[.ca] Macromedia Flash MX: Training from the Source (ISBN 0201794829)

good tutorial:
I liked this book and I agree with other reviewers that the typos are not show-stopping errors. Although it does breeze through the action scripting, it's not too bad if you're already familiar with JavaScript. If you don't have any experience with JavaScript, the action scripting might seem intimidating. This book is not a tutorial on JavaScript. I also agree that the website is not very flashy, but it does show you the basics and gives a good introduction to the various techniques needed to get started with Flash MX. What is seriously needed is a page of errata on the author's website (www.flashtfs.com). A page of errata would boost my rating of this book to four stars.

You probably want to look elsewhere.:
I'm going to try to write the most balanced and fair review I can. Let me begin by writing about what the author got right. First of all, this was probably a VERY difficult book to write. As an author myself, I have to sympathize. Flash concepts are difficult (because they're so intricate), the Flash interface is very difficult (because it's so intricate) and putting all the pieces of a movie together is difficult (because they're so intricate). This would be a very difficult book to write. Second of all, the author was VERY good about explaining how to perform each step, even after she explained it a million times. For instance, the flash interface is so difficult that you may forget how to center a a shape. Everytime she asks you to center a shape, she tells you, again and again, how to do it. It must be very frustrating for an author to explain things ad nausem like that. But for a topic like flash for beginners, it's necessary. The illustrations are great. So that's what the author got right. Now I'll go into what she got wrong. I'll give you the punchline right now, though. The bad outweighs the good. By a lot, considering the amount of time it takes to go through the book. I fully agree with deltatangou's review. The book is highly non-linear. It jumps from this to that, and can be accused of being very disorganized. She's meticulous in detail, but this kind of "from A to H and then from B to W" type of learning is not suitable for some kinds of people. I suspect that this book might be good for people who have solid memories and like to learn things "by the seat of their pants". Many artists I know are like this. However, if you're a methodical learner, and use knowledge to build on previously learned knowledge, this book will make you dizzy. You'll wonder "what the heck did I learn two chapters ago". You'll feel like you did a bunch of examples but didn't learn much. The book is "goal oriented", and takes a top to bottom approach. The final goal is some flash project about a virtual zoo. This only aggravates the problem. Again, top to bottom learning is great for "seat of the pants" learning. You learn what you need to know, when you need to know it. Personally, I don't learn this way, but perhaps you do. I find it very difficult to see the trees through the forest with this book. The only other flash book I've seen (and I've only thumbed through it) is the "Flash in 24 hours" book. From my percursory glance, it looks to be more suitable for me: it looks like it takes a bottom up approch. Anyway, I'm giving this book one star, with the provisio that perhaps there are people who like to learn this way.

So so...:
Bought this book by the title thinking that I would get hands on experience as the extremely helpful "Adobe Classroom in a Book" books but unfortunately, this book is too preocupied in following VERY specific steps to create a simple and rather boring site and does not offer the opportunity to learn about what Flash can really do.

Look for another training source:
First of all, don't be fooled by the title "Training From The Source" or the Macromedia logo. These books are NOT a product of Macromedia. This book jumps from point A to point G; and then from point H to point C. There is no logical flow of information that will help you build an understanding of what the author is trying to convey. I strongly recommend that you look to another source for learning Flash (and all other "Training From The Source" books; as they all seem to have the inherent problem of missing information, no logical flow, and continued frustration for the serious student who is forced to look to another source to get conclusive and comprehendible training).

It's good for learning the basics, but that's it:
I'm currently covering the book, the presentation of the material is straightforward, the author gets you up and running with a project as early as chapter 2 - granted that the degree of difficulty varies chapter to chapter. Again, don't expect anything more than a "tour" of Flash, more in depth books are available. The reason I started with this book is to gain familiarity with the tools of Flash, get working on a quick project, and then advance to other books/training sources. Overall, it's not 5 worthy, but I'll give it a 4 since it does a good job of giving me the upper-level details of FlashMX and ActionScript.