Thoughts on some books?

[NCPCLHagent]

Hey guys,

I was wondering if anyone can give an opinion on the "insurance essentials" books from the National Alliance. There is one for P&C, L&H, and risk management.

http://www.scic.com/store/essentials-package.html

It's going to be a while before a CIC course in my area and I'm purely personal lines P&C so I figured the books would help and also provide some good information for a reference book if something comes up in the future. Will these books be actually in-depth and thought provoking, or is this more of a "baby's first insurance book" that is very similar to licensing? I'd like to get some information on the coverages, when they are useful, some exclusions, and how to read the ISO forms and such. It looks good but at the same point I don't want to spend 65 bucks on a book that doesn't deliver, either.

I'm "moderate" in my knowledge. I'm by no means an expert yet but I'm not an order taker insurance agent either, if that makes sense. But I'd like to break more into commercial and I don't have a mentor so I figured this would at least put me in the right direction to being an informed agent.

WIll these books be useful?

Also, is there any overlap with these books and the CPCU books? Are they teaching similar material or are they very different in what is covered?

Thanks!

[ForumReader]

It has been several years ago since I purchased the Insurance Essentials material so I have not seen the current book. We used it primarily for individuals who were new to the insurance business. It is groundwork, it is not like a CPCU course. The one I had covered insurance terms and P&C basic concepts, legal essentials, and basic info about approx a dozen personal and commercial coverage forms, such as Homeowners, CGL, etc. in a book less than 1" thick. It is more introductory material than an in-depth course of study. However, it can be good preparation before you leap into more in-depth courses for lines of coverage you aren't familiar with.