Description:
"A yellow cover slapped on a lukewarm regurgitation of common Office tasks." The Dummies Quick Reference series is the only good Dummies series knockoff, and with good reason: The books fill a necessary void. They look and smell like Dummies books, but they contain concentrated bits of how-to information. At least that's what the covers promise. The most revealing thing about this book is that it's "revised" by Bjoern-Erik Hartsfvang, which is the most interesting name I've typed this year. (Well, next to Sanky Winkervan.) The book doesn't exactly explain what was revised, so I was eager to determine whether any of Doug Lowe's familiar and clever writing snuck through Hartsfvang's revision. Apparently, and to my regret, none of it did. Honestly, there's nothing obscenely wrong with this book. It documents most of the major things you can do with the popular Office 2000 components: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Outlook, and Publisher. There's a general introduction chapter that explains many of the common Office activities. Then the book breaks out into chapters covering each Office application. Still there's nothing special. It's just average information bobbing in a sea of mediocrity. The topics aren't covered in real depth, which makes sense given the book's teensy size. There are step-by-step lists, but no inside hints, tips, or tricks. Often a table is presented as a solution without a real explanation of what the problem is. So, this book is more of a regurgitated manual than the kind of information I would expect to find. Despite the promise of Doug Lowe's name, this book is a disappointment. --Dan Gookin
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