Rating: 

Having read/studied “Writing Word Macros” authored by Steven Roman, I’ve been able to discern more accurately the meaning behind the phrase, “it’s all Greek to me”.

If it was my intent upon having read through this manual to then be able to compose macros for the MSWord program, then the purchase of this manual was a serious waste of time, mental energy and money.

I would hate to think that my life and/or my employment stability could be based upon what I was able to garner from having read this book from cover to cover. Needless to say, I would be simultaneously unemployed and “laid out” prior to either burial or cremation, at the funeral home of my choice.

I am not more equipped to construct a simple [or complex] macro from having read through this manual than I would be able to submit a resume touting myself as a “rocket scientist.”

I believe that the author would have been more in keeping with what was expected of this manual if he had included more actual, usable examples and/or exercises. I haven’t any greater idea as to how to actually apply what I’ve read to anything that even comes close to being practical with regard to the use of VBA or MSWord macros.

I equate having read through “Writing Word Macros” with having initiated the reading of a novel or the watching of a motion picture with the thought in mind of seeing it through until the end in the hopes of, at the denouement, eventually enjoying the fact of it somehow coming together and making some semblance of understanding.

I hesitate to even think of how “utterly in the dark” I would currently be had I not recently finished a 20 hour course on Visual Basics at my local community college.

At this juncture, I would rather take my chances with one of the manuals alluded to by Mr. Roman in his introduction as “…very slow paced, primarily by padding them heavily with overblown examples and irrelevant anecdotes…” or one of the “monstrosities” that programming manuals are apt to be, and walk away having a sense of having learned something, than to have spent the time, energy and money on a book where the end result was simply and unequivocally “huh?”

For me, from this point on, it’s either a “Fill In The Blank for Dummies” or a third party, albeit monstrous tome, published by Que or Sybex. This is, without a doubt, my first and last purchase of any book either authored by Mr. Roman and/or published by O’Reilly Publishing.