AutoCAD 2002 Instructor

I am the head engineer at the company I work for (actually, I am the only engineer, so that makes it easy to be the "head engineer", but I digress). I have taught AutoCAD for several years in a continuing education department at a local college. I now teach the same course in a local high school's adult education program (the college courses were 6x the cost for the same course!). Anyway, this is probably the best AutoCAD book I have ever seen. It explains nearly everything in detail and offers examples on items other books do not. For example, using the "parallel" object snap is mystifing to most people, and most books do not show how to use it. They might tell you how to use it, but they do not show you. This book does. This book just offers more information This is an excellent reference book also for those who are not beginners. However, sometimes the book presents too much information at once and overwhelms the person new to AutoCAD. I do not actually use this book in my classes, however, because it is just too expensive. Of course, it is produced as a textbook and like all textbooks it is overpriced because students are typically stuck with whatever textbook they have to use and must pay the price. Textbook prices are a scam in general, and this is no exception. $95 is a ridiculous price for a book. Anyway, I produce all the materials for my AutoCAD program myself, and recommend the students just buy any book they like to use as a reference. So if your company is buying you a book, I would buy this one. The only fault is the price. Also, it is handy for a book to have a disk with it so you can have ready-made problem examples (very handy for the beginner). This one does not. Maybe the newer versions do, but the 2002 I have did not. I was recently looking to get a AutoCAD 2007 book since the new classes I am going to teach have updated to AutoCAD 2007. I wanted the AutoCAD Instructor by Leach, but even I will not pay that price. I bought a lesser book for under $30.00. In conclusion, this is the best book on AutoCAD I have ever used for the beginner, and a great book of reference for anyone. It just costs too much. Therefore, the 5 star rating is only a 4 because of cost.