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I am a new Filemaker user and consider myself to be an intermediate database user. It seems clearly written and easy to understand to me. This book seems to present everything in a tutorial project. I found it very difficult to do so. I would give this book one star for what I needed and my learning style but I wish I would have had a book like this when I learned Access and SQL Server. On the other hand I found Filemaker to be very intuitive and found I had a fairly complex database up and running in a few hours. While everything seemed very clearly written and easy to understand, a topic was spread out over so many pages and situated in a large project that it was too much work to figure out what turned out to be simple problems.If you are trying to learn Filemaker and willing to go through the tutorials then I would look at the other reviews.
I ended up reading what seemed like a hundred pages and could not find my answers. Unless you follow the project along it is difficult to just look something up and fix a small problem. I would also add the caveat that I have only tried to look up 5 or 6 things. I bought this book hoping to be able to solve a few small problems as well any new ones that arose. I could not situate myself inside the project presented and figure out what I needed. Perhaps with more work I could make the book work but I found other resources that work better for my learning style. For a beginner to databases and Filemaker my initial take is this book is deserving of 5 stars.
Jonathan has a knack for explaining technical tasks in a conversational tone. Learn FileMaker Pro 9 is a great book for the beginner to intermediate user. I actually reviewed this book for a FileMaker newsletter, and I was extremely pleased with the content. If you are just beginning to learn FileMaker his friendly explanations will be a breath of fresh air. Jonathan also knows when to turn to others for advice on some of the more technical topics and brings in other FileMaker experts to fill in the gaps.This book will definitely help provide jump start for anyone beginning FileMaker.
He initially designs an elementary database, then adds more sophisticated features. (If you are beyond the neophyte stage, the book is self-explanatory without requiring access to a computer).The downside of Stars is that he is not the most articulate writer, so a few explanations are too vague. For example, most books defer "related tables" until halfway into the book because relationships are considered a difficult topic, but Stars introduces related tables in a very basic way in chapter 2.Perhaps the best feature of Stars is that he offers far more practical tips, including pitfalls to avoid, than any other book I've read.Stars explains how to design a database the way you'd do it in real life. Stars quickly introduces the concepts you need to design a truly useful database. Although the Missing Manual is thicker than Stars, it actually conveys less information because it consumes too much space with the mechanics of pressing each button in a series of dialog windows. FileMaker is well adapted for learning by experimentation.
His book is designed to be read while you are near your computer so you can experiment with his examples.
(One of the beauties of FileMaker is that you don't need to design an all encompassing database in one fell swoop.
Stars has far more practical advice than the first two.
Most other books (including the three mentioned at the end of this review) discuss each module of FileMaker separately and in the abstract, similar to the FileMaker User Guide, leaving you wondering how to get started designing your own database.
However, you almost always can understand him by context or by briefly experimenting with his examples.Stars is much better for beginning-to-intermediate FileMaker users than the FileMaker Bible, FileMaker Missing Manual, or Que Special Edition.
You can start simple, then add features a little at a time, and adapt existing features to your evolving needs).
He uses many brief examples throughout the book, so there is no problem understanding the examples if you jump in the middle of the book.I agree with Stars' philosophy that it is hard to learn FileMaker by reading a book cover-to-cover away from your computer.
The Que book is too difficult for a neophyte and covers only selected topics in depth.
Stars presents the same info more concisely, yet is even more approachable for a neophyte.
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