Java Garage by Eben Hewitt

[Book Review Team]

<pre>Author/s : Eben Hewitt
Publisher : Prentice Hall PTR
Category : Beginning Java
Review by : Johannes de Jong
Rating : 5 horseshoes</pre>
It's becoming a trend in computer books to try and put a personal "stamp" on the book by adding humor and/or personalized "information". The danger of doing so is that the reader might end up not liking the book because of this "extra baggage". This was the case for me with Java Garage, which actually is a pity because once I looked past it, I found some very useful information, like the Java Development tools and the FAQ chapters for instance, but I'm afraid that overall I'm not very positive about this book.

I personally do not much care for a book that compares computer languages. Mr. Hewitt regularly compares Java with C#. Another "sin" in my eyes is when the author starts explaining something and then tells me that the how's and why's will be explained in the next book. Why bother to mention it at all then.

More time could also have been spent on the layout and/or editing. The book is full of errors and the code because of the tabbing is downright unreadable at places.

This book gets great reviews from others so it might all come down to me not liking the format, but I honestly can say that I can not recommend anybody to spend their hard earned cash on this book.


More info at Amazon.com
More info at Amazon.co.uk

[Book Review Team]

<pre>Author/s : Eben Hewitt
Publisher : Prentice Hall PTR
Category : Beginning Java
Review by : Thomas Paul
Rating : 4 horseshoes</pre>
Headache. That is what I got when I picked up this book. Too cute. Too many short sentences. Sentence fragments. Headache. Recipes. My 12-year-old daughter's instant messages.

First thing to note is this is a beginner's book although you won't find that in the description. Second is that I blame this on "Head First Java". You know when a successful TV show comes out and the other networks copy it? You know how they never do it right? It's as if someone saw "Survivor" and decided it was a success because people ate bugs so they made a show where people ate bugs to win. "Head First Java" uses humor to help focus the mind on difficult concepts. This book uses humor to be cool(?), funny(?) but most of the time it is just annoying, which is a shame because there is some good information and some of it is well presented. I assume the author is trying to be amusing and be less like a traditional technical book but he fails at the former and overachieves at the latter.

At one point in the book the author suggests that if you still have questions that you should get Zoloft and take up a hobby like gardening. I think it's a little odd for an author to suggest that his readers are in need of anti-depressants but if forced to read this book, it may not be a bad idea. cya.


More info at Amazon.com
More info at Amazon.co.uk