JavaScript in 20 Minutes (Coffee Break Series)

Good value. Not perfect, but I would buy another book from this author.

I picked this up after getting stuck on a project and it turned out to be exactly the right book at the right time. Some of the diagrams are dense and I had to reread a few sections, though that may just be me. The progression from chapter to chapter is well thought out; nothing feels out of order. Some terminology is introduced without much ceremony; I had to look a few things up along the way. Four stars, and I suspect a second edition could easily push it to five.

A worthwhile addition to my shelf, with realistic expectations.

A colleague recommended this and I can see why. It does something that few technical books manage: it respects the reader's time. The author is unusually honest about where the simplifications break down, which I appreciated. The code samples assume a particular environment, which took a bit of fiddling to get running properly. There is a section near the end that ties several earlier ideas together in a way I had not seen before. Good value for the price and worth the time it takes to work through properly.

Decent, but uneven. Some chapters are much stronger than others.

There is a particular kind of technical book that is dense without being difficult, and this is one of them. The author is unusually honest about where the simplifications break down, which I appreciated. The progression from chapter to chapter is well thought out; nothing feels out of order. Some terminology is introduced without much ceremony; I had to look a few things up along the way. Three stars feels about right. It will stay on my shelf, but it will not be the first one I reach for.