Rating: 
Summary: A rounded and well-balanced book
Review: At heart this is a straightforward and workmanlike introduction to blogging (the practice of keeping a public, on-line, journal). It compares features of most of the major blogging tools, describes how to use them, and suggests practical exercises to encourage readers to get started. It even includes a pretty good glossary and simple HTML reference. All this should help make it easy to get started in blogging using this book.The authors don't stop there, though. They add coverage of all kinds of alternative uses of blog technology, from corporate marketing to blogging for team building. Then they round out the book with chapters on how to publicise and market your own blog, and how to become part of the blogging community. The book also has a chapter on how blogs work, although it seems a bit one-sided, only really covering how one blog system works. This book is a rounded and well-balanced coverage of all aspects of blogging. It's a little too tied to specific technology, and lacks some raw enthusiasm and sparkle, but still a great book for the first-time blogger.
Rating:
Summary: A rounded and well-balanced book
Review: At heart this is a straightforward and workmanlike introduction to blogging (the practice of keeping a public, on-line, journal). It compares features of most of the major blogging tools, describes how to use them, and suggests practical exercises to encourage readers to get started. It even includes a pretty good glossary and simple HTML reference. All this should help make it easy to get started in blogging using this book. The authors don't stop there, though. They add coverage of all kinds of alternative uses of blog technology, from corporate marketing to blogging for team building. Then they round out the book with chapters on how to publicise and market your own blog, and how to become part of the blogging community. The book also has a chapter on how blogs work, although it seems a bit one-sided, only really covering how one blog system works. This book is a rounded and well-balanced coverage of all aspects of blogging. It's a little too tied to specific technology, and lacks some raw enthusiasm and sparkle, but still a great book for the first-time blogger.
Rating:
Summary: Loved it!
Review: First, the bad things: The book was written by the developers of blogger.com (Pyra Software) and they advertize their creation throughout the book. I find it annoying.
Now for the goodies: It's a readable book. I read every word without losing interest in it. That's something I could rarely say about a book that describes any technology. It tells the story of blogging, from the earliest days until the day it was published. There are tons of useful links in it and even a database design scheme, to show us how simple a blogging tool basically is. From a business point of view, there isn't much to read about, except for the fact that using weblogs in a business environment is something only few have done so far to tell about it. The book saved me a lot of googling, blog reading and note taking. It holds a massive amount of important links to useful web resources for bloggers and/or researchers. The book has a companion website in http://www.blogroots.com
Rating:
Summary: I Really Like The Authors' Style
Review: I bought this book, and I would buy it again. The authors discuss not just the technology, but the social ramifications of blogging. They have a nice, readable style that's an excellent overview of what blogging is, why it matters, and how to do it. I agree with the review that said, "If you buy only one book about blogging, you can't go wrong with this one." I did also buy "Essential Blogging" by Shelley Powers, Cory Doctorow, Scott Johnson, Mena and Ben Trott, and Rael Dornfest -- between the two books, I have everything I need to maintain and use a blog. Paul, Matt, and Meg have a very readable style. I wish they would write more books...
Rating:
Summary: I Really Like The Authors' Style
Review: I bought this book, and I would buy it again. The authors discuss not just the technology, but the social ramifications of blogging. They have a nice, readable style that's an excellent overview of what blogging is, why it matters, and how to do it. I agree with the review that said, "If you buy only one book about blogging, you can't go wrong with this one." I did also buy "Essential Blogging" by Shelley Powers, Cory Doctorow, Scott Johnson, Mena and Ben Trott, and Rael Dornfest -- between the two books, I have everything I need to maintain and use a blog. Paul, Matt, and Meg have a very readable style. I wish they would write more books...
Rating: 
Summary: Solid for beginners.
Review: I'll note that I bought this book due to a email-conversation with Matt Haughey, one of the book's authors, about a small bit that the book covered. I think the book did an excellent job of covering the basics of a Weblog, but that it was far too Blogger-centric. [This is a somewhat forgivable offense, as pb, Meg, and Matt were all Pyra employees at the time.] A second edition of the book would be interesting; like most any technically-oriented book, it hasn't aged very well in terms of specific applications of Weblog technology.
Rating: 
Summary: Got me started blogging
Review: The review from A reader from Champaign, IL USA is obviously someone who knows a lot about Blogs or blogging already. If you have heard about blogs in the popular media, or have happened upon other people's blogs, this book is a great way to get started doing your own. Admittedly, the authors might take this blogging stuff a bit too seriously. But they explained how the tools work, how to get started, and how to get beyond the basics. I was able to create a new blog, get it hosted, and added a comment system. I plan to tackle templates next. If you are looking for a short, easy, hands-on read for the nuts and bolts of blogging, this one does the trick.
Rating: 
Summary: Light and obvious
Review: There's not much to say about weblogs, really. Go to scripting.com or megnut.com (run by one of the authors) or caterina.net and see how its done. Then go to radio.userland.com or blogger.com to find out about the popular software options for running a blog. The authors of "We Blog" go to great lengths to make weblogs seem deeper and more of a topic for study than they really are. The companion website for the book, blogroots.com, is often full of angst about articles in the popular press misrepresenting weblogs as simply diaries or the phantom topic of "journalists vs. webloggers." It all gets tiresome after a while, and it isn't worth buying a book about. Maybe, just maybe, it's the newer breed of webloggers, the ones without agendas, that are making the medium interesting.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book for new bloggers!
Review: This is an excellent and thorough resource for folks just getting started with weblogs. Some reviewers have commented that the authors take blogging a little too seriously -- but I don't think so. For me, there was added value in the author's inclusion of true blogging stories, from the impact bloggers had on communicating the events of 9/11, to the fictional blog account of a young woman dying of cancer (which was published as non-fiction and later exposed as a fraud -- the author's re-telling of this story is just right, underscoring the impact a blog can have on its readership, without being too preachy). There's no denying that blogs are among the hottest things happening on the web these days -- why not take them seriously? That said, don't mistake "serious" for boring. The text is very reader-friendly, and the all important "how-to" sections, which cover not only blog creation, but an in-depth look at some of the most popular blog tools, are extremely helpful. If you buy only one book about blogging, you can't go wrong with this one. I bought it in addition to Biz Stone's "Blogging: Genius Strategies for Instant Web Content." Of the two, I like Stone's book a little better, which is why I give this one only 4 stars. My preference is based solely on the fact that Stone's book is a bit more concise and amusing. Still, for comparisons of the various blog tools, this book can't be beat. This is quite a compliment, considering that the authors are some of the key folks behind, or associated with, the Blogger.com technology. Their even-handed analysis of the other major tools is thus all the more credible and helpful.
Rating:
Summary: Obsolete.
Review: With so many improvements in Blogger and Six Apart's Typepad, this book is by now obsolete. If you want tutorials go online and you'll find thousands that will help you start your blogging adventure.
| 
