FlashMX books

[Voncaster]

Has anyone tried to learn MX with a book. Most of my limited knowlege of Flash is through school classes and projects. When I want to solve something, I go through the help, and forums. But I think if I invested a bit of time in learning the program more thouroughly, it would be beneficial to my work speed/productivity.

I was thinking of buying one of the Macromedia MX books: either Training from the Source or Actionscripting (both published by macromedia, who I have heard mixed reviews from). Anyone try either of these books? I would be curious to get a new users reaction to either of them before buying. I am also open to suggestions, for other books that people have tried and liked.

Any response is appreciated. This is my first post, but I hope to be here frequently. Flash is fast becoming one of my favorite programs.

[solomatrix]

I have:
ActionScript The Definitive Guide
Macromedia Flash MX ActionScripting: Advanced Training from the Source

but I prefer using forums and real world examples/tutorials to books. I often find that the Flash Help tool within the program helps more than the books too. Occasionally the book will point me in the right direction when I need to do something I've never done before but besides that I just use it for reference. The Training from the Source book comes with a cd with lessons you can do while reading along but I've never used it.

My advice would be if you just wanna read to get more fimiliar with flash then check a book out from the library, I know my local one has at least 5 different flash books. But for learning/reference there are better sources online.

[Voncaster]

Thanks solo, I might try a trip to the library soon. Um the reason why I wanted to go through a more comprehensive tutorial book, though, is that I suspect I am doing things the wrong way in Flash. I know how to make things work, but a lot of what I do is monotonous and repetative, there has to be a way that I can clean up my working habbits, so thats why I'm looking for a good book.

[solomatrix]

I used to be really bad at that too. I'd have stuff work but the code would just look really bad. After seeing other people examples and just working with flash alot it's starting to all come together.