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AutoCAD 2004 for Dummies Review by Mark Middlebrook
...to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous criticism!
Are we looking at the same book?! At the risk of sounding like the defensive, whiny author (again!), I humbly submit:
A reader from Mc Lean, VA writes: "I picked up the manual that came with AutoCAD. The manual that came with the software was better than this book!" That's strange, since AutoCAD 2004 doesn't come with a printed manual.
wizard621 from Denver, CO writes: "There are so many typos, grammatical errors and mismatches between the examples and the software...." That's strange, too, since I recently went through the book in order to correct errors in preparation for a new printing. I found exactly five misspellings, no grammatical errors, and a handful of places where the description didn't match the software.
sbruce28 from Sandston, Virginia writes: "Doesn't anyone proof read [sic] anymore?" Yes, I do, the copy editor does, and the proofreader does. This kind of criticism is suspect when it comes from someone who doesn't realize that the verb is spelled "proofread" and who spells "AutoCAD" two different ways, both incorrect, in the same sentence.
I will agree that this book expects readers to be somewhat familiar with a few basic drafting concepts - such as scale, the representation of three-dimensional objects on two-dimensional sheets of paper, and how real-world objects are shown on (printed) technical drawings. If you don't understand or aren't willing to learn a little bit about how technical drawings are presented in your industry, then you probably aren't ready to use a CAD program.
In fact, several parts of the book review basic drafting concepts and connect them to corresponding AutoCAD concepts and practices. For example, Chapter 3 explains how drawing scale (a fundamental drafting concept) relates to drawing scale factor (an essential CAD concept). And Chapter 12 describes how many AutoCAD drafters represent printed lineweights (drafting) with object colors on the screen (CAD).