picking a good book
~~~
Hi Miranda,
There are several good books. Go to your favorite bookstore and plan to
spend at least a few hours picking one or more books that suit you.
1. go to the shelves with your basket(s!) and pull off a copy of every
book on Access.
At each of these subsequent steps, eliminate books that don't meet your
criteria and put the books back on the shelves
2. open each book and see if you like the font it is written in -- make
sure it is big enough and clear enoug. Also ensure that the pages
aren't so thin that text from the backside shows up as darkened areas as
this will distract you while you are trying to learn.
3. check for a comprehensive index
4. now, open each book and read arbitrary sections from different places
in the book. Every author has a different writing style and you will
find some styles more condusive to the way that you learn
5. make sure diagrams are clear enough to see
6. check the pages for "white space" ... just as important as what is
written is what is not ... your brain will need to assimilate a lot of
information and good use of white space is important
You will now have a much smaller stack to evaluate! Books are different
types, some are step-by-step, some are quick-reference, and others are
more comprehensive and designed for reference.
Once you have narrowed your choices, you may want to use price to help
make the final decisions.
pick:
1. a step-by-step book that uses examples you can relate to.
Here is where you will need to sit in the bookstore and read for a few
hours to really find one with good examples you can learn from.
Personally, I do not like step-by-step books; but for you, I think it
would be a good idea. A good Table Of Contents is something to look for
too.
2. quick-reference book (if they have one, it should be a smaller and
less-expensive book -- showing things like shortcut keys)
3. a good reference book
pick one that you could comfortably read cover-cover as that is exactly
what you should do. This book should have a thorough index.
There are many books out there, some with thousands of pages. Books you
pick do not have to be on the latest versions of Access, you can still
learn fundamental concepts from lower version books. The secret is to
buy books that YOU can relate to and read! The number of pages and what
they cover is not nearly as important to how well you feel you can
relate to the author(s) -- it will only be a good book if you read it
<smile>.
You will find these newsgroups to be a great resource, some of the best
Access minds on the world are here. Build a database you have a need
for, and let us help guide you along the way. Read books, do examples,
then change the examples to apply to your practice database. It is ok
to do things you wouldn't really care about, like sum and average
numeric ID fields, or pretend your SaleDate needs to be verified for a
product (like a booking date for a hotel room) <smile>... practice
skills as you read about them and feel they would be useful to know.
There is no substitute for trying it yourself.
As you use Access, print out help screens you visit and put them in a
notebook
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
there are also several good sources on the Internet you can start with:
for better understanding of the basics of Access, read this:
Access Basics by Crystal (Access MVP site)
http://www.accessmvp.com/Strive4Peace
8-part free tutorial that covers essentials in Access
Warm Regards,
Crystal
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have an awesome day
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