Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Introduction to XML
Review: I went through most of this book in a day (rare) and came out knowing a ton about XML, XSL, and DTDs. Mr. Harold has done a fine job explaining XML with solid examples, concise explanations, and good organization. A well-crafted book that delivers!
Rating:
Summary: Solid XML/XSL/XLL Tutorial for Developers BY a Developer
Review: I've enjoyed ERH's JavaBeans book and both his Cafe au Lait (Java) and Cafe con Leche XML News and Resources web sites. So maybe I was predisposed toward liking his XML book. However, it stands on its own merit. ERH begins with a history of XML (very useful for newcomers) and gradually takes you from just a sprinkle of XML to a detailed examination of the syntax, much like the better traditional programming texts. Harold's writing is clear and concise. He presents quite a bit about XSL (Extensible Style Language, not even a Working Draft at the time of this writing, so expect the details to change). Very good coverage of DTDs and XLink/XPointer. Throughout the book, he gives you an idea of best practices. If you are a programmer or web developer about to use XML, buy this book! (Managers would probably prefer the Goldfarb/Prescod XML Handbook.)
Rating: 
Summary: The book is out of date. It has to be rewritten
Review: No software support, the contents are not comply with the technology. I couldn't get anything out of it. I found myself reading sample chapters from here and there.
Rating:
Summary: absolute darling of a book
Review: ok, so the day started by the following requirement: develop extensible data format that would describe our data so that we could use some third party engine to parse it, walk the tree and then display the data in a visual format. I've went to the net and read about XML. Lot's a fluff, no substance, god forbid a non-"book-publishing-example" or any example followed by tutorial-like explanation of what's going on. By noon I find my self sipping tea at the local bookstore flipping through "XML: Extensible Markup Language". Hour later, I am back at my desk developing AMML - our own Markup Language for our data format. Two hours into this, I believe I got our business model transcribed into AMML minus a few minor details to be worked out.Can any other book claim this? If so, please let me know. Bottom line: lot's of examples, lot's of snippets of code - no "fillers" like other books do - which replicate previously shown code just so they could claim 800+ pages - and you'd feel like you are getting something out of it. Very good description of DTD too! (trust me - I thought I wouldn't touch DTD stuff, but I ended up actually relying heavily on it) Advice: if you are considering to do anything at all with XML/DTD - pick this book up. Well worth even the $40 MSRP.
Rating:
Summary: Best hands-on introduction I've been able to find!
Review: Over the past few weeks, I thumbed through the available books on XML with a growing sense of frustration. I was certain that SOMEWHERE there would be a single volume that could provide hype-free introduction to XML that would tell me: 1) How to create XML documents, 2) How to "render" XML documents in presentable formats without spending time programming, 3) How to read and (eventually) write DTDs for customized XML applications. Elliotte Rusty Harold has written a clear, step-by-step introduction that accomplishes all of the above, with plenty of explanation and examples, but without the hyperbole and over-selling that seems to attend almost every new technical concept these days. THANK YOU, ELLIOTTE!
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent place to start
Review: So you've learned HTML and DHTML and CSS and who needs another bunch of angle brackets? Oh, well. XML is perfectly symetric (no more unbalanced "BR"s). Isn't that nice? But there's no getting around it. You've gotta learn XML because everybody really is moving toward its adoption. This book will do a good job of getting you started. It took me all the way from a standing start to creating my own Windows Channel (CDF) which is quite a lot. The book "XML Applications" will take you to the next step and these things become dated quickly. But if you start here, you will be happy about it.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent place to start
Review: So you've learned HTML and DHTML and CSS and who needs another bunch of angle brackets? Oh, well. XML is perfectly symetric (no more unbalanced "BR"s). Isn't that nice? But there's no getting around it. You've gotta learn XML because everybody really is moving toward its adoption. This book will do a good job of getting you started. It took me all the way from a standing start to creating my own Windows Channel (CDF) which is quite a lot. The book "XML Applications" will take you to the next step and these things become dated quickly. But if you start here, you will be happy about it.
Rating: 
Summary: Covered topic ok but a little outdated.
Review: The book seemed to cover most topics fairly well but there seemed to be disconnect between some of the pieces described. After reading the book I still don't have a completely clear understanding why XML is so hot. Especially when it would seem that I have to write my own applications to process any XML documents. Right now it seems XML is just a fancy file formating lang...the book didn't do anything to change my mind. One thing completely lacking was a discussion how XML could be used to get data in & out of a RDBMS. One of the most annoying things initially was that all of his references to microsoft XML tools/parsers/etc. do not seem to be available anymore and I finally gave up trying to run his example progs. Wish I had checked it out of the library vs. buying.
Rating:
Summary: DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK! GET *THE XML BIBLE*
Review: This book has been updated by Elliotte Harold and for some unfortunate reason is now called The XML Bible. (unfortunate for me, I just got this book to discover that it's completely revised. I'm out $32.)
Rating:
Summary: Good Intro to XML, But don't buy if your interested in XSL.
Review: This is a good book for learning the Basics of XML and for understanding the concepts, but none of the examples work with IE5 because XSL examples are out of date now. Look for a newer book on the subject....
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