Others say...

"It was helpful for me."
I am new to Illustrator and the Adobe programs in general, and from that perspective, this book was ideal. It got me much more comfortable with the work environment to the point I found myself actually wanting to use the program to perform design tasks.

This book is not comprehensive. Some things (just my list) this book does not cover, but are essential to professional users of the program:
1. Graphics tablet features.
2. Creation of Flash symbols/integration with Flash.
3. Keyboard Shortcuts.
4. Charts/Graphs creation (this is most likely the most common commercial use of the program).
5. The pathfinder effects (these very important tools are briefly touched upon, but are essential for good use of the program and really really counterintuitive).
6. A bibliography or resource list.

I feel this book really should have shipped with the program. Like many software developers, Adobe asks a-lot when it does not provide a manual with such an expensive program. Adobe Help has much improved with CS3, but it's not the same as a true manual.

Illustrator itself is a decent program that has much improved with CS3. It's still not ideal, and really gets more attention than its competitors largely through Adobe's ingenious marketing of the "creative suite."

"Very Helpful"
I already knew how to use Illustrator before I got this book, but it showed me just how much I have to learn. The steps could be a little clearer, but other than that, they are easy to follow and/or figure out.

"Adobe Illustrator CS3 Classroom in a Book"
A fairly intuitive tutorial. However, a lot of the basic stuff I already knew, so I breezed through about a third of the book. The lessons were a lttle disappointing in the some sections. Rather than creating a full piece as in some of the books, it was little snipets, kind of jumping around. Didn't flow as well as I would have liked, or as in depth. Some of the lessons would have been confusing had I not had a previous working knowledge of the software.

"Book seems okay, but..."
...it seems so close to the CS2 book that I wonder why they bothered to write a whole new book, rather than simply add a new section covering Live Art (the only major new feature of which I'm aware). I'm admittedly biased because I'm soured on Adobe Systems for sending my software to an address in their system that hasn't been used in 7 years (WHY do they keep that information anyway?) and delaying delivery for so long that I cancelled the order and am staying with CS2. I would have returned the book, but I'd installed the tutorial files from the CD ahead of getting the Illustrator CS 3 software, so now I'm stuck with a book I can't use.

"A great help!"
This book was a great help for me. I am new to the software and it walked me step by step throught each tool and function.