Rating: 
Summary: Neither a zen, nor a bible of programming
Review: This book, quite simply sucks. I opened it up looking for good advice. Instead, I find discussions that lead nowhere, or if they do, they are very boring. For example, is it really necessary to discuss modularity and abstraction? Isn't it a bit obvious to anyone who has programmed even a little that breaking programs into manageable pieces is a good philosophy? That was the only concept treated that has some relevance to programming. Other topics, such as streams, logic programming, evaluators are all either useless, or presented so poorly, you'll definitely be better off reading specialized books on those topics. This book isn't good for beginners either. It's just too complicated.
Rating:
Summary: overrated
Review: The book promises to make a better programmer out of you, to teach you how to think about programs, but this promise is not kept. Those things which it presents that are relevant to overall philosophy of programming are already widely know as it is. The other things they present are completely useless. In short, you will not gain any valuable insight and won't see any revelations or any radical and vastly superior methods of thinking about programs. It's just mundane drivel here. To top it off, the book is very dry. I'm extremely interested in theoretical computer science and this book managed to bore even me. You'd need a lots and lots of patience to get through even a fraction of the material here. I wouldn't recommend this title to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: shabby book
Review: The material in this book may be fun for some and boring to most, but if looked at objectively, this title does a pretty bad job of explaining most of the concepts that they try to introduce. Some things are dwelled on for so long that the reading becomes tedious, and some are covered too quickly. The last chapter, on register machines, is completely out of place. It belongs in a book on assembly programming and is a complete turn in the opposite direction from the rest of the book. In short, this title hopes to be the programming bible, but it never actually gets there. Many empty words and pointless discussions that lead nowhere. Unless you are absolutely in love with philosophical discussions on programming, and thus can put up with a bad presentation, don't get the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Programming Zen
Review: It is a great book for the serious student. I spent much of the read-time visualizing the excellent concepts. When I finished this book, I was able to easily learn and effectively use several languages. (VB, Java, VBScript, JScript, Perl, C++)It is very import to understand that programming is not just understanding the language, but how to use it effectively. ~ Just because you know how to speak & spell in English that doesn't mean you are great writer... This book will help you become a great writer (programmer).
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: These recent negative reviews are unfortunate. SICP is not a cookbook; it is not `practical' in the sense that it doesn't teach you the skills you need to know to become a grunt in industry. What it does teach you, however, are the tools you need to think about computing; it gives you tools and ways to think about problems that many--if not most--programmers are unfamiliar with and for some reason resent. People who will appreciate this book are people who appreciate beauty in coding; the book is less about getting the job `done,' and more about writing the most elegant programs possible using every tool and (more importantly) idea at your disposal. Scheme is not the `best' language, but it is a great language; in the text's wide array of topics, Scheme is used as the basis for a high level procedural and functional language, parallel language, object oriented language, ambiguous language (i.e., a language with built in backtracking), and logic language. The book teaches you how to program and THINK in all of those paradigms in order to write the most beautiful algorithms. The text is not easy, but it is no surprise why it is the introductory text at MIT and Berkeley (where I encountered it). The intellectual level and the pace that this text maintains is at a level that only the intelligent and hard working can appreciate. But the results are rewarding; in the end you'll have been thorougly introduced to a breadth of topics unparalleled by any computer science text, both in theory and practice. This is not a book for those who see Computer Science as manual labor: those who favor skipping study in favor of experience. This is a textbook for those who want to think about programming, and program in the best way possible. It may not be `practical' in a world where most code is written in COBOL and Visual BASIC; this is a book for those who see programming as an artform.
Rating:
Summary: not worth the time
Review: Some interesting ideas here, but in general, I regret having spent time on this book. It turns out most of what it talks about is already taught in other beginning courses on structured programming. Other topics...such as things from later in ch3 through ch5 are completely useless in today's programming industry. Register machines belong in a computer engineering course, not in a computer science book. Chapter 4, on interpreters is totally pointless. It shows you how to design a scheme interpreter, written in Scheme! How much dumber can you get? And most of chapter 3 is either completely irrelevant, since the topics discussed are specific to scheme, or they are common knowledge. When the authors spend 20 pages on assignment and how variables should be conceptually viewed, you know you're dealing with time wasters. I've talked to many people, very few liked this text, and those who did mostly liked the Scheme language...but though the book was too difficult to read and didn't explain the language details enough.
Rating:
Summary: Scheme ruins everything
Review: If looked upon as a reference, this book isn't all that bad. There are some interesting concepts here. Few, thought--most of the stuff is self evident. Also, I really think them using Scheme was a big mistake. A book of this caliber should not concern itself with specific languages, true, and they could have done two things: use a syntactically simple language, or ignore any specific language all together and use pseudocode. They chose the former, and that's too bad. Scheme is totally inappropriate for these kinds of complicated things. My other gripe with the title is that it doesn't go in depth into any one topic. Just a bunch of concepts thrown at you and briefly explained. The book migh serve well as a reference, but it definitely isn't for beginners, as it claims to be, and it definitely won't teach you programming. Most of the material here is curious, but hardly relevant to you if you've never programmed before.
Rating:
Summary: Most amazing book about thinking and programming.
Review: Have read it, have studied it, am most inspired by it. If all programmers would read this there would be better code in the world. Knowing this book you can make the almost impossible happen, harness the true potential of the computing machines. If you grew up around great scientific and engineering minds that makes it easier to read this book in one sitting, but everyone who wants to become a creator of the digital future, everyone who truly wants to be in control of our fate should read this book. How do you become a great programmer? At some time read this book, even if it takes you many tries to get through it. I had programmed for ten years when I read this book, and I have programmed more than ten years since, and this possibly was the most influential book of the trade. This should not become outdated in many decades. What are you waiting for, order it!
Rating:
Summary: a mediocre title
Review: While some of the information is pretty interesting, most of it isn't, and some is outright self evident, such as abstraction concepts. In the year since I've read this book, I haven't opened it again and never used a single concept from it. That should tell you something about how relevant it is. It is really supposed to be for beginners, but I don't think beginners would find this text very user friendly or easy to understand. I know I had trouble in some parts and I'm not a beginner. In fact, I was forced to take this course as a computer science major at MIT. I've had a fair number of discussions about the book with various students. Few, if any, liked it. In short, it's just your average book, and definitely not worth the price, or your time. It has no earthshattering things to teach you.
Rating:
Summary: the out of place humor doesn't help matters
Review: The only pro for this book is the wealth of information. The main con is that all of this wealth is presented in a haphazard way. I couldn't understand most of it. This text would be OK as an occasional reference, but nothing more. It is definitely overrated. Just as an example, data directed programming, the way it is presented in the book, is counterintuitive. Operator overloading in C++ makes much more sense, even if its syntax is a little tougher than Scheme's. And finally, what's with the jokes? When they mentioned Microshaft, I realized that the authors are just two immature jerks. Don't get this book.
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