Rating: 
Summary: Well constructed, written, and illustrated
Review: An excellent title for getting up to speed with Illustrator. I've reccomended this for all my coworkers who use Illustrator, even if they only "dabble" in the drawing software.
Rating:
Summary: A great reference book for a dummies book!
Review: I found this book to be a comprehensive reference guide as well as a primer. Invaluable.
Rating: 
Summary: I'm no dummy!
Review: I only got 2 chapters into this book and closed it with the thought.... Why not give me step by step ways of doing what you show on the page. This book just has a glossy overview of it's features, but the author falls short in giving clear steps in the process of duplicating the book examples. I returned it and ordered Adobe's book. I'm hoping it's better.
Rating:
Summary: I'm no dummy!
Review: I only got 2 chapters into this book and closed it with the thought.... Why not give me step by step ways of doing what you show on the page. This book just has a glossy overview of it's features, but the author falls short in giving clear steps in the process of duplicating the book examples. I returned it and ordered Adobe's book. I'm hoping it's better.
Rating:
Summary: Quick way to learn what you need
Review: I picked this up and in no time I was able to use the software. Dummies books have become standard fare in order to learn new products. Good work, Dummies!
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic way to learn Illustrator!
Review: I picked up this book last week and was able to feel comfortable using Illustrator in just a few days. I'm still not an expert, but I've been able to create all sorts of artwork using Illustrator tools and features. This is very well organized and structured.
Rating:
Summary: Went from dummy to expert in just a week!
Review: I purchased this book for my new student worker. He was able to go through the book in about 40 hours and learned the basics of Illustrator 9 in that time. He was able to start from clicking on the icon to finishing a drawing in this time frame. This book has even helped me in learning some of the new features in version 9 and I have been using Illustrator for 13 years.
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Summary: Fear No More!
Review: I was so scared of illustrator for a long time. Even after I took an introductory class at a local college, there was an unexplainable block. I purchased the Illustrator for Dummies book and could not put it down. It is straight to the point, easy to follow and full of humor. You'd be glad to know that like David, I've slain my fear of illustrator and I'm ready to tackle that elusive monster called Flash!
Rating:
Summary: Just what I needed
Review: I'm quite impressed and satisfied with this book. This book presents an excellent introduction to and overview of Illustrator 9. It is very accessible to beginners and provides useful information for more experienced users. For visual learners (like myself), the illustrations are a great help. It's challenging to take a complex subject and express it simply, clearly, concisely, and comprehensively. This book meets the challenge.
Rating: 
Summary: This is not a book for beginners
Review: I've been using Illustrator 8 for awhile and decided to pick up this book to come up to speed with Version 9. In fact, I bought it because the reviewers on this site recommended it so highly. Unfortunately, I disagree with the other reviewers: this book is a real disappointment. One thing I expect from a book like this is an overview of the various tools, but the author never summarizes the tools or their icons in one central location. Descriptions are scattered throughout the text. As you go through the various procedures to create artwork, he refers to these tools but forgets to show a picture of the tool he refers to. This forces the user to go through the toolbox until they find the right tool and even then, I am not positive because the tooltips don't always show up. I write user documentation for a living, and while the dummies books don't fall into the same class, I still expect basic information at my fingertips. The information on paths is poorly explained. Truthfully, it is a difficult topic, but Alspach does nothing to make it easily understood and this concept is the heart and soul of the program! In good conscience, I cannot recommend this book for beginners. Spend your money on something else.
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