Rating: 
Summary: Highly Recommanded !
Review: .... ok, as a Newbie to maya this book is kind of ' not so easy ' so if you know even few stuff about maya it will be good for you, if not read the Maya manuals and then order this book ! Anyway the book is really helpfull with all the basic and needed stuff such as: modeling, animation, character animation, lightning, rendering, particle system, soft-bodies, mel scripts, paint effects and MUCH more ! the proccess of learning with the book is really Fun. If you are beginer in maya (like me) or even professional this book is really helpfull and highlly recomand to order it ....
Rating:
Summary: A Great Beginner's Book -- Kind Of
Review: After reading the various reviews already posted here, I have come to the realization that there are two distinctly different kinds of beginners. One is people with no background in 3D modeling and animation. The other has experience with the digital arts, but none with Maya itself. If you are in the first category, then this book is probably not for you. Then again, Maya itself probably isn't, either. It is a very complicated program, with tremendous power, and this book is not meant to teach the basics of 3D Modeling, Texturing, or Lighting. It IS meant to teach the basics of translating your skills into Maya know-how, and it does that admirably through the use of a series of hands-on projects that allow you to experiment with your burgeoning skills.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Informative For Those With A Little Know How
Review: As has been stated in previous reviews, this book IS NOT for the beginner to 3D. This book best serves those with a good working knowledge of the fundementals of 3D CGI, as well as a basic knowledge of MAYA. Someone brand new to MAYA may find this book useful ... but it is definitely not a "hand holding" book (i.e. it does not take you step-by-step through learning every aspect of 3D work in MAYA). It DOES describe many of MAYA's features and how to implement them.One thing I wasn't too crazy about was the organization of the book. The first few chapters dive right into a project, with the chapters in Modeling, Lighting and Texturing FOLLOWING. Further, the opening project assumes you already know your way around MAYA'S user interface and tool set. On a whole, the book is a great reference to have in your MAYA collection. But it is not for people like the a couple of the annonymous (and annoyed) readers below ... who thought that they were buying a 4th grade "how to" book.
Rating:
Summary: INCREDIBLE BOOK
Review: Finally a book, from intermediate level to advanced users. However it?s a pity that this book doesn?t cover unlimited Maya version with cloth, fur and live Maya plugins. This book covers the basic features to improve you level skills in Maya. I also buy Maya fundamental 4 and that?s the best choice you can make if your are a intermediate level. So don?t hesitate if you?re thinking about which book you should buy with a tigh budget.
Rating:
Summary: You must have this book , indeed.
Review: Finally a book, from intermediate level to advanced users. However it's a pity that this book doesn't cover unlimited Maya version with cloth, fur and live Maya plugins. This book covers the basic features to improve you level skills in Maya. I also buy Maya fundamental 4 and that's the best choice you can make if your are a intermediate level. So don't hesitate if you're thinking about which book you should buy with a tigh budget.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book For *ALL* Levels
Review: I beg to differ with Timothy on the issue of this book not being for beginners. It is a great step-by-step tutorial book that is great either complimenting the Alias|Wavefront documentation or without it. I am a beginner with Maya Unlimited and have found this book to be very valuable in learning the quirks and operation of the program. Some material may be skipped by more advanced users (like those who do not need to be taught the interface) but everyone from beginner to the advanced will find something in this book. I would highly recommend this book for teachers of computer graphics to use a textbook if your class focuses on Maya.
Rating:
Summary: Very useful book
Review: I saw this book at a friend of mine, and i must say i liked it a lot. she gave it to me and i had the chance to read it. all i can say is that it definitely helps to improve your skills - it's well written, explains everything in-depth and teaches some things i haven't een anywhere else. if you're looking for a book about Maya, that's the one. go get it :)
Rating: 
Summary: Kind of a Dud
Review: I think the sheer bulk of this book was the problem the author was having. He over extended himself. He tried to write about too much.
The instructions are not specific enough. You can't utilize this book. Maya has way too many buttons to speak in generalities.
I want specific examples. What screen will pop up? What button do I push? How exactly is my hypershade supposed to look?
I think he knows what he is talking about. But I don't. Next time, pay attention to detail and do better.
Rating: 
Summary: You better know what your doing...
Review: I'm very new to Maya.. This was not the book for me. It's a great book if you have had some experience with 3D in general. There will be terms that will be used that is not covered in the book.
This is not a beginner book. So beware.
Rating:
Summary: pretty good overview
Review: I've been an animator/TD now for just over 7 years, and though I've been using Maya since it was PowerAnimator, I've really only used it for animation...the last time I dabbled in set up was back in Alias (I spend the majority of my time in Houdini). Anyway, I recently bought this book and read it cover to cover. I thought it was a good overview, giving pretty good examples of how the majority of the tools work. I even found the general interface overview useful...skimming it I found a handful of nifty tricks I didn't realize I could do. The character set up section gives the author's method, which is a good starting point. But realize it's not the only way, as trial and error are the best teachers. The UV section for mapping polygons is okay...I found the Maya Illuminated: Games book a good supplement, as it goes into depth where Mastering Maya glosses over. Take it all with a grain of salt. Some of the suggestions wouldn't fly in production, and the author's personal examples in the picture gallery are kind of embarrassing. Thankfully there are some real production examples included, for those who are new. All in all, it's more fun to read than the actual Maya manuals, and things are organized in a constructive fashion. One last dig: like the Maya manuals, Mastering Maya tosses the world "procedural" around whenever possible...and they can do it until they're blue in the face, but there's nothing procedural about Maya. It's as procedural as Photoshop, and history lists don't equal proceduralism. I just needed to get that off my chest. ;)
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