Rating: 
Summary: Delivers well written and concise basics
Review: Not only is this book useful, it has the added advantage of being well written. I picked it up after spending a few days wandering around in Books On Line and reading Erik Thomsen's book for some theoretical background. This book was a great help to bringing all the various aspect of OLAP objects together in the specific context of MS Analysis Services.After I purchased the book I noticed the one-star reviews given by two readers. They did not do anyone any favors with those reviews. One reviewer admits he did not read beyond the first chapter, and the other complains that custom rollups and unary operators are never mentioned in the book. Apparently he never got to page 105, where both are discussed. I think you are safe to ignore those jokers. Enjoy 'Step by Step' for what it is. If you want more on MDX, be prepared to buy another book - I recommend Spofford.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice walk-through if the examples fit your needs
Review: The book covers Analysis Services quite well if you are willing to go through the steps that they have for each section. As the name implies it steps you through examples and is NOT a reference guide by any means. It is also not a step by step guide that you can just read. You must be working through the examples while you read or you will get lost pretty fast because many examples build on previous ones. Their coverage of MDX is fairly weak unless you need exactly what they query on. Other than that they cover the topics pretty well.
Rating:
Summary: Great step by step book
Review: The book provides an excellent step by step tutorial for the Analysis services. It is good for those who can learn by experiencing with the application. It will not be good for people with no or low knowledge in OLAP. It is written in easy english and full with screen shots that help you read it even if you are not in front of your machine. I recommnd!
Rating: 
Summary: Wasn't useful - save your money
Review: The book skims over Analysis Services. Case in point: Nowhere in the book does it cover the unary operators and/or how to apply them to create custom rollups. Actually the term "custom rollup" is not even mentioned in the book (though it is a key term for Analysis Services). Knowing what I know now, I wish I'd saved my money.
Rating:
Summary: Lacks the Details
Review: The book skims over Analysis Services. Case in point: Nowhere in the book does it cover the unary operators and/or how to apply them to create custom rollups. Actually the term "custom rollup" is not even mentioned in the book (though it is a key term for Analysis Services). Knowing what I know now, I wish I'd saved my money.
Rating:
Summary: Good Book - but MDX is very weak
Review: The good thing about this book is the CD. However, the author did not do a good job on MDX section. It made me very confusing.
Rating:
Summary: NEAT BOOK!
Review: This author is able to explain complex ideas simply. Everything works! Not only is this author knowledgeable, the text reflects actual experience in using Analysis Services to do real projects. The topics are relevant AND the author's sequencing of topics shows great talent as an instructor. A beginner will not get lost. At the same time, experienced users will pick up valuable tips. This book should be nominated for an award!
Rating:
Summary: Very well done
Review: This book does an excellent job of covering the important aspects of datawarehousing and walks you through analysis services in a clear and sensable way. It is very organized and covers important topics. It is not exaustive coverage unfortunately but for what it is it is fantastic.
Rating: 
Summary: Analysis Services
Review: This book is very basic and should provide a good foundation for those people who are not familiar with SQL 7's OLAP or the newer implementation called 'analysis services'. It is easy to read, the examples on the cd work perfectly and the tutorials provide a good overview of how to create your own cubes. It's pretty thin and after reading through the first few chapters I found myself putting it down and just diving into designing my own stuff with microsoft's interface. It's a very logical application and with little or no resource materials people could easily figure this out with the tutorials included with the software. This is not a good reference book, though I'm at a loss as to what would be a decent reference book on this subject since it's one of those things you either know or you don't. MDX is VERY thin, and since you can teach the basics to yourself, a reference/primer book on MDX may suit you better.
Rating: 
Summary: Not what it needs to be
Review: This book shows some basic examples by mousing through the menus with a pre-cooked script, but the on-line tutorial does about the same thing. However, there are no explanations why one would select one option over another, no explanations about how to construct different cubes to solve problems and no explanations about the syntax of Analysis services. There is no overriding theory presented that allows one to gain an understanding about how to frame and solve problems using Analysis services nor about what kinds of problems can and can't be solved. After reading the book I have a high level understanding about potentially what can be done, but I have not gained enough information to build anything useful.
| 
