Rating: 
Summary: So so...
Review: Bought this book by the title thinking that I would get hands on experience as the extremely helpful "Adobe Classroom in a Book" books but unfortunately, this book is too preocupied in following VERY specific steps to create a simple and rather boring site and does not offer the opportunity to learn about what Flash can really do.
Rating: 
Summary: Look for another training source
Review: First of all, don't be fooled by the title "Training From The Source" or the Macromedia logo. These books are NOT a product of Macromedia. This book jumps from point A to point G; and then from point H to point C. There is no logical flow of information that will help you build an understanding of what the author is trying to convey. I strongly recommend that you look to another source for learning Flash (and all other "Training From The Source" books; as they all seem to have the inherent problem of missing information, no logical flow, and continued frustration for the serious student who is forced to look to another source to get conclusive and comprehendible training).
Rating:
Summary: Good only up to lesson 8
Review: Folks, this book is great, however, don't expect to get past lesson 8. Beginning in Lesson 9, the PHP/server tutorial simply fails to deliver. The author/publisher are extrement difficult to reach via e-mail (actually, no one ever replied at all). I've posted a request errata sheet on actionscript forums, macromedia.com, google forum, you name it....still no answer.
Buy only if you're not interested in learning dynamic content.
Rating:
Summary: Not for beginners
Review: For those who are beginners with flash, i don't think that this is the right book for them as it is a bit complicated and boring especially when you reach the action scripting.For those who would like to learn flash in a simpler way, i do not recommend this book.
Rating: 
Summary: From the Mundanely Simple to the Excruciatingly Difficult
Review: I agree with the rest of the reviewers who wrote that this book seems to have been rushed to put together. There is a (real) lot of repitition of how to do simple tasks; which I found to be annoying even for my first Flash book. At the same time, difficult programming concepts like ActionScript are crammed into a single chapter. I did get it at the end, but it took a lot longer than the recommended 2 hours to complete.
I think a chapter like that is great if you intend to use Flash as your primary tool to create an entire site. But if you are buying this book to use Flash as a companion to an HTML tool like Dreamweaver, then there is an overemphasis on the programming. (That is unless you just get a kick out of learning new languages).
Not withstanding all this, however, I must say the book *did* got the job done of teaching me Flash.
Unlike some other reviewers, I did not find the examples to be inconsistent except in one or two places. Besides, every chapter comes with a "Completed" folder on the CD; so its easy to check your results.
Lastly, I must make a point of strongly disagreeing with "A reader from San Francisco, CA USA " who said that Macromedia products are not intuitive. They are way more intuitive than .net or anything Microsoft has to offer.
Rating:
Summary: From novice to computer programmer in 12 easy chpts.
Review: I just finished going through this book. Well, actually I almost finished. I was on the last chapter and got so tired of typing actionscript that I stopped. This book is pretty good at going over the basics with some helpful tutorials, but it quickly changes into programming 101. I lean more towards the designer side of Flash, so I have no need to use actionscript to do everything for me. I know a lot of this stuff can be done in a much simpler way with less scripting, although typing out the code to do it is probably less time consuming. I can't say who I would recommend this book to. The first half is great for people completely new to Flash, but the second half is good only to people who really understand actionscript (and they shouldn't need this book).
Rating:
Summary: From novice to computer programmer in 12 easy chpts.
Review: I just finished going through this book. Well, actually I almost finished. I was on the last chapter and got so tired of typing actionscript that I stopped. This book is pretty good at going over the basics with some helpful tutorials, but it quickly changes into programming 101. I lean more towards the designer side of Flash, so I have no need to use actionscript to do everything for me. I know a lot of this stuff can be done in a much simpler way with less scripting, although typing out the code to do it is probably less time consuming. I can't say who I would recommend this book to. The first half is great for people completely new to Flash, but the second half is good only to people who really understand actionscript (and they shouldn't need this book).
Rating:
Summary: good tutorial
Review: I liked this book and I agree with other reviewers that the typos are not show-stopping errors. Although it does breeze through the action scripting, it's not too bad if you're already familiar with JavaScript. If you don't have any experience with JavaScript, the action scripting might seem intimidating. This book is not a tutorial on JavaScript. I also agree that the website is not very flashy, but it does show you the basics and gives a good introduction to the various techniques needed to get started with Flash MX. What is seriously needed is a page of errata on the author's website (www.flashtfs.com). A page of errata would boost my rating of this book to four stars.
Rating:
Summary: good tutorial
Review: I liked this book and I agree with other reviewers that the typos are not show-stopping errors. Although it does breeze through the action scripting, it's not too bad if you're already familiar with JavaScript. If you don't have any experience with JavaScript, the action scripting might seem intimidating. This book is not a tutorial on JavaScript. I also agree that the website is not very flashy, but it does show you the basics and gives a good introduction to the various techniques needed to get started with Flash MX. What is seriously needed is a page of errata on the author's website (www.flashtfs.com). A page of errata would boost my rating of this book to four stars.
Rating: 
Summary: The Way Training Should Be
Review: I looked at about 15 Flash MX books at the bookstore before deciding on this one (although I admit I couldn't find Foundation Flash MX which is supposed to be good as well.) This book is the only one I found which doesn't fall into the usual categories of application books: 1) Extended manuals which regurgitate what the program does but don't really teach you well, 2) Designer techniques which are for people who already know the program. This one really takes you by the hand and helps you through designing an actual flash website so you are applying basics skills to a real-world project step by step. Everything is really clear and well illustrated. The writing is fresh and clean and non-technical. It goes into every bit of the program that you need to do 95% of what most people use Flash for. It is setup like a training course not a reference manual and there is a throughline from beginning to end. Very well laid out with precise description of what you will learn per lesson. The CD has all the files you will need included on it and plus there is a companion website. Bottom line -- if you like diving in and exploring on your own this may be a bit limiting, but if you are a complete newcomer to Flash and would rather work on real examples not random feature explanations -- BUY THIS BOOK NOW. Well worth the price (especially here on Amazon) unlike alot of application books out there. I can't wait to get the ActionScript volume as well.
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