Rating: 
Summary: Excellent, Excellent, Excellent
Review: I have read numerous texts on XML, some of which refer to XSLT in a passing way. This is the first book that fully documents and explains the usage of XSLT Most other texts rely on a single example to illustrate their message. Which is fine unless the example has nothing to do with your real life problem. Michael Kay takes the more difficult path of describing the subject through the use of abstract ideas, thereby applying the explanation to a wider realm of experience. The book is structured in a manner that I wish more authors would follow. The first part, chapters 1-3 explain the concepts of the XSLT language. This part, although challenging, is worth reading closely. Ample examples elucidate the concepts presented. Chapters 4-7 are a reference on the language itself. The information is precise and all encompassing. Chapters 8-10 present examples of using the language in real world situations, or as Kay states: "developing real industrial applications." If there is a fault to find, it would lie in the presentation of the XSLT products in chapter 10. A more in-depth description of the usage of Xalan, for example, would have been greatly appreciated. At the present time, to use this product you are armed with the API and that's about it. Getting a process up and running is still a challenge. But, given the state of the industry, it's not surprising that this area was not more fleshed out. In summation, I can only agree with the previous reviews and state that this is THE reference to have on XSLT.
Rating:
Summary: If you don't have this, GET IT NOW !!!
Review: You absolutely cannot, I repeat CANNOT live w/out this book if you need to work with XML, in otherwords, you canno live w/out it. Kay will save you hours of frustration with his extensive examples and thorough explanations of key topics such as the XSLT processing model, Expressions, XPath, Patterns, and other reference and programming material. Just the Design Patterns and Examples chapters alone are worth more than the book sells for. XSLT forces you not only to program differently but to think and conceptualize your problems and solutions differently, you'll learn to program without the need for variables and by the time you're done with a few examples you'll know more about recurssion than you ever thought you would know, you'll be glad you paid attention in your introductory programming classes in college, if not, you'll be glad you have Kay to help you. He also talks about the history of XSLT, the products available, and most importantly helps you understand what's going on behind the scenes of the technology. As Kay himself says, XLST is the SQL of XML, if you don't master these techniques you'll be lacking an essential part of the skillset needed to develop the applications of now() and tomorrow().... This book serves as a great reference as well as a guide, we've bought a bunch of copies at the office and most of them are nearly worn out, if you're like us and eat, breathe, and sleep XML, you can't do without XSLT....
Rating:
Summary: Very cohesive and comprehensible
Review: I've been trying to make some sense out of XSL, XSLT, XPath, etc. - subjects that have only been standardized in the past year - for some time now, without a lot of luck. This book brings it all together. The text is well written, and the information seems to be just what I need. It's quite dense - I can get a lot out of a few pages.I recommend this book to anyone who is serious about learning and implementing XSLT. The subject matter is quite difficult but this book plus some good old fashioned hard work will make you into an expert.
Rating:
Summary: Hands down the best book available on XSL
Review: First things first, this is one of the only books out there on XSL/XSLT. You've got to give a book praise when it is one of the few available in the field. This is not a beginner's book, but for intermediate XML/XSL programmers. I have the XML Bible but like most books on XML, they only treat XSLT/XSLF with a chapter or two. I was getting sick of formatting my XML using the most basic XSL commands available and that's what these XML books were offering. Solution: book on XSL! I wanted to learn how to make my formatted XML more dynamic, more functionable in the browser. The book does start on a slightly XSL beginner's note. It goes over XSLT's background (probably cases for XSL over CSS) and the structure of an XSL stylesheet. From here, it goes in to a nice, 200-page XSL element reference with more transforming element tags than you can shake a stick at. After a chapter on Expressions, my two favorite chapters on Patterns & Functions show the real power of XSL. The book concludes with a chapter on Design Patterns (probably help you organize your XSL code more functionally), Worked Examples (not enough books have these contained within!), and XML/XSL-related products. Make sure you have some XML background first! Maybe that goes without saying, but I'll still offer Wrox's Professional XML as a primer. Please keep in mind that this XSLT book is an 800-page reference with a tiny tutorial section on XSL. If you are relatively new to XSL and want the basics, you are better off getting your info on the web [...] and when you've got those XSL offerings down, then go to this reference!
Rating:
Summary: The Best!...with a capital "B"
Review: The well-balanced blend of highly technical details, precise and carefully crafted examples are made very agreeable by Michael Kay's outstanding writing style. No fluff, nor arcane technical hocus-pocus that leaves the reader dazzed and kerflumoxed. Althought this book is not a tutorial, I found it highly motivating for self-teaching. The first 3 chapters explains a) what is XSLT b)how it works c)what makes it works (structure). It guides you clearly, in detail, trouhgt this crucial first example ("Greetings") so you're not stuck wondering HOW to make this stuff work. Explanations are to the point, and crucial relationships are put in context without verbosis. Chapters 4 to 7 is the Reference section, the nitty-gritty details of each feature of XSLT. That'll help a lot when trying to fly on your own. This is followed by "Worked Examples" again beautifully explained. Then, the tools. Not a mere URL reference to "Download this and you'll do just fine, mate!" but a hands-on guide to the nuts and bolts of each of them. Very helpful! I read 7 books so far on XML/XSL. Kay's book is the gem that stands out way above from the crowd. A winner!
Rating: 
Summary: OK as a reference
Review: If you're already clued up on XSLT, this would be a good reference. If you know XML, but want to *learn* about XSLT - it's quite appalling. Its dense, assumes lots of prior knowledge, and is written from the perspective of someone who already knows what he's talking about, so there's no need to explain it any further. The examples don't bear much relation to real world problems, and are concerned very quickly with low level details of the XSLT language. A common question I found myself asking was "I can see that X does Y to Z ... but why do you want to do this?"
Rating:
Summary: Most comprehensive XSLT Language Reference
Review: The best book about XSLT! Very good introduction of the XSLT Processing Model. Detailed, profound, precise XSLT Language Reference with lots of excellent, working, real life examples. Extremely useful chapters about Patterns, Design Patterns and Worked Examples. From the author of the SAXON XSLT-processor, this book covers everything you have to know about XSLT.
Rating:
Summary: Very Sharp!
Review: Michael works hard, and gets right to the meat. Mike obviously knows what he is talking about. Since this is a "reference", you may not find all of this book useful immediately, but as soon as you run into problems, you will find yourself thinking, "Mike wrote about this", and sure enough, your answer will be there. Read and re-read the general concept parts and refer to the reference parts as necessary. WELL worth the money!
Rating:
Summary: Great XSLT (don't confuse with XML) reference
Review: Okay, now that you know about having your data into XML, what do you do with it? And since browser compatibility with XML is somewhat limited and not really available to the general public (too much beta), you have to look at a more extensive way to show your XML than straight CSS. This book is the one I've read that contains the BEST reference about XSLT. I've read a lot of book that covers only a little bit for each functions. This book does contain a lot of explanation to it. This book is NOT MEANT as a way to LEARN XML/XSL but rather a way to BETTER PROGRAM/UNDERSTAND XSL once you know XML. That's what a Programmer's Reference is for. If you are looking for a book to tell you what is XSLT, get the Beginning XML or Professional XML, depending on your XML level. Once you have mastered that, you'll be ready for this book.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent language reference
Review: This is the best XSLT reference I've seen. There isn't a day in the last month that I haven't opened this book to find a "how" or syntax answer. Excellent. Keep in mind that it's really a _reference_ book. Don't buy this expecting an XML tutorial. For that matter, even the XSLT tutorial is pretty brief. DO buy it to get a solid, accurate reference for building XSLT stylesheets.
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