Rating: 
Summary: A relief for beginners
Review: After reading three other books about Flash I finally got to this marvelous piece of tutorial. For those wondering what Flash is, what it does and how to work with it, please buy this book. I was playing in the dark until I opened this oracle. In a couple of hours I started making things move in the web. Two days later I knew what I was doing. Isn't that great? This book is absolutely a must for those interested in learning Flash 5.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best-written books on Flash, with good tutorials!
Review: As a technical trainer, I had the responsibility to review and purchase technical books for courses. I have reviewed and own many publications, but few deliver.J. Mohler's book is superb. It is well-written, thorough and easy to understand. It builds a foundation, and then layers practical experienced-based tutorials on top of the conceptual information shared. Theory and practice combined. His examples are realistic and not overly complicated. I especially recommend this book for users who have been shying away from learning ActionScript or Javascript. However, the book is great for all users from beginning to intermediate levels. Additionally, I had the pleasure of contacting Mr. Mohler directly, who was extremely responsive. I thanked him for his attention to "keeping the reader in mind" when writing this book. As a parting tale, I just want to note that I was a longtime fan of another book series. I had lent a Flash book from this series to a work colleague. After reading J. Mohler's book, I demanded the loaner back. I stated to my co-worker, "After reading J. Mohler's book, it would be insulting to let you read that one, knowing how much more you will get out of this".
Rating:
Summary: it's the best
Review: As I've read the reviews of this book, I noticed the only people who didn't like it were either totally new to computers, and complained of the author using program terminology (even though there IS a Glossary at the end as well); or they were advanced ActionScript programmers who "wanted to push the limits" but ignored the label on the back that says "Beginners to Intermediate Level".
My verdict: the best book on Flash 5 out of many by far. Straightforward language, great insights and no useless stuff to waste your time on.
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Summary: Why this is the best bookk for learning flash
Review: Coming from someone who is highly interested in all things computer I have throughout my computer education taken note of several different learning types. There are those that want to jump right in and do "stuff" so to say without really understanding the "why" behind the stuff they are doing. Then there is the learner that never seems to grasp anything conceptually and seems so fixated on following exact procedures from books that when something finally goes wrong they are as lost as someone in the middle of the desert without a compass to guide them. Then there are the more middle-line learners, that do not take all forms of instruction literally but also seek to do cool "stuff" and can assimilate and integrate both kinds of instuction rather well. In Flash 5: Graphics, Animation, and Interactivity Mohler offers a rarity in computer books today: in-depth, precise, clear explanations of what you are supposed to do to do some cool "stuff" when you get your inspiration, and great behind the scenes "knowledge" to help you understand why you need to do what to do, to do your cool stuff, and how what you will do is essentially working. Since Flash is all the rage today most people are buying books searching for techniques that come from graphic designers when such people buying these books clearly are not graphic designers. If you want to learn to do pretty interfaces, and figure out how to solve problems through design then buy some graphic design theory books, but don't buy Flash 5 books simply because they offer neat tricks when you don't even understand the individual concepts that combine to make those neat little tricks. To really get far in that end of Flash you will unfortunately have to undertake learning programming theory because all of those tricks utilize programming and that is a separate monster of its own. This is clearly the book you want to buy if per say you are a designer who knows how to do the pretty stuff but you want to integrate that into Flash and want to have a comprehensive knowlege of the program that will allow you to carry out your ideas. Also buy this book if your a student taking a Flash class at a college or university because it is literally like having a "good" ( I say this for special reasons ) teacher beside you explaining the smallest details that are essential to understanding and knowing how to build a good flash movie. Flash 5 practically transformed itself from Flash 4 so much so that I was completely lost for sometime, and this book explains the the changes, future drops, and issues related with the new version, which is essential information for anyone that is going to undertake the time consuming effort to produce a good flash site. Remember that to even get good at Flash it helps of course if you got some graphics and design ( as it is a graphics and design tool )backround but like anything it also requires something called: Drive-Time, that and examining, and analyzing, and dissecting other peoples work as can be done on a site like Flashkit.com No one book will turn you into a super-flash designer or great flash programmer apart from tons of practice, but I swear on it this one will certainly get you far more than just in the door. Practice, creativity, and this book are more than enough to send you on your way to Flash mastery. Some of this books exclusive advantages include well over 60 excersices, in-depth explanations, basic techniques, and conceptual ideas behind flash movies. While there are only a few gripes that one may have if you are a critical reader and perhaps are a computer major, this is the best learning tool for flash hands down. If only all computer books were written this well and with such dedication to clarity. My2Cents!! Paul Soucy
Rating: 
Summary: Definately a book for beginners only...
Review: don't get me wrong, its a good book but, if you spent more than a couple of hours working with flash 5 and have a slight understanding of actionscripting, there's really not much in this book that will help someone whose trying to push the limits of Flash 5. More than half the book covers basic functions of Flash. Maybe I expect too much out of writers. If you're experienced with Flash 5 and actionscript, don't waste your time with this book. If you're relativley new to Flash or don't really have the need to get into actionscripting, it's perfect. This book doesn't even mention anything about the true capabilites of XML and Flash. And the examples of 3d are faked, there's nothing in here about developing true 3d engines or enviroments. Overall, I was quite disappointed with this book. After reading all the great comments about it, I expected a little more. Nothing against the author personally, he's a great writer, this just isn't a technical book. Macromedia has better documentation.
Rating:
Summary: Great for Beginners!!!
Review: Flash 5.0 GA&I is a great book from James Mohler, a leading multimedia specialist. The book covers enough detail for more advanced flash animators but is easy to read and understand for beginners. The book covers everything from the layout of Flash to integrating it with your website. Mr. Mohler not only shows you how Flash works, but also the intricacies of digital graphics. I think this last point is very important because it helps beginners grasp some of the concepts of digital graphics, which they can take with them when they learn other digital multimedia. This is an all-around great book for people interested in learning Macromedia Flash and digital graphics.
Rating:
Summary: Great for Beginners!!!
Review: Flash 5.0 GA&I is a great book from James Mohler, a leading multimedia specialist. The book covers enough detail for more advanced flash animators but is easy to read and understand for beginners. The book covers everything from the layout of Flash to integrating it with your website. Mr. Mohler not only shows you how Flash works, but also the intricacies of digital graphics. I think this last point is very important because it helps beginners grasp some of the concepts of digital graphics, which they can take with them when they learn other digital multimedia. This is an all-around great book for people interested in learning Macromedia Flash and digital graphics.
Rating:
Summary: Great for Beginners!!!
Review: Flash 5.0 GA&I is a great book from James Mohler, a leading multimedia specialist. The book covers enough detail for more advanced flash animators but is easy to read and understand for beginners. The book covers everything from the layout of Flash to integrating it with your website. Mr. Mohler not only shows you how Flash works, but also the intricacies of digital graphics. I think this last point is very important because it helps beginners grasp some of the concepts of digital graphics, which they can take with them when they learn other digital multimedia. This is an all-around great book for people interested in learning Macromedia Flash and digital graphics.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent book for learning Flash, esp. ActionScipt
Review: I am very impressed by Mohler's book because he doesn't just parrot the stuff in Flash, the way so many books seem to. I've looked at many other books that promise a lot but which in reality simply list the options for each flash tool that anyone can see just by pulling down the menu. Mohler tries to explain the concepts underlying flash. For example, he distinguishes two sublayers on each flash layer: this distinction helped clarify for me issues of precidence, grouping, etc. And I've learned some very useful lessons about handling user events (keystrokes, mouse clicks, etc.) in movie clips versus buttons. Learning flash is like learning a foreign language: you have to do the exercises as you go along. Mohler's exercises are always simple and quick and they teach just one or two points at a time. The book does not seem particularly intended for people who want to learn to draw pretty pictures, although I'm sure they could benefit from learning about flash's underlying structure. This book seems to be for programmers like me and for people interested in animation. So far I have worked my way up through the 7th chapter and skipped ahead on occasion. I have learned much more from this book than from Macromedia's own documentation or from the tutorials at flashkit, etc The only criticism I have of this book is that the index could be much better.
Rating: 
Summary: Finally a well written book with a great support!
Review: I bought Flash 5.0: Graphics, Animation & Interactivity by James L. Mohler, on Amazon after reading lots of review about this and other books. The thing that convinced me more to decide to buy his book was reading about the clear style of the explanations and the personal support given by the author himself to readers` questions. Well...it is all true!
The fact that the author is also a University professor is evident from his writing style. He leads you into the world of Flash 5, from the basics to the action-scripting, patiently and CLEARLY, with an extremely rare ability to avoid putting too many confusing details while covering, with the text and the examples in the cd-rom, almost every feature of the software. This is not a copy of the manual, with a simple list of commands and their use. It is neither a simple collection of ready-to-use clips nor a book about design with cool graphics but often superficial text.
It is a book that teaches you how Flash works! If you want to learn how to use Flash and Actionscript to design a website, then this is the book for you. Moreover James Mohler is a responsible author who cares about his readers.
If you have some problems with your work, or just a question to which you could not find the answer in the book, just write him an e-mail and he will fast reply with helpful explanation or even giving you the problem solved with an attached file. Great! The only "minus": the few color pictures could have been B/W like the many others and save some money on the price. Concluding, it is a very good book that fulfill its aim: teaching Flash.
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