CHECK IN.SWITCH OFF.READ ON.

A worthwhile addition to my shelf, with realistic expectations.

I bought this on a whim after seeing it mentioned in a forum thread, and I am glad I did. The author clearly knows the subject deeply and has thought hard about how to teach it. The code samples assume a particular environment, which took a bit of fiddling to get running properly. Some terminology is introduced without much ceremony; I had to look a few things up along the way. Solid, and I would buy another book from this author without hesitation.

Mixed feelings. The good parts are genuinely good; the rest is forgettable.

I read this over a couple of weekends alongside a small side project, which turned out to be the ideal way to approach it. A few of the examples could be more realistic, but the underlying points come across clearly. I appreciated the honesty about what the book does not cover — it saved me from expecting things that were not there. The author is unusually honest about where the simplifications break down, which I appreciated. Fine, but there are stronger books on the same subject if you look around.

Better than I expected. Rare to find a technical book this well judged.

I picked this up after getting stuck on a project and it turned out to be exactly the right book at the right time. There is a section near the end that ties several earlier ideas together in a way I had not seen before. A few of the examples could be more realistic, but the underlying points come across clearly. Some of the material is available elsewhere, but rarely presented this clearly. An easy five stars from me. I look forward to whatever the author writes next.