Originally posted by Lynn Beighley:
This book isn't for everyone. If you take pride in your ability to learn from really dense technical books, you probably won't like this one. But if you fall asleep in the middle of the discussion of WHERE clauses in that 400 page text-only book, take a look at this one.
I've read many of the Head First books and keep a good handful on my office shelves. I'm sure some people feel self-conscious about reading out of a book with lots of thought bubbles and other goofy bits hanging around. At first, I really felt like I was reading out of one of the "For Dummies" books.
However, the key is that the topics covered are the same topics you'd find in any other text - it's the format that's different. Like most folks, I don't have all day to sit and read technical manuals. In the past, I found it very common for me to read a page from one of my tech books and, when I got done, thought to myself, "What the heck did I just read?" And then I had to go back and read it again. With the Head First books, you're given a lot of illustrations and conversational text that makes it easier to take in and easier to remain interested. I've found that I can read the Head First books for longer periods of time and retain more information than when reading "classic" tech books. Personally, I love the series.