Best AutoCAD Manual? + CAD Magazines

We just upgraded to AutoCAD 2005 and I want to buy a manual for our office. In the past I have always gotten George Omura's "Mastering AutoCAD", and it has been great but I just wondered if there was anything else out there that others found as good as this one. I'm also reluctant to go out and buy the same book with one extra chapter to cover 'sheet sets'.

The other question is about CAD Magazines. My company gives me two free magazine subscriptions and I wondered what people found to be the most useful. Of course I download the AUGI Magazine each time!!! but, apart from it, what else is good?

thanks.

As far as mags, there is Cadalyst, but you can also get that for free.... www.cadalyst.com

It's OK, I can usually find a good tip in the tips from readers (although I don't like the new format), and Lynn Allen's column is usually pretty good

You can check out Amazon and do a search for AutoCAD 2005. Usually people have posted there comments about the book. This might help in deciding in which book to get.

For magazines, Cadalyst is pretty good. You can usually get for free too. So you can still get two more magazines that the company will pay for. Another magazine is Element K Journals: Inside AutoCAD.

I can swear by Ellen Finkelstein's AutoCAD Bible, since I tech edited the R2000 edition. Doubt it's gone down hill since then. ;-7 The other two "100 percent comprehensive" books are George Omura's "Mastering" and "Inside AutoCAD". I think there's little difference among them. As I recall, Omura had a mention of "Shape files", where Ellen said they're obsolete and covered another topic instead. Minor difference.

One problem with computer books is getting them on the shelves immediately. Because I had to maintain a full time job, I couldn't tech edit Ellen's book quite as fast as the project officer (who's name I've forgotten) wanted. It might have been delayed a couple days because of me. Maybe. Unfortunatley, rushing to get the books on the shelves when the new software comes out leads to errors. Can't have it both immediate AND perfect.

Paul Burgener, www.evaug.com, Newport News, VA USA 23602