I bought this book based on the outstanding reviews and now can only wonder if the author penned these reviews herself. This is a book written by a professional writer, not a Flash guru.
As I write this, I'm at the public library with a copy of Sam's Teach Yourself Flash 5 in 24 Hours and am amazed at how more superior the Sam's book is. For example, "symbols" is a core element of Flash, but after reading Katherine Ulrich's brief treatment of the topic I had entirely no understanding of the importance of symbols.
Conversely, the Sam book discussing the topic from 25 different angles. And more, throughout the Sam book all the questions I had after reading Ulrich's book get answered. Amazing, really. Time and again, those little mysteries that eluded me are brought to stage and completely dealt with in the Sam's book.
Basically, the Ulich Visual Quickstart describes all the things you see when you open start-up Flash -- Visual. But it shows you nothing about how to ochestrate all these tools to create something.
I spent two weeks with the Ulrich book and honestly can't even make a simple tween. Honestly, I can't!
To sum up, these folks behind this book need to serioulsy think about retiring their "visual quick start" method, at least for things as complex as Flash. I sususpect, there training authors in the Quick Start Method, handing them manuals when new products come out, and then giving them a week or two to punch out a new Quickstart Guide.
Finally, I'm not a whacko. I hate it when I see reviews like mine, but I believe every word I've written above.
ric landers