By David Hawley, Raina Hawley
First Edition March 2004
Pages: 304 (More details)
(Average of 5 Customer Reviews)
Price: $24.95 USD, $36.95 CAD, £17.50 GBP
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The tips and tools in Excel Hacks include little known "backdoor" adjustments for everything from reducing workbook and worksheet frustration to hacking built-in features such as pivot tables, charts, formulas and functions, and even the macro language. This resourceful, roll-up-your-sleeves guide shows you new ways to make Excel do things--from data analysis to worksheet management to import/export--that you never thought possible. Excel Hacks increases productivity with Excel and gives you hours of "hacking" enjoyment along the way.
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Book details
Title:
Excel Hacks
Subtitle: 100 Industrial Strength Tips and Tools
First Edition: March 2004
Series:
Hacks
ISBN: 0-596-00625-X
Pages: 304
Average Customer Reviews: (Based on 5 Reviews)
Featured customer reviews
Valuable for advanced users
Rating:
2005-03-18 07:30:04
Willyboy
[Reply | View]
I'm always looking to improve my Excel skills, and this book intrigued me because of the way it is organized.
The Hawleys have done a good job providing insights into common Excel tasks, especially list management and creative use of graphs. They wring some clever results from infrequently used Excel functions, such as OFFSET, and from conditional formatting. As other readers have pointed out in these reviews, the hack on dynamic ranges (hack 42, for example) may justify the price of the book.
This definitely isn't for the novice, though. The authors don't do much hand-holding, and if all you do is copy in their code and use it, you'll be missing out on the message: stretch, massage and manipulate these techniques, and others hidden within Excel, to expand Excel's usefulness and your own capabilities. You definitely need to be comfortable with the VBA editor - they give you the code, but with no explanations or analyses.
Incidentally, there are really only 99 hacks. Hack #10 and hack #25 are the same. But it's still well worth the money.
Willyboy
Excellent book - One working hack makes it worth the money
Rating:
2004-11-12 04:30:45
graemeaustin
[Reply | View]
I bought this book about a month ago as I was fed up with Excel's limitations - and I needed to know what would work on PCs and Macs. This book has saved me time (& hence money).
The 2 that have worked so far for me are Hack #42 (dynamic named ranges) and #32 (cell formatting).
I understand that the cell formatting one is probably buried somewhere in the so-called documentation from MS but I never found it. And dynamic named ranges have so many different uses, I can't begin to list them all - list management, more efficiently run macros using pre-determined ranges etc.
There's about another dozen hacks which are now at the back of my head and the next time I update more workbooks, they will come into play.
Beyond the Ordinary
2004-09-05 09:35:15
Anonymous Reader
[Reply | View]
Let me say this. You are correct on two points:
1. I should have been more specific in my review. I was excited by some of the ideas that were presented in this book that I haven't seen in other Excel text and let it reflect in my overly positive review. How awful.
2. You are horrid as is your overly critical comments.
There are errors in the book that I've noted online. I still find HACKS an excellent source for Excel skills that do not appear in other text. For example: Summing on Specific Colors (HACK # 88). Using the Match Function in Dynamic Ranges to locate the last "text" and "number" entries (p. 100 & 101). Errors are present in this HACK (#42 p.101), but the idea will still add to my knowledge of Excel and help me with future projects. The book is worth the purchase price, but I will be more careful in my "review posting" knowing there are people out there like you. I can thank you for that.
Beyond the Ordinary
2004-06-01 19:29:22
Anonymous Reader
[Reply | View]
Hmm,
People (such as myself) will be using your review as a guide. This is a bad review.
It offers no specifics (oh yeah - you're impressed. By what?)
And you haven't fully read or tried out the book.
PUH-LEESE:
1) Don't review anything too early (and this sounded like it was -- "Hey, great novel! I've read the first few chapters, and this is a great book!")
2) Don't use words like "fantastic" unless you back them up (you didn't)
3) You went through 17 hacks (no specifics) Then how'd you do with variations on Hack#10? I found it worked the first time, and then failed in unexplained, complex ways, such as when any tweak was used. Anyone who's tried #10 more than once, I expect has run into problems.
I read this book on a train without my computer. Lots of potentially nifty ideas highlighted & noted. But the first one I tried started screwing up almost immediately. (Thank you, Microsft) Second one worked.
Nasty note, eh? Well, this looks like a book that required a lot of work to produce. And the reviews should respect that.
Be specific about what was useful to you. Don't make generalizations you don't back up. Do finish the book before you comment on it.
I don't mean to be horrid, but I've read too many half-baked/sloppy evaluations laid upon the world at large by people who don't distinguish between chatting with pals and putting something out for the world. This ain't just talking to your dog; it's public.
No reply requested. And don't take this too personally. It's a standard problem.
-squerb
Beyond the Ordinary
Rating:
2004-04-25 13:13:49
Michael
[Reply | View]
This book is fantastic! I just made it through 17 of the 100 industrial strength tips included in this book and I'm very impressed. This will be an enormous help in improving my Excel skills. I can't wait to get through the other 83.
Media reviews
"A great source of information about how to make Excel work the way you want it to work...An essential resource for every serious Excel and Calc user. The authors have done a remarkable job of finding and bringing together this compendium of solutions. Exceptional value."
--Major Keary, Book News, 2005:1
"'Excel Hacks: 100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools' by David & Raina Hawley, shows readers how to do more, and how to do things better, with the market-leading spreadsheet...I consider myself an expert user, working with spreadsheets for over twenty years and teaching classes in Excel and 1-2-3, yet I was still able to learn a lot from this book."
--Bruce Kratofil, May 2004, Blogcritics.org
http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/05/12/124822.php
"If you are an Excel power user (or know someone who is), this is the book for you."
--Thomas "Duffbert" Duff, Portland Domino/Notes User Group, May 2004
