Are you new or advanced users of Excel? Searching for the best Excel training books? Don’t know which books are best to learn Excel? You’re in the right place.
I have listed the best Excel books category-wise so you can find suitable books for you.
Let me help you find the best route and best Excel books to succeed you in learning Excel.
Videos, podcasts, kindle versions of books, and online courses are the trend now. So, do you still need a book to learn Excel?
Yes! Of course!
You still need Excel books.
When I started using Excel, I tried many websites and lots of videos.
No doubt, I learned many useful uses of Excel!
But when I started with the series of Excel Bibles, I got the most of Excel and in a shorter time. As books are organized, and step by step.
So, when and how will you feel the necessity of an Excel book (on your topic) at your desk?
OK!
I see the whole learning process in the following steps.
For example, you want to master Data Analysis in Excel. What will be your steps?
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Step 1: Enroll in a Video Course
- Start with the best video course. Take suggestions from colleagues, seniors or take the help of Google. Udemy is a good place to buy online courses at a cheap price.
- Finished the video course? You’re only 10 – 20% done with the topics.
Step 2: Buy a Book
- Now grab a book for a detailed understanding of the data analysis topics. You will find instantly that many important data analysis topics are not covered in the video course. No worry.
- The book is not finished (I know). It need not to be finished.
Step 3: Problem Solving
- Now go to different forums, web pages (Stack Over Flow type communities) and try to solve the questions on Data Analysis with Excel.
- You will realize that you know nothing of data analysis using Excel
- Solve as many problems as possible. If your work is directly related to the topics you’re learning, you will master the skills faster.
- Facing any troubles? Get back to Books or Video Courses (YouTube or Paid Courses)
So, this is a loop.
Video courses for faster grabbing of the topics -> Books for detailed and faster references and generic problem solving -> Websites or communities for real-life problem-solving, sharing your knowledge, and learning new techniques from authoritative bloggers -> When you’re in troubles, learn from the books and videos.
So, the above ones are the steps I follow when I want to master something.
Seems nerdy?
OK. Learning and mastering something in a cool way that will really change your life and career, you have to learn it in a nerdy way 😛
So, you got my learning process.
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Lets now talk about the books I have listed here
These books are really cool.
Many websites just have listed the Excel books for listing.
But I did not do that.
I selected books very carefully.
What are parameters I have checked before listing a book?
- Book’s review on the site
- My own experience with the books (if it is read by me)
- Checking the author and publisher’s status
- Books referred by authoritative bloggers on Excel
So, if you want to buy a book, you can use my reference.
And I have listed the books category-wise for your easy pick.
Let’s start!
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Best Excel Book for Beginners
So, you’re a very beginner Excel user and searching for the best Excel books for beginners to start with. Here is the list …
- Slaying Excel Dragons by Mike Girvin (Excel Is Fun)
Best books to learn excel 2016
- Excel 2016 Bible by John Walkenbach
- Microsoft Excel 2016 Step by Step by Curtis Frye
- Learn Excel 2016 Expert Skills with The Smart Method: Courseware Tutorial teaching Advanced Techniques by Mike Smart
Best books to learn excel 2013
- Excel 2013 Bible by John Walkenbach
- Excel 2013: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald
- Learn Excel 2013 Essential Skills with The Smart Method by Mike Smart
- Learn Excel 2013 Expert Skills with The Smart Method by Mike Smart
Best books to learn excel 2010
- Excel 2010 Bible by John Walkenbach
- Learn Excel 2010 Essential Skills with The Smart Method by Mike Smart
- Learn Excel 2010 Expert Skills with The Smart Method by Mike Smart
Best books to learn excel 2007
- Excel 2007 Bible by John Walkenbach
- Teach Yourself VISUALLY Excel 2007 by Nancy C. Muir
Books on Excel Charts
- Show Me the Numbers: Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten by Stephen Few
- Good Charts: The HBR Guide to Making Smarter, More Persuasive Data Visualizations by Scott Berinato
Best Excel Book for Data Analysis
- Microsoft Excel Data Analysis and Business Modeling (5th Edition) by Wayne Winston
- Excel Basics to Blackbelt: An Accelerated Guide to Decision Support Designs by Elliot Bendoly
- Guerrilla Data Analysis Using Microsoft Excel: 2nd Edition Covering Excel 2010/2013 by Oz du Soleil & Bill Jelen
- Analyzing Data with Power BI and Power Pivot for Excel (Business Skills) by Alberto Ferrari & Marco Russo
- Statistical Analysis: Microsoft Excel 2013 by Conrad Carlberg
Best Excel Book for Advanced Users
- Advanced Excel Essentials by Jordan Goldmeier
- MrExcel XL: The 40 Greatest Excel Tips of All Time by Bill Jelen, Szilvia Juhasz
- Excel Hacks: 100 Industrial Strength Tips and Toolsby David Hawley & Raina Hawley
- 101 Excel 2013 Tips, Tricks and Timesavers by John Walkenbach
- This Isn’t Excel, It’s Magic! by Bob Umlas
Best Excel Macros (VBA) Books for beginners & advanced
- Professional Excel Development: The Definitive Guide to Developing Applications Using Microsoft Excel, VBA, and .NET (2nd Edition) by Rob Bovey, Dennis Wallentin, Stephen Bullen, John Green
- Excel 2016 Power Programming with VBA (Mr. Spreadsheet’s Bookshelf) by Michael Alexander, Richard Kusleika
- Excel 2013 Power Programming with VBA by John Walkenbach
- Excel 2010 Power Programming with VBA by John Walkenbach
- VBA for Modelers: Developing Decision Support Systems with Microsoft Office Excel by S. Christian Albright
- 101 Ready-To-Use Excel Macros by Michael Alexander
Best Book on Financial Modeling in Excel
- Financial Modeling (MIT Press) by Simon Benninga
- Mastering Financial Modeling: A Professional’s Guide to Building Financial Models in Excel by Eric Soubeiga
- Next Generation Excel: Modeling In Excel For Analysts And MBAs (For MS Windows And Mac OS) by Isaac Gottlieb
- Financial Analysis and Modeling Using Excel and VBA by Chandan Sengupta
- Financial Modeling for Business Owners and Entrepreneurs: Developing Excel Models to Raise Capital, Increase Cash Flow, Improve Operations, Plan Projects, and Make Decisions by Tom Y. Sawyer
- Financial Modeling and Valuation: A Practical Guide to Investment Banking and Private Equity by Paul Pignataro
- Financial Modelling in Practice: A Concise Guide for Intermediate and Advanced Level by Michael Rees
Books on Excel Table
Best Pivot Table Book
- Excel 2016 Pivot Table Data Crunching (includes Content Update Program) (MrExcel Library) by Bill Jelen, Michael Alexander
- Excel PivotTables and PivotCharts: Your visual blueprint for creating dynamic spreadsheets by Paul McFedries
Best Excel Formulas Book
- Excel 2016 Formulas (Mr. Spreadsheet’s Bookshelf) by Michael Alexander
- Excel 2013 Formulas by John Walkenbach
- Excel 2013 Formulas and Functions (MrExcel Library) by Paul McFedries
- Ctrl+Shift+Enter Mastering Excel Array Formulas: Do the Impossible with Excel Formulas Thanks to Array Formula Magic by Mike Girvin (Excel Is Fun)
- Excel 2010 Formulas by John Walkenbach
- 101 Ready-to-Use Excel Formulas (Mr. Spreadsheet’s Bookshelf) by Michael Alexander
- F1 Get the Most Out of Excel Formulas & Functions: The Ultimate Excel Formulas & Functions Help Guide by Joseph Rubin CPA
Best Excel Dashboard Book
- Excel Dashboards and Reports by Michael Alexander, John Walkenbach
- Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data by Stephen Few
- The Visual Display of Quantitative Information by Edward R. Tufte
- Dashboards for Excel by Jordan Goldmeier
Excel Books for Marketers
- Marketing Analytics: Data-Driven Techniques with Microsoft Excel by Wayne L. Winston
- Excel for Marketing Managers (Excel for Professionals series) by Ivana Taylor, Bill Jelen
- Basic Marketing Research: Using Microsoft Excel Data Analysis, 3rd Edition by Alvin C. Burns, Ronald F. Bush
- Excel Secrets For Highly Effective Marketers: How To Use Excel For Breakthrough Performance by Jason Khoo
Excel for Scientists and Engineers
- Excel for Scientists and Engineers: Numerical Methods by E. Joseph Billo
- Excel 2013 for Scientists (Excel for Professionals series) by Dr. Gerard Verschuuren
- Engineering with Excel (4th Edition) by Ronald W. Larsen
- Advanced Excel for scientific data analysis, 3rd edition by Robert de Levie
Business with Excel
- Excel 2010 – Business Basics & Beyond by Chris Smitty Smith
Finance & Accounting with Excel
- Excel University Volume 2 – Featuring Excel 2016 for Windows: Microsoft Excel Training for CPAs and Accounting Professionals by Jeff Lenning CPA
- Excel University Volume 3 – Featuring Excel 2016 for Windows: Microsoft Excel Training for CPAs and Accounting Professionals by Jeff Lenning CPA
- Excel University Volume 4 – Featuring Excel 2016 for Windows: Microsoft Excel Training for CPAs and Accounting Professionals by Jeff Lenning CPA
- Excel for Accountants, Second Edition by Conrad Carlberg
- Advanced Excel Reporting for Management Accountants (Wiley Corporate F&A) by Neale Blackwood
Statistics & Prediction
- Statistical Analysis: Microsoft Excel 2013 by Conrad Carlberg
- Statistical Analysis: Microsoft Excel 2010 by Conrad Carlberg
- Decision Analytics: Microsoft Excel by Conrad Carlberg
- Predictive Analytics: Microsoft Excel by Conrad Carlberg
Best Power BI (business intelligence) books
- Power Pivot and Power BI: The Excel User’s Guide to DAX, Power Query, Power BI & Power Pivot in Excel 2010-2016 by Rob Collie, Avichal Singh
- DAX Formulas for PowerPivot: A Simple Guide to the Excel Revolution by Rob Collie
- The Definitive Guide to DAX: Business intelligence with Microsoft Excel, SQL Server Analysis Services, and Power BI (Business Skills) by Alberto Ferrari, Marco Russo
- DAX Patterns 2015 by Marco Russo, Alberto Ferrari
- Learn to Write DAX: A practical guide to learning Power Pivot for Excel and Power BI by Matt Allington
- Microsoft Excel 2013 Building Data Models with PowerPivot (Business Skills) by Alberto Ferrari, Marco Russo
- M Is for (Data) Monkey: A Guide to the M Language in Excel Power Query by Ken Puls, Miguel Escobar
- Microsoft Business Intelligence Tools for Excel Analysts by Michael Alexander
So, this is my list. Pick your essential books and be an expert in your Excel topics.
Kind regards
Kawser Ahmed
B. N. If you know some books that should be on this list (not the junk ones), please put them in the comment box. I will check your entry and update my list.
Thank you for the insight on Excel. Helped a lot in making personal roadmap for learning Excel from Beginner to Advanced 🙂
Great Job. Keep doing it.
Thank you for your feedback, Anirudh!
Best regards
Love this site
Thanks, Mittal!
Excellent information and structure! thank you !
Dear Kapil,
You are most welcome.
Regards
ExcelDemy