I found the first few chapters fairly interesting. I have moderate C background so some of the concepts made a lot of sense. However, I think the examples used by the author could have been a little more practical. They did not help me understand anything at all. Most of the examples were too complex. I don't understand why they used such bizzarre examples for such simple points that they were trying to make. Many times I couldn't figure out if the examples were realistic. In other words, I couldn't tell if some of the programs had real instructions and keywords or if the author was being hypothetical situations with pieces to programs that didn't really have actual C++ keywords but words used to describe what the program might do. I'd prefer that examples be a little more complete then what was presented. THis really made it hard for me to learn. Overall I think the book was fair. For C programmers that have LOTS of experience, this book would be very useful. But if your C background is moderate, this book will not help you much. The first 5 or 6 chapters will make some sense and the rest will be clear as mud. For my particular experience level, I should've spent my money on something different such as a C++ primer or C++ primer plus. Those books are written more like school text books with chapter summarys and lots of REAL example problems throughout the chapter and at the end of each chapter.