Illustrator revealed is a great instructional book for the novice to intermediate learner. It's full color throughout and well laid out with an unusual 9 1/8" by 7 3/8" aspect ratio. A CD of the project files are included with the book which you can use to follow along or you can create your own as you work your way through the book. As previously stated, this book is intended for the beginner, although an intermediate user would probably find merit in the book as well. I think a proficient user would need a more challenging experience and would not recommend this book to them. However, this book does cover the objectives necessary for Adobe Illustrator ACE Certification and a chart is included in the appendix to indicate where an objective is covered within the book.

The book is laid out in chapters with several lessons in each chapter and projects for the reader to complete. The book starts with the very basics, the first chapter begins with exploring the workspace's tools and panels and builds out from there. Each chapter focuses on and explores one key feature of the software. For example chapter seven deals with Distortions using Gradient Meshes, Envelopes and Blends. The author explains how and why a tool or feature is intended to be used and provides step by step instruction throughout the book.

Of course, good instruction needs practical application which is why each chapter concludes with a skills review, two project builders, a design project and a portfolio project. The purpose of these projects are to practice the skills you learned in the lessons and then explore them to build your own body of work. The skills review is an overview of all the features covered in that chapter's lessons which can be quite extensive. The project builder is a direct application of the skills covered in the chapter and requires the reader to build a specific graphic with step by step instruction. The design project differs in that it details a design challenge with instruction but allows the reader flexibility and choice in how the final piece turns out. The portfolio project presents the reader with a design challenge which they must solve on their own, using the features covered in the previous chapter and their own imagination.

The new features of CS5 are covered in this book including the new Perspective Grid, Shape Builder tools, Bristle Brush and Beautiful Strokes. I thought the chapter on Creating 3D objects which covers the new Perspective Grid to be particularly interesting. Other new features and Quick tips are littered throughout the book giving you extra tidbits along the way.

Overall, I thought this was a good instructional book and I would recommend it to anyone who was new to Adobe Illustrator CS5 or anyone who wanted to get up to speed on the new features of CS5.