Book Review: DAX for Humans

I recently received a review copy of DAX for Humans: The No CALCULATE Guide that Makes DAX Easy by Greg Deckler from my friends at PackT.

Author

Greg Deckler is the vice president of a global consulting services company. He’s a fellow Data Platform MVP and an active data community member. Greg also wrote DAX Cookbook: Over 120 recipes to enhance your business with analytics, reporting, and business intelligence .

Content

If you’ve worked with Power BI or semantic data models for any length of time, you’ve probably encountered the same challenge millions of others have: DAX is powerful… but it often feels unnecessarily difficult to learn. Much of that frustration stems from the traditional teaching approach, which centers heavily on the CALCULATE function — arguably the most complicated and unintuitive function in the entire language.

That’s where DAX for Humans comes in. This book takes a very different, refreshingly practical approach to learning DAX — and in doing so, it reshapes the way newcomers and experienced users alike can think about the language.

Years ago, when discussing the MDX language, I always used to tell students that most of us dabble in MDX and that there were a handful of people I knew that think in MDX. So what most people need is a set of recipes to adapt, more than an entire course on MDX. And the story is similar with DAX, even though far more people now think in DAX.

Learning DAX — Without the Frustration

Instead of diving straight into CALCULATE, DAX for Humans focuses on the core concepts behind the language. Greg builds understanding through clear explanations, real-world examples, and a single conceptual pattern that can be applied to the majority of DAX problems.

From the very first chapter, the book guides you through the essentials without assuming prior knowledge. Whether you’re analysing customers, HR data, finance, operations, or projects, each scenario seems practical and immediately relatable. The learning path feels intuitive — even for readers with no DAX or Power BI background.

By the end, you’re doing a lot more than just writing formulas.

DAX Coverage

This is a large book. It spans everything from fundamentals to advanced topics, including:

Step-by-step patterns for solving common DAX calculations
Real-world business scenarios across multiple domains
Approaches for tricky or unusual DAX challenges
Optimisation and debugging techniques
Modern workflows that incorporate AI for writing and refining DAX

The inclusion of artificial intelligence guidance is particularly timely, given the current level of interest in it within the technical community. It gives readers a practical lens on how tools like Copilot or ChatGPT can be integrated into their daily Power BI or semantic model workflow.

Target audience

I’d say the book is largely targeted at Power BI users or semantic model developers who have struggled with DAX, but it could also be Excel users transitioning into analytics roles. In fact, these Excel users would probably get the most out of the book.

It could also suit total beginners looking for a clean, logical learning path. The writing style and examples are accessible enough for newcomers, but there’‘’s plenty of depth for experienced people.

Teaching method

Greg’s teaching method is excellent. He recognised something the DAX community has known for years: most Power BI users come from Excel, and CALCULATE is an immediate roadblock. By removing that barrier early, the book manages to make DAX feel logical rather than mysterious.

The explanation of variables is particularly strong. Readers will come away with a clearer understanding and a more confident approach to structuring DAX expressions.

Final Verdict

DAX for Humans is one of the most intuitive introductions to DAX I’ve seen. It takes a notoriously difficult topic and presents it in a way that feels natural, logical, and grounded in real work—not academic theory.

If you’ve ever felt frustrated trying to learn DAX—or if you simply want to strengthen and modernise the way you write it—this book is well worth your time.

Clear, practical, and genuinely human-friendly.

Summary

If you’ve ever felt frustrated trying to learn DAX — or if you simply want to strengthen and modernise the way you write it — this book is well worth your time.

It’s clear, practical, and genuinely human-friendly.

9 out of 10

2025-12-18