Rating: 
Summary: Excellent reference, well-written, complete
Review: The one essential book for Python programmers. Well-organized and indexed, it even lists the obscure modules that aren't documented in the book. Clear and concise writing, and good examples.If only all computer books were this good. Please update for Python 2.0.
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Summary: If you are extending/embedding Python, this is a MUST HAVE!
Review: This book is definitely geared towards those already comfortable with another programming language, particularly C. If you are a C programmer, the beginning of this book will quickly walk you through the Python language symantics, standard data types, strings, lists, tuples, dictionaries, etc. The center sections focus on the standard Python libraries, which may or may not be of interest to beginners. However, the final section of this book is devoted to extending/embedding Python. From personal experience, if you attempt to do this step by relying on the HTML help from www.python.org or by visiting comp.lang.python, you are in for a LONG road. This book answered my critical questions and had me up and working in a matter of days versus weeks. Highly recommended for intermediate to advanced programmers. Outright programming beginners should probably look elsewhere first.
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Summary: All the book you'll ever need
Review: If you're a moderately knowledgeable Perl programmer and have had some C/C++ experience, this is all the book you'll need for learning Python. I've rarely seen a reference book that has so much utility as a "quick-start" learning tool -- or conversely, an intro book which continued to be so useful after I'd gotten the gist of the language down. I bought this book along with O'Reilly's Learning Python, intending to use L.P. for an introduction and then refer to the Essential Reference. However, I quickly learned that Beazley's book was a better way to learn the points of the language I needed to know to begin using it. After an initial skim through the O'Reilly book, I barely opened it through the rest of my self-tutorial of Python. The Python Essential Reference (in conjunction with occasional on-line look-ups in the Python reference files) were all I needed to get going. If you're a fairly experienced programmer (particularly in Perl or C/C++), I can't see any reason to buy any other book than this.
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Summary: A big book in a small package
Review: () 'Python - Essential Reference reveals the beauty of Python in a concise, but clear, form. The best thing about this book is that it is well balanced between a reference book and a tutorial. It's laid out logically, with very few references to concepts that have not been defined yet. The writing, especially in the examples, is carefully considered and there is hardly a wasted word. In comparison to the multi-page examples I've endured in other books recently, Mr. Beazley's four and five line examples are quite delightful. It also has the extensive reference section and index you expect from a reference book. Everything I've looked for so far has been in the index. If you are already familiar with other languages such as C, Java, Visual Basic, etc., this book is an ideal tutorial although you do have to read it quite carefully. This is definitely not a book you can speed-read. Unlike many technical books published these days, which have a long list of authors, 'Python - Essential Reference' has a very consistent style. There are no chapters that are noticeably better or worse than the others. They are all well written. My only criticism is that it only covers version 1.5.2. I hope an edition covering 2.0 is in the works.
Rating: 
Summary: Accomplishes its goals...not sure of the overall utility
Review: Refer to the the editorial reviews that head this listing for a description of this book: I think they're very accurate in terms of content description. In short, this book is a terse, clear treatment of Python intended for at least moderately experienced programmers to be used as a desk-side and away-from-the-keyboard reference. However, since I downloaded the Active State ActivePython 2.0 with the new indexed help system, I almost never use this reference. Believe that this book, at least for me, primarily shored up the lack of indexing in the free hypertexed help system in my 1.5x and 1.6x distributions. Also worth noting is that some of the module information (e.g., types) is already becoming a little outdated.
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Summary: The Python Hacker's Swiss Army Knife
Review: Some people may wonder why they should spend money on a Pythonreference book since the Python distribution includes all the officialreferences... This book has the advantage that's it's an"all-in-one" solution as it combines references to all theparts of the Python language (core Python, modules, libraries etc.)with clear explanations of what you can do with each of them, plusgreat code examples. So if you want to speed up and boost yourcreativity with Python, simply buy the book.
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Summary: a must-have for python programmers
Review: Let me put it this way - I carry this book to work everyday in my bag, because I don't want to be at home or at work without it. This is an excellent specimen of a technical reference. Its organization and content are both superb. I have not yet found any errata. Of course, the Amazon reviewer isn't sure that Python is a good language to work in, and if you agree, then this probably isn't the book for you. The little search box can help you find books about other languages that you do like. I don't recall a similar judgement about Lee et al's Java library reference, and find its inclusion here odd and unharmonious.
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Summary: Essential for any python programmer
Review: Beazly has written the perfect reference for Python. This book has every important function *concisely* described and with excellent real code examples (as opposed to the ubiquitous `desktop calculator' ones that many books use). Whether you are experienced with Python or are just starting out, this is THE python reference. I'd put it up with Kernighan and Ritchie's "The C Programming Language" and Guy Steele's "Commmon Lisp: The Language (1st ed)". There's no higher praise than that. --Pat / zippy@cs.brandeis.edu
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Summary: It doesn't get any better than this.
Review: All future technical reference writers should be forced to buy, read, and copy the style of the author who wrote this book! It's that good. I have yet to need to look up something in the standard python distribution, and spend more than a few seconds looking for what I need. The information is very, very clearly indexed. It's also very well cross referenced within the text itself. Essentially if your a programmer, new to Python, and are capable of the learn as you go ( aka. 'use the source luke!' ) method of learning then this book will prove invaluable.
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Summary: What a quick reference should be
Review: It's concise, it's well-organized, it's small, and it just plain looks good. Combined with "The Quick Python Book", you've got all you need in the way of Python documentation, and nary an O'Reilly title in sight.
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