to write functions in languages like VB or C++. It provides many examples that will get you up and running fast. This is a great text for Excel developers.
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