Truly living up to its name, this book is not intended to be yet another Excel encyclopedia but rather targets the essential curricular requirements that would be found in a sociology or psychology major’s statistics class. Yet, its detailed, worked-out examples make this text an actual how-to handbook for the engaged initial researcher as well. The text balances detail and comprehension with conciseness and clarity. The publisher did not compromise on this endeavor and provides colored, highlighted portions of the Excel worksheet in each example. For the interested teacher or for independent study, every chapter contains practice problems with the concluding solution provided in the text; the appendices provide solutions to included practice exams.

This handbook contains eight chapters. The first two are introductory so that the reader can have the prerequisite knowledge to proceed with the text. Chapter 1 presents Excel simultaneously with the essential notions of statistics (mean, variance, standard deviation, standard error of the mean). Chapter 2 discusses the notion of random sequences so that readers can create their own test data for the methodologies to be discussed in future chapters. This chapter concludes on a practical note to ensure that the printout of the Excel worksheets can fit on one page.

A difference between this book’s approach and that of other comprehensive treatments of Excel concepts should be noted. This book does want to be straight to the point and will not provide snapshots of the Excel worksheet at every step of the calculation, which very thick comprehensive texts are known for. It does provide readers with all steps necessary for the calculations and will refer to a provided figure (Excel worksheet) from which they can understand the steps. Thus, the book does assume a familiarity with Excel navigations and menus as prerequisite knowledge.

Chapters 3 through 8 comprise the advanced discussions. Chapter 3 provides seven steps for hypothesis testing using the confidence interval about the mean and applies it succinctly to three cases. The key concepts are the null hypothesis and confidence intervals. The chapter starts with definitions and terminology and concludes with worked-out problems. This pedagogic manner is consistent with the other chapters. Chapter 4 constructs a one-group t-test for the mean and asks the obvious reader question of whether one should apply the 95 percent confidence interval about the mean or the one-group t-test when testing hypotheses. The answer of course is that both would work, but different researchers have different preferences. The author explains that this is why he included both approaches next to each other.

Chapter 5 continues with a two-group t-test by checking the difference of the means, assuming independent groups. This chapter relies on the terminology of the previous chapter, so it goes straight to the procedural steps. Here also the author crystallizes the process by identifying nine steps for completing the task. Examples are worked out for each major formula presented in the chapter. Chapter 6 focuses on the classic topic of linear regression and differentiates itself from the other chapters by creating charts that attach the regression line to the data plots.

The last two chapters, 7 and 8, present the most advanced concepts. Multiple regression and correlation (chapter 7) requires the usage of Excel’s data analysis tools. Fortunately, these tools provide step-by-step wizards or forms to fill out in order to accomplish what otherwise could be a hard task since multiple predictors are sought after. When multiple groups are present and you want to compare the difference of means, then one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA, chapter 8) is useful. This also requires the Data Analysis ToolPak. The author concentrates on interpreting the tabled results correctly, calculating the underlying degrees of freedom, and learning the decision rule for the ANOVA F-test.

The book concludes with an assorted array of appendices providing the answers to the practice problems and exams, including statistical formulas and tables to complete the problems. The author appropriately calls the book a guide to solving practical problems, and it will be a wonderful addition to the shelves of academicians and practitioners.