I had a lot of fun putting together my recent list of Top Excel Help Resources on the web. It started out as a Top 10 list… but then I started getting a lot of comments about other great sites all over the web, and the list ballooned. Its a great resource, you can find it out here – Excel Help Resources and Tutorials. Also check out my Excel Training Course & Tutorials section, which has garnered a lot of traction recently.
Anyways, as I was putting it together – I couldn’t help but notice that most of the top websites were owned by the biggest Excel authors walking the planet. John Walkenbach, Bill Jelen (Mr. Excel), Debra Dalgleish, etc. There is a lot of great content out there for Excel users. So here is my starter list of the best Excel Books (UPDATE: The list has grown to over 100 and is still growing – the largest on the internet that I am aware of 🙂 ). I am further segmenting the list to make it more digestible – everyday. I encourage you to leave your comments below if you think I missed a book that you have found valuable. Unless you are some troll trying to sell life insurance to my readers — I WILL approve your comments. And if the book is good — it will be added.
Also, I am not a good judge of books that are not in English. So if you have non-English Excel/VBA Books that have been useful to you, let me know in the comments section and I will add them and let our international readers decide if the book should stay on the list.
Lastly, as a point of full-disclosure. Many of these links go to Amazon. As I am writing this, they don’t go to any affiliate links. But they may eventually be affiliate links that buy me a bagel or some coffee if you buy a book. I don’t think that’s a big deal, but as a fellow Excel user I wanted you to know in advance — because I value honesty and transparency. You know — because my name is all over this website :). Also, this is for users of Excel. Excel… Not Word, or Powerpoint. Separated by function and version. So dive in.
Topics – Recommended By Role/Job Function
Marketing
- Excel for Marketing Managers – Ivana Taylor, Bill Jelen
- Basic Marketing Research with Excel – Alvin C. Burns, Ronald C. Bush
- Excel Secrets for Highly Effective Marketers – Jason Khoo
- Marketing Analytics: Data Driven Techniques with Excel – Wayne L. Winston
Scientists and Engineers
- Excel 2007 for Scientists and Engineers – Dr. Gerard Verschuuren
- Excel 2013 for Scientists – Dr. Gerard Verschuuren
- Excel for Scientists and Engineers: Numerical Methods – E. Joseph Billo
- A Guide to Microsoft Excel 2007 for Scientists and Engineers – Bernard Liengme
- Advanced Excel for Scientific Data Analysis – Robert de Levie
- Engineering with Excel (4th Edition) – Ronald W. Larsen
Finance and Accounting
- Excel University – Training for CPAs and Accounting Professionals – Volume 1 – Jeff Lenning, CPA
- Excel University – Training for CPAs and Accounting Professionals – Volume 2 – Jeff Lenning, CPA
- Excel for Accountants – Conrad Carlberg
- Next Generation Excel: Modeling in Excel for Analysts and MBAs – 2nd Edition – Isaac Gottlieb
- Financial Modeling – Simon Benninga
- Financial Modelling for Project Finance – Dr Penelope Lynch
- NOTE: The author – Dr Penelope Lynch mentioned on LinkedIN that this is specifically about cashflow modelling in Excel (2nd edition considers versions 2003 and 2007)
Statistics and Prediction
- Statistical Analysis: Microsoft Excel 2010 – Conrad Carlberg
- Statistics with Microsoft Excel (5th Edition) – Beverly Dretzke
- Predictive Analytics: Microsoft Excel – Conrad Carlberg
- Decision Analytics: Microsoft Excel – Conrad Carlberg
Consulting
- Excel Basics to Blackbelt – 2nd Edition – Dr Elliot Bendoly
- NOTE: I exchanged messages with Dr. Bendoly on LinkedIN and he mentions that this book is highly relevant and in use for most consulting firms.
Other Professionals
- Excel for the CEO – P.K. Hari
- Excel for the CFO – P.K. Hari
- Excel for Auditors – (Excel 97 through 2007) – Bill Jelen, Dwayne K. Dowell
- Excel for Chemists – E. Joseph Billo
- Construction Estimating Using Excel (2nd Edition) – Steven Peterson, MBA, PE
- Excel for Teachers – Colleen Conm, Bill Hazlett, Bill Jelen, Adrienne Soucy
- Excel for the Math Classroom – Bill Hazlett, Bill Jelen
- Decision Modeling with Microsoft Excel – 6th Edition – Jeffrey H. Moore, Larry H. Weatherford
- NOTE: For undergraduate/MBA-level courses in Management Science and Decision Modeling
- Excel 2010: Business Basics and Beyond – Chris “Smitty” Smith
- NOTE: I am a BIG fan of books designed for Business people — so check this one out.
Excel Books: By Version
Power BI / Power Pivot / Power Query
- M Is for (Data) Monkey: A Guide to the M Language in Excel Power Query – Ken Puls & Miguel Escobar
- DAX Patterns 2015 – Alberto Ferrari & Marco Russo
- Microsoft Excel 2013 Building Data Models with PowerPivot – Alberto Ferrari & Marco Russo
- Learn to Write DAX – Matt Allington
- Power Pivot and Power BI: The Excel User’s Guide to DAX, Power Query, Power BI & Power Pivot in Excel 2010-2016 – Rob Collie & Avi Singh
Excel 2013
- Mr Excel XL: 40 Greatest Excel Tips of All Time – Szilvia Juhasz & Bill Jelen
- Guerilla Data Analysis 2nd Edition – Oz du Soleil & Bill Jelen
- Dashboards for Excel – Jordan Goldmeier & Chandoo
- Advanced Excel Essentials – Jordan Goldmeier
- NOTE: There are plenty of books that show you HOW to do things, but not very many that tell you WHY to do things. Want to better understand good ways to develop in Excel? Then grab this book by Excel MVP Jordan Goldmeier. The book covers it all.
- Microsoft® Excel® 2013: Data Analysis and Business Modeling – Wayne L Winston PhD.
- Excel 2013 Charts and Graphs – Bill Jelen
- 101 Excel 2013 Tips, Tricks & Timesavers – John Walkenbach
- Excel 2013 Bible – John Walkenbach
- Excel 2013 Formulas – John Walkenbach
- Excel 2013 Power Programming With VBA – John Walkenbach
- Excel VBA Programming For Dummies, 3rd Ed. – John Walkenbach
- Excel 2013 in Depth – Bill Jelen
- Excel 2013 VBA and Macros – Bill Jelen & Tracy Syrstad
- Excel 2013 for Dummies – Greg Harvey
- Excel 2013 Formulas and Functions – Paul McFedries
- Excel 2013 Dashboards and Reports – Michael Alexander, John Walkenbach
- Excel 2013 Pivot Table Data Crunching – Bill Jelen, Michael Alexander
- NOTE: See authors notes in the comments section of this BLOG. This is the first book to cover regular pivot tables, Power Pivot, Power View and Power Map.
- Excel 2013 Building Data Models with Power Pivot – Alberto Ferrari, Marco Russo
- The VLOOKUP Book – Chandoo
- Ctrl+shift+enter: Mastering Excel Array Formulas – Mike ExcelIsFun Girvin
- PDF Verson from Holy Macro Books – Mike ExcelIsFunGirvin
- Get the Book from Amazon – Mike ExcelIsFun Girvin
- NOTE: See notes about this book from Mr. Excel Bill Jelen in the comments section of this BLOG. This book fills in a gap, thoroughly explaining Excel array formulas with plenty of examples. Mike Girvin has a wildly popular Youtube Channel ExcelIsFun
Excel 2010
- Excel 2010 Charts and Graphs – Bill Jelen
- Excel 2010 Bible – John Walkenbach
- Excel 2010 For Dummies Quick Reference – John Walkenbach
- Excel 2010 Formulas – John Walkenbach
- Excel 2010 Power Programming With VBA – John Walkenbach
- Excel Dashboards and Reports – John Walkenbach
- Excel VBA Programming For Dummies – John Walkenbach
- John Walkenbach’s Favorite Excel 2010 Tips & Tricks – John Walkenbach
- DAX Formulas for PowerPivot – Rob Collie
- Excel in Depth 2010 – Bill Jelen
- Excel 2010 VBA and Macros – Bill Jelen & Tracy Syrstad
- Don’t Fear the Spreadsheets – Tyler Nash, Bill Jelen, Kevin Jones, Tom Urtis
- Learn Excel 2010 Essential Skills with the SMART Method – Mike Smart
- Excel 2010 All-In-One for Dummies – Greg Harvey
- Excel 2010 Formulas and Functions – Paul McFedries
- Slaying Excel Dragons – Mike ExcelIsFun Girvin, Bill Jelen
- Excel Outside the Box – Bob Umlas
- Excel 2010 Dashboards and Reports – Michael Alexander, John Walkenbach
- Excel 2010 Pivot Table Data Crunching – Bill Jelen, Michael Alexander
- Power Pivot for the Data Analyst 2010 – Bill Jelen
- Predictive Analytics: Microsoft Excel – Conrad Carlberg
- Excel Pivot Tables and Pivot Charts – Paul McFedries
- Microsoft® Excel® 2010: Data Analysis and Business Modeling – Wayne L Winston PhD.
Excel 2007
- Excel 2007 Charts – Bill Jelen
- Excel 2007 Bible – John Walkenbach
- Excel 2007 Charts – John Walkenbach
- Excel 2007 For Dummies Quick Reference – John Walkenbach
- Excel 2007 Formulas – John Walkenbach
- Excel 2007 Power Programming with VBA – John Walkenbach
- Excel 2007 VBA Programming For Dummies – John Walkenbach
- John Walkenbach’s Favorite Excel 2007 Tips & Tricks – John Walkenbach
- Microsoft Office 2007 Library – John Walkenbach
- Mr. Spreadsheet’s Excel 2007 Library – John Walkenbach
- Beginning Pivot Tables in Excel 2007 – Debra Dalgleish
- Excel Pivot Tables Recipe Book 2007 – Debra Dalgleish
- Excel 2007 VBA and Macros – Bill Jelen & Tracy Syrstad
- Excel 2007 All-In-One for Dummies – Greg Harvey
- Excel Gurus Gone Wild – Bill Jelen
- Excel 2007 Miracles Made Easy – Bill Jelen
- Excel 2007 Pivot Table Data Crunching – Bill Jelen, Michael Alexander
- Excel 2007 VBA Programmer’s Reference – John Green, Stephen Bullen, Rob Bovey, Michael Alexander
- Excel 2007 Advanced Report Development – Timothy Zapawa
- RibbonX: Customizing the Office 2007 Ribbon – Robert Martin, Ken Puls, Teresa Hennig
- This Isn’t Excel: Its Magic – Bob Umlas
- Microsoft® Office Excel® 2007 Visual Basic® for Applications Step by Step – Reed Jacobson
- Excel Hacks:Tips & Tricks for Streamlining your Spreadsheets – David Hawley, Raina Hawley
- Microsoft® Excel® 2007: Data Analysis and Business Modeling – Wayne L Winston PhD.
- Professional Excel Development: The Definitive Guide to Developing Applications Using Microsoft Excel, VBA, and .NET (2nd Edition) – Rob Bovey, Dennis Wallentin, Stephen Bullen, John Green
- NOTE: In the comments section of this blog post, Jordan Goldmeier of http://optionexplicitvba.com calls this book the “finest book on Excel development ever written. I still use the 2003 version because I think it’s timeless.”
Excel 2003
- Professional Excel Development: The Definitive Guide to Developing Applications Using Microsoft Excel and VBA – Stephen Bullen, Rob Bovey & John Green
- A Complete Guide to Pivot Tables: A Visual Approach – Paul Cornell
- Excel 2003 Bible – John Walkenbach
- Excel 2003 Formulas – John Walkenbach
- Excel 2003 Power Programming With VBA – John Walkenbach
- Excel VBA Programming For Dummies – John Walkenbach
- John Walkenbach’s Favorite Excel Tips & Tricks – John Walkenbach
Excel (General – No Version #)
- Excel Tables: A Complete Guide for Creating, Using and Automating Lists – Zack Barresse
- PDF Verson from Holy Macro Books – Zack Barresse
- Get the Book from Amazon – Zack Barresse
- Excel Pivot Tables Recipe Book – Debra Dalgleish
- Head First Data Analysis: A Learner’s Guide to Big Numbers, Statistics, and Good Decisions – Michael Milton
- Spreadsheet Check and Control – Patrick R O’Beirne
- NOTE: In the comments section of this BLOG post (scroll down) — Bob Phillips of xldynamic.com calls this book “mandatory of you take spreadsheet quality seriously.
- Elements of Spreadsheet Style: How to build a model you can use – John M. Nevison
- NOTE: I was tipped to this book by Joe Armstrong in one of the LinkedIN excel groups. Found it on Amazon (published in 1987) and saw there was a review from Mike “ExcelIsFun” Girvin, who called it “one of the best excel books ever written”. Which means I have to get this book before you buy the last copy.
Books – Excel For a Mac
- Office 2011 for MacIntosh: The Missing Manual – Chris Grover
- Office 2011 for Mac All-in-One for Dummies – Geetesh Bajaj, James Gordon
- Learn Excel 2011 for Mac – Guy Hart-Davis
In Many Languages
Spanish
- Ya sé Excel, pero necesito más – Translated – I already know Excel, But I need more – Francisco Megia Morales
- NOTE: See the authors notes in the comments section. It’s for those people who are sceptic because they think they know everything about Excel. And as they go reading they discover a new world. For people who want to go from current basic/intermediate level to actual advanced level.
So… Where are the GAPS???
Because, I know some of you that may be reading this right now are authors… and you’re thinking…
Where the HELL is my book? Because…
- Its a masterpiece.
- Has plot twists.
- A devious villain.
- Damsel in distress.
- VBA Code 🙂
Well… Then leave a comment and let me know about it. I am honestly adding to this page daily.
If you are reading this then you made it all the way to the bottom of the page — whew — that was a workout. Might as well leave a comment and hit one of those social sharing buttons so that your Mom on Facebook knows how cool you are (visiting an Excel website and all :))
- The Comprehensive Guide to the Excel Ribbon: Making the Most of Your Data - January 31, 2023
- 51: Oz du Soleil & the Global Excel Summit 2021 - February 8, 2021
- 50: Randy Austin – Excel for Freelancers - January 22, 2021
Mike Girvin’s new Ctrl+Shift+Enter Mastering Excel Array Formulas fills in a gap, thoroughly explaining Excel array formulas.
Also – Pivot Table Data Crunching Excel 2013 that I co-wrote with Mike Alexander is the first book to cover regular pivot tables, Power Pivot, Power View and Power Map.
Thank you Bill. Its a real pleasure to have Mr. Excel filling up my comments section.
When I first saw your comment, I tried to get the wife to give me a high-five…
But she wasn’t that into it. Something about me being a nerd. I don’t know 🙂
Anyways. Anything that Mike Girvin does is instantly only the list. I am a big fan of his Youtube Channel “ExcelIsFun”.
I have also been adding to this list daily. I am shocked by how many have you as an author.
If you would like to provide any additional detail on any of your books for my readers… feel free to fill up the comments section…
I have promised the wife no more high-fives though.
Rick
I will mention one book,
Head First Excel: A learner’s guide to spreadsheets by Michael Milton
I have a large collection of books that are worthy of add to your list.
http://www.andypope.info/books/books.htm
Thanks Andy-
You have given me 3 weeks worth of work going through your list. But I am up for the challenge.
Everyone else-
If you aren’t already VERY familiar with Andy’s site. I highly recommend you visit him at http://www.andypope.info/ . He is an Excel MVP that runs one of the premier Excel sites on the web.
Thanks for stopping by Andy.
Rick
Better tip, give Andy’s website a wide berth but take him out and buy him a beer (or cider if we must be accurate) and talk about the Gooners – much more fun.
If we have to be serious, where the heck is Mr Puls’ (and Martin and Miss Henning) RibbonX book.
Ans Spreadsheet Check and Control by Patrick O’Beirne, mandatory if you take spreadsheet quality seriuously.
And all the books I meant to write but never got around to.
Thanks Bob. I added all the books you mentioned above and also added your site http://xldynamic.com/source/xld.html to my Help and Resources Page. http://excel.social/articles/excel-for-small-business/excel-resources/
Also shooting you an email.
By the way… If I can visit with Andy Pope for some cider, and visit Jordan Goldmeier for some BBQ http://optionexplicitvba.com/about/ — Then it is probably time for me to pack a suitcase and start couchsurfing 🙂
Rick
Do it!
Not a correction but a personal confession: I think Professional Excel Development is the finest book on Excel development ever written. I still use the 2003 version because I think it’s timeless.
Jordan-
On your recommendation, the version 2 of the book has been added to the 2007 list. And thanks for offering up your BBQ (and couch) to all of my readers. They are a hungry bunch 🙂
Rick
Here is my contribution (well i’m the author; and i thought hey, where the h…)
It is a book in Spanish, named “Ya se Excel, pero necesito mas”
(the translation could be: I already know Excel, but I need more)
It’s for those people who are sceptic because they think they know everyting about Excel. And as they go reading they discover a new world
For people who want to go from current basic/intermediate level to actual advanced level.
Here’s the link
http://www.necesitomas.com/excel
I hope you consider it
Thanks for stopping by. The book has been added. I hope that you check in from time to time in the event any of our Spanish readers have questions for you.
Thanks- Rick
Sure, i’ll do.
Rick,
A few more
Excel Basics To Blackbelt – Dr. Elliot Bendoly
Microsoft® Excel® 2010: Data Analysis and Business Modeling – Wayne L. Winston Ph.D.
Microsoft® Office Excel® 2007: Data Analysis and Business Modeling – Wayne L. Winston Ph.D.
A Complete Guide to PivotTables: A Visual Approach – Paul Cornell
Dashboards for Excel – Jordan Goldmeier
Thanks Winston-
Its always a pleasure to have you on the site. You bring a lot of depth and resources to the table. Dr. Elliot and Jordans book have been added. I didn’t even know Jordan had a book 🙂 I will review Dr Winston’s book soon.
By the way – are you launching an Excel based BLOG ? If so, let me know when it launches so that I can add you to our Resources and Support Page.
Rick
Decision Modeling with Microsoft(R) Excel (6th Edition)
Larry R. Weatherford
ISBN 9780130177896
This has been added, Tommy. Thank you for stopping by the site and adding to the conversation
Rick
Hi Rick,
The blog is up and running: http://dataprose.org/blog. Heavy on Excel and VBA, but wide open to anything related to data, information, business intelligence and data visualization.
Thanks Winston. I have linked to your blog from my Excel Help and Resources Page here http://excel.social/articles/excel-for-small-business/excel-resources/.
Also shooting you an email.
Congrats on the Blog
Rick
Btw, Jordan’s book is slated for Feb, 2014 release according to Amazon.
Thanks Winston.
I am putting together a series of video interviews of many of the contributors to the excel community. I interviewed Mynda Treacy (http://www.myonlinetraininghub.com/) last week and am interviewing Mourad Louha (http://en.excel-translator.de/) any day now.
I bring this up because Jordan has also tentatively agreed to an interview as well. So perhaps I can get him to talk a bit about his upcoming book.
The interviews will start to trickle out over the next week or two.
Rick
Here is another good book – and fun!
http://www.amazon.com/This-Isnt-Excel-Its-Magic/dp/0979215323 by Bob Umlas
Do you actually have the physical books in your library? Elsewise this is a list and not a library…?
Kind regards
Brian
Thanks Brian. If I called it a library somewhere… then GREAT. That should mean I can close down the page at 5pm everyday to get some sleep. Heck — there may even be some government funding in it for me. 🙂
Adding the Excel Is Magic book Now to the 2007 list. Thanks for pointing it out and adding to the conversation.
Rick
“Excellent Presentation”
“F1 Get the Most Out of Excel Formulas & Functions” by Joseph Rubin
This is a fantastic book and one of my favorites. If you write a lot of Excel formulas to solve medium to complex requirements then read through this book a couple of times per year. Essential reading for Data Analysts using Excel.
http://www.amazon.com/Get-Most-Excel-Formulas-Functions/dp/0974636851/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Cheers,
Kevin Lehrbass
P.E.D. is listed twice under Excel 2007. It is very good, but I’ve was sufficient.
Thanks Jon. All should be fixed now.
Rick,
I have to thanks you for putting together a great book list!! Just finished Advanced Excel Essentials, incredible book and definitely not like most Excel books on the market.
Can you recommend another brook that talks about “why to do it” rather than “How to”?
If you can’t think of one are there any blog posts that come to mind that speak on this topic?
Thanks!
Thanks Dave. I will give them some thought. I may also ask some of my friends in the Excel publishing world to pipe in with their thoughts.
Thanks Rick!!!!
Rick,
Any luck coming up with some suggestions of “why to do it” excel books?
Hey Dave. I spoke with Excel MVP Jordan Goldmeier, the author of Advanced Excel Essentials, and he recommended Professional Excel Development
Thanks!
M Is for (Data) Monkey: A Guide to the M Language in Excel Power Query by Ken Puls (Author), Miguel Escobar (Author)
DAX Patterns 2015 by Alberto Ferrari (Author), Marco Russo (Author)
Microsoft Excel 2013 Building Data Models with PowerPivot (Business Skills) by Alberto Ferrari (Author), Marco Russo (Author)
this are ones that are always near me 🙂
Updated to include Power BI. Thanks for the recommendations Tomislav.
Rick, it is one of the best lists for picking the best Excel books. Inspired by your list, I also made my own list but in bit different angle. You can check my list here (https://www.exceldemy.com/best-excel-training-books/) and your feedback is highly appreciated.
Best regards
Kawser Ahmed
it is one of the best lists for choosing the best work Excel books. Inspired by this list, Highly energetic blog, I liked that a lot.
Collect, Combine, and Transform Data Using Power Query in Excel and Power BI by Gil Raviv is a must!