Numerous procedural examples drive most of the learning. It's easy to locate the sections by subject or task, and odds are good that a few page-flips later you'll be looking at an explicit statement of the steps you need to follow. Screen shots accompany the written procedures, so it's usually clear what you should see as you progress toward your goal.
The authors also carefully explain potentially confusing concepts, such as absolute versus relative addresses in StarCalc spreadsheets. Sometimes they assume too much previous knowledge (in a section on Web publishing, they casually refer to uploading files with an FTP program without explaining what that means), but generally they explain everything. If Linux is your OS and StarOffice keeps you productive, this book will teach you a lot. --David Wall
Topics covered: StarOffice 5.1 for Linux from an everyday user's point of view. All the applications--StarWriter, StarCalc, StarBase, StarImpress, StarDraw, and the others--are documented individually and as members of the StarOffice suite. Readers learn how to enter and manipulate text, perform mail merges, do business calculations, and interact with others over the Internet.