Stephan emailed me recently, and asked what books I’d recommend for an advanced beginner and for an intermediate user.
On the Contextures website, I’ve got a list of Excel books. They range from books for absolute beginners, to specialized books on statistics and financial modelling.
Book Suggestions
Here are the advanced beginner books that I suggested to Stephan – do you agree with these choices?
You might find these at your local library, or a nearby bookstore
- Excel 2010: The Missing Manual; Matthew
- MacDonald; ISBN: 1449382355; 898 pages; 2010; US$39.99
- Microsoft Excel 2010 Step by Step; Curtis Frye; ISBN: 0735626944; 480 pages; 2010; US$29.99
- Slaying Excel Dragons: A Beginners Guide to Conquering Excel’s Frustrations and Making Excel Fun; Mike Girvin, Bill Jelen; Holy Macro! Books; ISBN: 978-1615470006; 532 pages; 2011; US$29.95
- Excel 2010 All-in-One For Dummies; Greg Harvey; ISBN: 0470489596; 792 pages; 2010; US$
Check the Contents
If you’re book shopping online, before you buy an Excel book on Amazon, use the “Look Inside” feature, if available, to see what the writing style is like, and check the table of contents.
The quick peek will give you a general overview of the book, and could help you decide if the book is right for you.
Read the Reviews
The customer reviews can be helpful too – both the negative and positive ones. Sometimes another person doesn’t like a book because it’s not for absolute beginners, and that might be a positive thi ng for you
. And there’s always the possibility that some of the glowing reviews were written by the author’s mother or friends! 😉
If you can get to a bookstore, you can flip through the Excel books there, and head home with a few that you like.
It sometimes costs a bit more than shopping online, but it’s worth it, to find the books that are best suited to your needs and learning style.
And it’s good to support your local businesses!
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For an intermediate looking to go more advanced I would recommend “Professional Excel Development.” It helped me take the leap into know how to program and knowing how to set up dashboards, etc. It was nice because there are so many books out there that just show algorithms, formulas, etc. But it was nice to finally read one that showed how to do things properly.
@Jon, thanks, that’s a good choice when you’re ready for the next level.
Microsoft Excel Data Analysis and Business Modeling by Wayne Winston teaches a lot of useful techniques together with accompanying examples. Great for a beginner wanting to jump straight into the use cases.