Rating: 
Summary: You'll love it or hate it.
Review: I discuss the first edition, I havent read the updated version. People have strong opinions about this classic book. Many students have it forced upon them for some class and they absolutely despise it. But a small number of people like me loved it, in fact its one of the best textbooks I own. To get through it you need to enjoy mathematics and careful, rigorous definitions and proofs- rather than viewing these things as pointless obscuring or pedantic arrogance. Engineering students tend to find the book tedious, boring, and too difficult. Some people are intimidated by the sheer volume of special notation used. But if you're inclined towards mathematics or theoretical work I think you'll enjoy the extra rigor and precision (compared to most computation theory books). There are a few rough spots in it but overall a great book that will give you the foundation to begin studying computational complexity theory, recursive function theory, or mathematical logic. Note that the 2cd edition has unfortunately removed the chapters on logic, and I've heard its a little watered down, so be careful choosing which one you want.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a very good introduction.
Review: I had the misfortune of having this book as the text for a course on Computational Theory. I had never been exposed to the subject material before and this book left me totally confused. The examples are shrouded in complex explanations that only left me filled with frustration. In my humble opinion, this book is not fit for an undergraduate course in computer science without some previous exposure. As another person commented, I also wonder wheter it was written for students or PhDs?
Rating: 
Summary: The given examples are good, but not enough examples
Review: I had to get this book for a Theory of Computation class. This book does not give enough examples for you to fully understand the concepts. Although the chapters are short and easy to follow, you get no more than two examples per chapter and the given examples do not help you with the questions at the end of each chapter. How do they expect you to get the answers right if they don't give you examples?
Rating:
Summary: A reference at best, a textbook from hell
Review: I took a Theory of Computation class with Harry Lewis, one of the book's author this last semester at Harvard. Lewis may be a gifted professor, but if you are looking for a textbook, look for something else (Sipser would be a much better idea). It is impossible to learn from this book; the examples are too complex, the questions are outlandishly difficult. I got my A but it was not thanks to this book. Steer clear.
Rating:
Summary: Why I don¿t recommend this book.
Review: Like any other book some people like it but others don't, since readers come from different backgrounds it is some time's your background and previous knowledge which will lead your absorption to a books material, since I cant assess any of the potential readers ability's and background I will give you a general reason why I will not recommend this book.
When Material is tough and hard to absorb a writer should try doing one of two things. He could build up knowledge from the easy stuff up, and some extra explanation or he could at least keep you interested and willing to repeat what you have just read and these writers did neither.
Review End...
Rating:
Summary: Not a good book
Review: The book is comprehensive. It is however not easy to follow and even simple concepts are hidden under mathematical terminology. More time is taken up understanding the math than is needed to understand the concept. It may be good for mathematics students but not for CS students. There are too few solved examples.
Rating: 
Summary: Trivial
Review: The book is trivial and so is the guy from Germany.
Rating:
Summary: easy to read but the examples are not sufficient.
Review: The book is used in my 2nd computer science course this term. I found the contents for each chapter are kind of messy, To best understand how those machines and lemmas work is to work out some examples in the text book. But the book is so stingy giving out readers examples. I also get another book as my 2nd reference book for this course. This book gives readers more examples and just-right explaination for each theoretical things title: Automata and Formal Language author: Dean Kelley
Rating:
Summary: At least the old edition of this book is great
Review: The other reviewers seem to agree in that this book is not to be recommended. I don't know the edition that is reviewed here (I browsed through it once and it seems to be heavily abridged compared to the old edition). The older edition is considered by me and most of my fellow students one of the best books on the matter (if not the best). Keep in mind that it is a book about the THEROTICAL foundations of computer science and not a programming or algorithm text book for beginners. Of course all the basic proofs of "long known" theorems have to be explained... Since I don't know how the undergraduate maths knowledge in the US is, I can't say if the explanations presented in this book are suitable for US undergraduates. I however (and I'm by far no maths genius) had no problems in understanding everything when I read the book starting with page one. I used the book as the only preparation material for my undergraduate examination on the subject--although our professor did use another book during his lecture--and I don't regret it. I strongly recommend the book to everyone with a serious interest in theoretical CS, but try to get the old edition (paperback has a red cover, hardcover has a brown cover, the format is slighty larger than A5 papersize).
Rating:
Summary: not enough examples
Review: Theres not enough examples, and there aren't an answer key for the chapter reveiw questions. I can't understand why the odd answers were not at least givin. How do the author expect students to know whether he is or is not answering the problem correctly if there are no answer keys
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