Rating: 
Summary: 8 stars out of 5!
Review: I had to smile seeing the contrast between the reviews of the South African reader and the Columbus Ohio reader. For my own part, I found it to be a really excellent book and very well written. It gives you a hand-held guide through the minefield of OOP like no other book I've seen. For someone like me who was drilled in 'structured programming', this is ideal course in switching the brain to think objects. The examples are great, and they work, unlike many other computer books. If you take an hour a day, you can do this in 21 days; if you are more eager, you can easily cut the time down to a week or 10 days (like the reader from South Africa). I'm off to brew some traditional liquid Java to enjoy while tackling the next 3 chapters :)
Rating: 
Summary: 21 Days...Shmunty-one Days!
Review: Ok, it's a good book. No doubt about it. Yet, why do they insist on giving it a "21 days" title? Friends, the only way you will get through this book in 21 days is to take the phone off the hook, send your girlfriend a BIG basket of flowers, buy a box of no-doze, and use up all of your remaining vacation time. It will take you twice this amount of time (at least) to make it through!
Rating: 
Summary: A Good Way to Learn Java
Review: I had taken one Introductory Java course at a local college before reading this book. I wish that I would have read THIS book first! It's easy to understand if you have a 'little' computer experience. It's also laid out well and focuses on some of the more pertinent aspects of Java, for example, applets, which my class did not cover.public void myRecommendation(){ System.out.println ("Get it today!"); } (ha ha)
Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: I am a beginner in the world of programming. In addition, I know that Java is quite difficult to grasp. Thus, I knew it will take time for me to learn the language. When, I first read this book I had trouble understanding it. I was quite frustrated. However, I stuck with it and read it another time and another time. It took me about 21 days to read the book three times. Meanwhile, the Java light bulb in my head finally lit up. Nevertheless, here is my advice to the beginning Java programmers of the future:(1) BE PATIENT and eventually you will learn the language of Java. (2)Preview the chapters and read their summaries before studying them. (3) Read the parts or chapters of the book that were difficult to learn again and again, until you master them. (4)Try to understand and utilize rather than memorize the concepts of Java. (5) Read more than one related book on Java; you will realize that some books explain certain concepts of Java better than others and cover concepts of Java that some books fail to cover. Afterwards, you will agree that this book deserves 5 stars.
Rating:
Summary: New in Java with programming background
Review: If your new to Java and come from other language background like PB, C++. You will be abble to surf through the 21 days whithout problems. Examples are easy to understand with an line by line description.
Rating: 
Summary: A let down
Review: Pure frustration. Explanations are intermingled with irrelavant history lessons and pathetic jokes while not really explaining the subject. There is no natural learning progression as it jumps from basic method syntaxs to a highly complex code set. This book is neither a learning tool nor technical reference. Don't buy it, there must be better books!
Rating:
Summary: Great Book!
Review: If your new to Java and come from a C/C++ background, you'll be slinging Java code in just a few hours. It has great examples usually with a complete line by line explanation of what is going on. I did find it a little lacking in the area of threads; there are some examples but I wished it was discussed a little more in detail. If your looking to write applets this is where the book really shines. Great explanations and good points on how to make sure your applets are compatible with the popular web browsers.
Rating:
Summary: Confusing
Review: This is a Very confuing book.The authors haven't gave focus on some very important topics.Is not for beginners.
Rating:
Summary: Confusing for beginners, and not much better for others
Review: I'd only recommend Teach Yourself Java 2 in 21 Days if nothing else is available. First, let me say that a few have eluded to the "cutesy" writing style the authors intersperse throughout this book. It's not as sickening as they claim; in fact, it's actually one of the saving graces of the book, adding enough humor and "down-to-earthness" to keep the reader somewhat interested in it. My beef is the confusing teaching style Lemay and Cadenhead present. It often leaves the reader frustrated and perplexed by jumping around back and forth in the book searching for a clear explanation on how to do anything within Java. Here's what I mean: frequently, new terminology is only briefly touched upon within a chapter (and it usually doesn't tie in directly with the chapter's subject matter), only to abruptly conclude with "We'll get into this topic more tomorrow" or "we'll cover this more next week". When the topic is reconvened later, you're automatically expected to have a thorough knowledge of it. This leaves you thumbing through previous pages trying to look for any detailed explanation on it. I found that the first seven chapters are especially good (or should I say bad) at this. I can realistically say that at the end of the first week, some beginners still won't know the differences between variables, statements, and methods -- all basic elements taught "in detail". The examples sometimes include elements that aren't even mentioned until several chapters later. As you're going through lines of code, there's the odd syntax with no details on what it actually does within the example. You're just excepted to accept it. If you're new to Java, and like to know what's going on at all times, this would prove to be quite mind-boggling. While this is admittedly unavoidable, there are so many times the authors could've started out with simple concepts (and examples to match them) and "build up" gradually. Speaking of the examples -- I feel there should have been more in each chapter. Unless you're the type who remembers everything after being told only once, you'd need more examples and sample applications and applets to help the material "sink in".
Rating:
Summary: How to learn a little bit in more than 21 days
Review: This book is ok, easy to follow, but very basic overview of Java. If you are serious about wanting to learn Java, there are plenty of better books out there, even if like me, you have no hardcore programming experience.
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