Ok - computer application books are a dime a dozen and even though they look good in the bookstore - by the time you crack the cover, the reality is the first few chapters cover the basics, the middle of the book covers some good info … but not in enough detail to get you past the first roadblock (back to Google for answers!), and the final “advanced topics” chapters aren’t (advanced … of course they are “final”).

[1] Apress caught my eye in the bookstore today with a couple of uniquely titled Excel books (pivot tables and database functions). The books cut right to the chase and into the meat of the topic. No generic how to find the power button Chapter 1! Their website has the tagline “books for professionals by professionals”. The website also contains sample chapters, table of contents, and source code files. Great way to check out the details.

Books that caught my eye:
[2] A Complete Guide to PivotTables: A Visual Approach
[3] Excel 2007: Beyond the Manual
and [4] Beginning Python: From Novice to Professional which has potential application for writing data analysis detectlets in [5] Picalo.