I bought this book based on the reviews here on Amazon and I am completely satisfied that I did! I switched from PC and bought my Macbook in August 2008 and shortly after purchased Final Cut Express. After installing FCE I opened it and had NO IDEA what I was looking at. I had used Adobe Premiere Elements on my PC and limped through that software.

The book actually begins in the first chapter as if you've never operated a Mac before, but quickly opens the door to the world of FCE. By the final chapters I'm doing green screen video filtering, audio filtering, white balancing a video clip, and using LiveType. That's a long way from where I was when I started!

This book is amazingly easy to use, it easy to work through at your own pace. Each chapter takes me about 30-45 minutes to work through. As a reference it would be alright, but you'd be reading through a bunch of detailed steps if all you were looking for the keyboard shortcut to adding a keyframe in the viewfinder as you're doing picture-in-picture work.

For anyone who does not know anything about video editing and wants to begin to master FCE, this book is the best thing out there!

Discussion about how the program works progresses very logically from simple to the very complex. Each unit builds on each concept as you learn them. Project files on the included Disk offer excellent practice to cement learning. Those interested in learning how to accomplish professional level editing will benefit by purchasing this book!

This book has been a tremendous help in learning how to use Final Cut Express 4. The lessons in the book step you through the ins and outs of video editing. It is very helpful in leading you through various ways to perform functions, and identifying many keyboard shortcuts. It would have been much more difficult to learn the program by just using the program's User Manual.

I found this book easy to understand. I knew how to use Imovie, but wanted to move up to final cut express. the dvd lessons were very helpful. i highly recommend this book for beginners who want to move up.

Unlike other books (e.g. the one by Brenneis), this book takes you step by step into the intricacies of FCE 4. Weynand uses sample problems and detailed instructions to get you used to using FCE's many, many tools and shortcuts. It is definitely NOT just a restatement of the FCE manual! Before I got this book, I was ready to give up and go back to my ULead program!