Managing Data Using Excel

Managing Data Using Excel ... ... is a new book by Mark Gardener, published by Pelagic Publishing.* It is subtitled "Organising, summarising and visualising scientific data". Clearly the book is aimed at scientists, particularly those dealing with the analysis of observational data, but is it of value to a wider audience? Having worked through the book I would say that it is definitely worthwhile for many other groups, including those in engineering and other branches of science and technology, and also those in commercial and marketing work dealing with the analysis of numerical data of any kind. Aspects of the book that I found particularly useful were: Detailed and clear descriptions of the use of pivot tables in the analysis and summary of numerical data of any kind (an area where I could certainly make more use of the features available in Excel) Clearly laid out procedures for arranging, checking and exploring data. Detailed procedures for display of data in a wide variety of graphs. Detailed step-by step example spreadsheets available from the publisher's web-site. This is certainly not a book "for dummies", and some may find the emphasis on scientific procedures off-putting, but for those willing to spend some time working through the examples I believe it will be of value to anyone who uses Excel to organise, summarise and visualise numerical data of any kind. * Pelagic Publishing provided me with a free copy of the book for this review; I have no other connection with the publishers or the author. -- Doug Jenkins * Newton Excel Bach blog * Managing Data Using Excel: Organizing, Summarizing and Visualizing Scientific Data joins others in the 'Research Skills' series and is a top recommendation for any who would use their Excel spreadsheet skills to organize and share scientific data, standing out from the crowd of more general 'how to use Excel' handbooks to address the specific needs of the scientific community. There are basics here, from how to build a dataset handling variables and notes to summarizing data using averages, creating visual displays with graphs and pivot charts, and using these tables to fine-tune results and displays that export well into datasets and summaries scientists can share. Exercises are provided to reinforce concepts, while tips and notes compliment the educational process by pointing out common Excel challenges. Plenty of tables and charts pepper the discussions while an index makes it easy to use this is a reference for at-a-glance information. Plenty of general Excel handbooks document how to create datasets and apply calculations, but the specific focus on scientific data manipulation provided here makes it a top recommendation over any general tutorial. -- Diane Donovan * Midwest Book Review *