Rating: 
Summary: Merely a rehash of Gamma et al
Review: This book is sort of ok. What I don't like about it, is that the Author reallys just rehashes what others has already written (Gamma et al Design Patterns and Current Programming in Java by D. Lea). The only advantage this book has to Gamma et al, is that it uses UML and Java - which is cool if that's what you know.
Rating: 
Summary: Patterns in Java, Volume 1
Review: This is a book which illustrates strongly the old saying "Don't judge a book by its cover." The title of the book was so attractive that almost every Java Developers that I know of bought it for reference. However, it turns out to be a nightmare to most. The material in the book was so poorly explained that I got lost reading it even after a few times. Sometimes, the author tried to illustrate the implementation of the Pattern by presenting a Java Code fragment. the code was so incomplete that I had no idea what is going on. Furthermore, in the chapter about Snapshot Pattern. The author first describes the pattern by mentioning a typical computer game example which is an interesting introduction. He should have explained more based on this example instead he confused readers by mentioning about serialisation and jump straight to game model class without any class diagrams.
Rating:
Summary: A Fair book
Review: I have read GOF book as well as this book(Vol1). This book is aim at Design Patterns with Java programmers in mind. One thing I like about this book is that it uses different example for each patterns. (The Gof book is based on SmallTalk & C++ and uses through out the book, the long-winded "Maze game" example which I lose interest quickly and hard to understand. I think The GOF book needs updating with different examples for each patterns and also with Java code.). One thing I found is typos and errors in this book. Also, author needs to be very clear and precise about what he is referring to in a pattern as there are several interacting classes around. Use the class name if he needs to. At times, I found that he is not clear..and I lost him.Other than that, it is probably the best book after GoF. Remember, if people can't see your point, they get's frustrated..
Rating: 
Summary: One of the best.
Review: As a frequent reader I found this book quite simply one of the best. I loved the way it was written, and the way it involved the reader. A must read. Better than a weekend at Reeco's.
Rating: 
Summary: Full of typos and badly formed code
Review: (I just read everything, from the intro, mini case study, to the first few patterns.) Like others have stated, this book is full of distracting typos and lots of misindented and broken code. Many of the long descriptions are confusingly worded and peppered with bad grammer, such as runon sentences and missing commas. I will never buy a Mark Grand book again without being able to easily return it (ala amazon.com). My opinion of Wiley as a publisher has gone down a few notches for letting such a low quality book get published.
Rating:
Summary: A shocker!
Review: Oh my, that this book misses the mark so badly is laughable (you have to laugh or you'll cry!). The author doesn't truly understand the subject matter at all with numerous bad implementations of the GoF patterns. This shows a lack of true understanding of the GoF patterns in the first place as well as a lack of true understanding of Java (interfaces leaps out as an example here). I agree with another reviewer. The only book worse than this is Volume 2.
Rating:
Summary: Read only at your peril!!
Review: Having written several Java books myself and being a self confessed design pattern addict, I was looking forward to reading this book. Unfortunately I was immensely disappointed with the content. I agree with most of the negative comments written here about both Vols 1 and 2 and only add my own voice to the crowd to ensure the weight of numbers prevails. The big problem with this book is that it is _so_ inaccurate, both syntactically and semantically, you cannot _trust_ the content. Some of the text is accurate: for example the description of the Visitor pattern is semantically fairly accurate although there are numerous typos and diagramming errors. However, the accompanying code is not a Visitor pattern. Since the key benefit of this book over other design pattern books is that the code is in Java, the usefulness of the book is lost. The net effect is that the beginner will not learn design patterns correctly. Given that a major benefit of design patterns is the common understanding of certain coding idioms, this is a very damaging book. It is like learning to play the piano the wrong way - once the damage is done to the technique it can take years of hard work to repair. You are much better off learning to play properly from the beginning. In the context of design patterns, this means reading the GoF, Siemens, and Doug Lea books.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely awful! Learn your way right out of a job.
Review: I have seen more than a hundred books on Java. The only Java book worse than volume 1 of this series is volume 2. The author demonstrates only a superficial understanding of his subject matter. Countless errors range from code bugs to thorough misunderstanding of the issues associated with the patterns he presents. Readers of this volume will be guided into inferior designs with greater likelihood of rework. Some companies are now starting to use this material to judge applicants. Applicants who quote this material or show similar levels of misguidance are being turned away, judged not fit to hold positions as experienced software developers. Readers wishing to learn design patterns should start with the GoF book (Design Patterns by Gamma, Helm, Johnson, and Vlissides). A thorough understanding of that book's material will greatly benefit the reader. Patterns in Java will serve only to midguide, misinform, and confuse.
Rating:
Summary: Danger - most bad reviews here are for second edition!!
Review: I found the first edition of this book to be pretty good - many of the comments here with low ratings for this book are really for the second edition, which does have many of the problems described.
Rating:
Summary: Total Disgrace of a Book
Review: I was excited when this book came out and bought it w/o hesistation. Unfortunately, after reading the book I came to realize that the author has only a superficial understand of design patterns, what's even worse is some of his explanations were completely off the mark! This book should never had been published and is ample testament to the poor quality of recent books released by the publisher. Anyone claiming that this book is 5 stars is totally clueless or is in someone's payroll.
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