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4.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent reference, but not a tutorial or instructions, Oct 9 2004
This review is from: Word 2000 in a Nutshell: A Power User's Quick Reference (Paperback)
This is not a manual for Microsoft Word, and that's a good thing. Like O'Reilly's other "nutshell" books, it is a reference, a place to look when you want to know what a particular command in Word does, or how it works. Those who review it poorly because it's not user-centered or sufficiently instructional are really looking for a different book. I've used Word for the better part of two decades, yet when I read Glenn's book in preparing to give a seminar on the application, I learned a ton about what the program is doing behind the scenes--which helped me understand and avoid some of the many frustrations I've had with Word over the years. If you're already comfortable with the program, this book will be a wealth of information. But if you're just starting out, try something else first. Track down a copy of "Word 2000 in a Nutshell" for later, when Word's idiosyncrasies start to bug you. The book isn't perfect: the complex subject of styles based on templates, and how they interrelate when merged with other styles, could stand some more discussion. And there have been no updates for more recent versions of Word--the book is nearly five years old now, and is starting to show its age.
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1.0 out of 5 stars
One star is one too many!, Mar 3 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Word 2000 in a Nutshell: A Power User's Quick Reference (Paperback)
This book is a waste of my time and money. I purchased this book to learn about using Word 2000. It is poorly organized and may as well be written in Chinese. It would be great for super chip-head computer geeks perhaps, but beyond that, a complete loss. I'll take $ .50 for it.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Just what an O'Reilly book should be, Jun 14 2001
This review is from: Word 2000 in a Nutshell: A Power User's Quick Reference (Paperback)
I didn't get this book from Amazon, but I had to write a review anyway. First of all, this is a typical O'Reilly book (unlike what the other reviewers say). If you want a tutorial book, try one of the other three hundred Word books that people put out. They are all simple hand-holding tutorial books. This one is a reference, like it says right on the cover. It has all the little details you'd want to know about any feature that otherwise you'd have to spend so much time looking for (if you can find it at all). The first three chapters are more than an overview. The first chapter gives you an overview of Word and shows you where you can find stuff in the book. The second chapter looks at all the nuts and bolts of how Word works. The third chapter shows all about customization and is worth the price of the book, in my opinion. The middle section is divided up into the menus and commands and it's very detailed. The third section shows some tasks that you can do that don't really fit into the menu chapters. To the guy who said the writer wastes time getting to the point, I don't know what you're talking about. There's almost know fluff in this whole book. Just details. And to the guy who gave it one star, I think you're problem is with the Word program and this is just not the book for you. This book is not for beginners. It says so right in the title (Power Users Reference). It doesn't teach you how to do simple things. It's for people who already know how to use Word and need a good, solid reference. Mine's dogeared all over the place!
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