Hello-
My name is Herman and I have a general question as a total novice. Is there a reference book to troubleshoot the multiple errors that occur while learning this application?
Thanks in advance!
Welcome to the forum – great to have you here!
With regard to books, there’s a good thread that the forum members have been maintaining and contributing to for a while, listing the best books pertaining to Power BI and related topics.
However, as much as I love books, there are very few that I would classify as indispensable resources, given that Power BI Is updated every month often significantly. Thus most books on the subject become dated fairly quickly.
The two that I would say are indispensable are:
- The Definitive Guide to DAX, Second Edition by Russo and Ferrari
- Collect, Combine and Transform Data Using Power Query in Excel and Power BI by Raviv
Neither of these are beginner books, but great resources to have on your shelf as you progress.
In terms of specific error messages, your best bet would be to Google them first and if you don’t find a satisfactory answer that way, post your question on the forum here where there are tons of very knowledgeable people eager to help.
- Brian
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Hi Herman,
Welcome to the forum!
Great feedback from Brian and I must agree with him: There are no beginner books.
When I started, I was looking for similar material as well. Sharing my experiences:
- What was really valuable to me was the official Microsoft video series about Power BI ( https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1N57mwBHtN0JFoKSR0n-tBkUJHeMP2cP). This training guides you to the whole process in short “easy to digest” videos
- The content on EDNA. The starter course on Enterprise DNA is a fabulous starting point as well.
- The forum here: Don’t hesitate to ask a question here. Add your .pbix to your post , discuss what you want to do and surely somebody here will help you.
I can also recommend the Definitive Guide to DAX that Brian recommended ( I do not know the other book 
), but I would not suggest this as a first course. It would be the same as learning a new language (for example Spanish) by reading a dictionary. Reading the dictionary will not teach you the language! 
Have a great evening!
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@Rens is absolutely spot-on in his response. I was interpreting your message specifically from the standpoint of understanding error messages, but I think in rereading it, your question was broader than that. In terms of generally getting up to speed as a beginner, one of the things that is most helpful is the Enterprise DNA Learning Map, which walks through a recommended sequence of coursework to take you from novice to advanced. The one thing I would change here would be recommending that everyone take the Advanced Data Transformations and Modeling course immediately after the two Ultimate Beginners guides, because if your data are not prepped correctly and modeled appropriately, you’re pretty much sunk from the get go, regardless of how expert you might be in other facets of the program.
The great thing about this platform is that it’s not just about watching and learning (though that’s an excellent way to start), but participating in the community and learning through that engagement, whether that’s the forum, the Data Challenges, Problem of the Week, interactive sessions with @sam.mckay , etc.
Enjoy your journey - it’s an amazing road.
- Brian
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Another book I recommend and fall back on alot is:
Power Pivot and Power BI by Rob Collie and Avi Singh
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