Rating: 
Summary: Good book leads me to understand very deeply
Review: When I start with XML, I don't even know what that is, I have the basic knowledge of HTML, and a little bit about Basic, right now, I'm being able to write my own dynamic website by using XML. It is very understandable. It's worth it to buy it.
Rating: 
Summary: Must Have XML Book
Review: I have read many XML books in the last six books. Many are outdate by June of 2000. This book and the Professional ASP XML book are definitely the most update xml books I have read so far. This book is definitely very good for beginners unlike XML IE5 Reference by Wrox every chapters in this book is worth the money. In XML IE5 Reference, only chapter 5-8 are good chapters and chapter 1-4 are very confusing chapters. Most important, the examples on XSL in this book works on Microsoft Technologies such as IE5 and IIS4 & IIS5 unlike other XML books on XSL they don't work with IE5. Lastly, the only critical thing I have on all wrox books on the topic of XML is that the examples give the XML and XSL source but not the html output as a result of the combination of XML and XSL through either ASP or just XML referencing the XSL.
Rating:
Summary: The best book on XML and related subjects
Review: Looking at all of Wrox books that are currently on sale, this is the most well-written and most useful one. And among the XML books out there, this is one of the top three. Better than O'Reiley's XML In A Nutshell 3rd Edition at teaching the beginners how to get started on XML, and explains the concept clearly. Covers DTD and Schema along with other XML related applications. Usually books that are written by multiple authors are a pain in the neck to read, the difference in writing style would simply confuse you. But not this one. If they tell me that all chapters are written by one single author, I'd belive them.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book for beginners...
Review: This is an excellent book for newbies to XML. I had to learn XML for a project FAST! Using this book I got up to speed with other developers on the team in no time. I used a coupon from UnderTag.com, so it was almost free for me too.
Rating:
Summary: New edition is vastly updated
Review: First, please note that all of the reviews prior to September 2004 refer to older editions of this book.
More importantly, the 3rd edition was a large overhaul of this existing material and includes a lot of new coverage (XML 1.1, RSS, SVG, Relax NG and more) not found in the earlier editions.
Rating: 
Summary: Not bad, but dated now
Review: This book isn't all that bad, especially if you don't intend to read it cover to cover. There are portions of the XML tutorials that are very informative and to the point. Some of the examples are also well thought out and educational. Its weak point lies in its structure and its overall focus. It seems to bounce around a bit, and I can see how some readers might lose their way or get confused.
The best way to use this book is as a reference guide. Look up what you need from the index, and read up on it. For a more thorough approach to learning about the entire world of XML, though, there are better titles available.
Also, having said all that, this book is a bit dated by now. Any current book on XML would introduce you to some of the newer XML standards that have emerged.
Rating:
Summary: Dull but effective
Review: Overall, this book is worth the money...but it's a mixed blessing.Ye GODS is this book dull. XML is a dry, dull topic to begin with. Declarative programming is a dry, dull topic. (Or perhaps I've just reached my limit with new programming concepts, and they're not fun any more.) This book does little to liven up that native dryness. But I suppose I don't read programming books for excitement and adventure. Still...I've read nerd books that had less of the "propped-up eyelids" effect. There have even been moments when bold propositions on the revolutionary nature of OOP had me feeling the rush of wind in my (now non-existent) hair, the smell of salty sea air in my nostrils, and the the thrill of the chase in my veins. This book is more like an all-day visit with your prim Baptist grandmother. It might save your soul, but you won't be telling your friends about it later. Some of the material is covered very well. The opening chapters are clear and concise, and the material on XML namespaces was very helpful to me. Other material is not covered so well. Some of the examples in XSLT, especially XPath, are tossed out, and are hideously confusing. It is only two or three paragraphs later that the confusing aspects are cleared up (if at all). I find this maddening, because I tend to hover on the example, and the paragraph immediately following it, until I figure it out. (I hate leaving unresolved questions in my mind when I'm reading programming books. Too often, they stay unresolved, and then I find myself lost when I'm attempting to code.) When I would finally give up in despair, I'd find the answer a bit further down the page, and realize I'd been wasting my time. Overall, when I got through the XSLT chapter, I understood it, but it was much more frustrating than it needed to be. I sense the lack of a good editor (or maybe any editor) here. There were also a few strange examples written for, as the author himself admits, the "sheer perverseness" of it. DON'T DO THAT! If you want to have a sidebar where you show some unusual ways of doing things, fine. Keep them out of your primary examples. This is where a good editor steps in, clears his throat, and points a stern, accusing finger at the offending passage. A single word--"Out!"--suffices to bend the author to his will. But I have to admit that I have yet to see somebody write a good, overall introduction to XPath that doesn't completely confuse and discombobulate a newbie. So it isn't just this author who is at fault. The chapters on XML Schemas and DTDs are good. The chapters on the DOM and SAX interfaces are excellent. I nearly enjoyed reading them. A lot of the later stuff in the book doesn't really belong in a "Beginning XML" book, if you ask me. SOAP, XML and Databases, Linking and Querying XML...these seem like at least intermediate topics, if not advanced. In my opinion, the "Beginning" part of the book ended more or less at page 385, even though the book goes on to page 603 before you hit the appendices. (The appendices contain some helpful reference material.) I'm also not terribly happy with Wrox's "sell more books" technique of having "Beginning" and "Professional" books that have so much overlapping material. A lot of the stuff in their "Professional XML" book is not much more than a rehash of material presented here. It's dull enough the first time! The diagrams on the backs of their books imply that there's a progression from one book to the other. I didn't think that reading the "Professional" book was worth the effort after reading the "Beginning" book. I just picked out bits I was interested in. That meant at the bookstore, because I sure wasn't going to fork over the price for another big book I wouldn't read. One other thing--the book has far too many errors in it. Admittedly, Wrox is very good at having online errata for their books to provide corrections. But careful editing up front is always preferable. The whole nerd book industry has a really awful reputation for sloppy editing. It's time that changed. Nevertheless, there's no doubt that this book gives you a good grounding in a broad range of XML topics. Be prepared to be confused by the XLST and XPath material. (Consider looking at other sources for XPath in addition to this one.) Be prepared to visit Wrox's errata page for this book, and write in all the corrections in your copy. But this book does fairly well for a single-volume introduction to XML. If only it weren't so dull!
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