A small spark. A bigger question.

A genuinely enjoyable read that also taught me a great deal.

I bought this on a whim after seeing it mentioned in a forum thread, and I am glad I did. The exercises at the end of each chapter are worth doing — they caught a few misconceptions I did not know I had. The examples are small enough to type out and experiment with, which is exactly what I want from a book like this. A couple of chapters felt like they could have been merged, but that is a minor complaint. If you have the prerequisites, this is an easy recommendation. I will be keeping it on my desk rather than the shelf.

Good value. Not perfect, but I would buy another book from this author.

I picked this up after getting stuck on a project and it turned out to be exactly the right book at the right time. The author avoids over-explaining, which keeps the pace up but means you need to pay attention. A few of the examples could be more realistic, but the underlying points come across clearly. The progression from chapter to chapter is well thought out; nothing feels out of order. Recommended, with the caveat that it is not a gentle introduction.

Outstanding. I kept finding reasons to come back to it.

I was looking for something that would bridge the gap between tutorials and proper reference material, and this does that well. The book rewards careful reading. Skimming it would be a mistake. The code samples assume a particular environment, which took a bit of fiddling to get running properly. I particularly liked the way the author builds up from simple cases before introducing the harder material. If you have the prerequisites, this is an easy recommendation. I will be keeping it on my desk rather than the shelf.