Will this ebook help me to stop hating photoshop?

I don't review many books because I usually give away the ending, but the Guide to Photoshop ebook is a different story (see how I did that?).

I hate #photoshop but love Adobe Illustrator. Yes, I know that is not normal, but there are so many terms in photoshop that just do not make sense to me. Regardless I was intrigued when I came across the opportunity to read and review this ebook.

The tool primer is the first part of this ebook. Unfortunately most of what is written here can easily be found online and in the photoshop help. There really is no new information or even an attempt at a new way of explaining the function. The images the author uses in this section are average.

The author tends to assume much of his readers especially with a beginners' guide. The following quote is taken directly from the section subtitled "What Are Layers?":

In the above image, it is clear that all the layers that are present in a Photoshop project can be seen in the layer panel located at the bottom right side of the screen. 

While the writing is clear, the image that is placed immediately above this statement is not. The layer panel is the same height as the image of the photo and is not shown "at the bottom right of the screen". I do not know if the image used is skewed in order to show detail, but a large image and then a zoomed in one for detail would be much more clear. I would also appreciate labels on the image that are made with crisp text. There are images previously in the ebook that do have some labels but the quality of the text makes me think the image was titled while in photoshop, not after. 

The above may seem a bit nitpicky, but there are reasons I point them out. First, it is a concrete example of the issue and secondly, it is a continued problem throughout the book.

I would like to suggest to the author that he have a professional editor go through the book with him. Not that there are any huge editing mistakes (that I have found yet) but the writing is quite repetitive and needs suggestions from someone who is familiar with how to engage readers.

I do think I can learn from this ebook and will continue to read it. I look forward to implementing new techniques but I do not feel as if I will be mastering photoshop in one week with just this ebook. This is a good reference book for me but not as practical in use as I would want in order to "master" a program.

I received this ebook from the author for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.