Rating: 
Summary: Take with a large grain of salt.
Review: If you know absolutely nothing about XML, this book will give you one person's perspective of the topic landscape, but don't take it as gospel. Like most other "for Dummies", books this one also lacks competent editing. Direct contradictions can be found within three paragraphs of each other. The Glossary is perfunctory. The web site does not provide errata as advertised. One superficial quick read is all this book deserves and at the lowest "used" book price.
Rating:
Summary: Take with a large grain of salt.
Review: If you know absolutely nothing about XML, this book will give you one person's perspective of the topic landscape, but don't take it as gospel. Like most other "for Dummies", books this one also lacks competent editing. Direct contradictions can be found within three paragraphs of each other. The Glossary is perfunctory. The web site does not provide errata as advertised. One superficial quick read is all this book deserves and at the lowest "used" book price.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't buy this book! Get it from the Library or friend!
Review: If you've never heard of HTML this book is for you. If you have no clue about XML this book is for you. But if you have the slightiest knowledge of either don't buy this book.
Rating:
Summary: DO NOT BUY THIS LOUSY BOOK
Review: Ive read the first 4 chapters. This book explains how xml is different from html, and its relationship to sgml, but I have yet to find out WHY people use xml, or HOW people use it. Totally lacking in real-world examples of WHAT xml is. The book focuses on syntax, but skips explaining fundamentals of WHY, WHAT and HOW. Any other xml book must be better than this.
Rating: 
Summary: Below average for IDG
Review: Maybe it's a problem with XML itself, because the book is a little thin. In practice XML works with other markup languages, XSL (extensible style sheets) and XSLT (extensible style sheet transformations), as well as a couple of other components. This book only covers XML so maybe the content itself isn't enough to sustain a single book. The book's a decent read but doesn't delve too deeply into the code. I know this is a primer book, but still it could have used additional info on how to implement XML in web pages. I would read another primer than this one and then move on to an O'Reilly book on XML (when one comes out).
Rating:
Summary: Very Poor
Review: Poorly organized, incomplete, difficult to read. This is overall a bad reference for XML. Go to a bookstore, flip through it. It takes all of 5 minutes from cover to cover. There is no substance here. You can do better. Purchase your first XML book in person after reviwing the chapters in the store.
Rating:
Summary: XML for Dummies - 3rd Ed.
Review: Repetitious book - XML products listed in three different places at least... Repeated web site addresses ad nauseum. Listed the basic rules of XML 6 times and very few examples presented. Some of the techical content has mistakes.(5 places that I noticed) Could have written this book in half the space without the redundency. On the plus side, resources on the CD rom are very good. Pointers to companies who supply products are good.
Rating:
Summary: You Won't Learn Much About XML from THIS book
Review: Skimpy, hard to read, and sadly incomplete are the primary attributes of this book. Key concepts are presented in a half-baked manner leaving the reader to figure things out. Examples are pitiful and incomplete. I tried to get hold of the three authors using the e-mail address published in their book to query on particular aspects of the book. One address was already dead and the other two never bothered to repsond. Why publish the addresses at all? When contacted through their website, even IDG did not bother to respond. Save your money. Buy another XML book or use the net to research XML.
Rating:
Summary: Should be Called XML Jargon Instead
Review: The author may know his stuff. In fact, he may know it too well to teach it, as this book is full of terms and acronyms that are used within the text before being fully explained. You'll find yourself re-reading everything four times, trying to remember the difference between elements and entities, XSL and XML. Clearly the author loves the new technology and wants you to as well, but he doesn't explain it very well. Get XML Step By Step from MS Press if you want to actually learn this stuff.
Rating:
Summary: Good for conceptual knowledge, but not for how-to
Review: The book provided me with a high-level understanding, but it did not go into the level of detail I would have liked. A discussion of when to use XML vs. when not to would have been helpful. The lack of exercises guiding you through the process of authoring then transforming your doc into presentation-quality HTML is another glaring omission. If you want to get a good, basic understanding of XML--and you already have a solid foundation in HTML--I recommend this book. If you're looking for reference and how-to, look elsewhere.
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