I have to admit, some of the chapters (9 & 14) are absolute Hell to unravel and mentally re-organize, and there are a few chapters (like the one on the preprocessor) that are rife with identifiable typos, BUT I do LOVE this book the most out of all my C/C++ manuals. I was completely new to programming, and this book was the only one that did not put me to sleep because of it's personable style -- like talking to an enthusiastic programmer rather than a syntax robot. The book never lost my interest -- it's actually fun to read. I used Deitel & Deitel's extremely detailed "How to Program" book, and Jamsa's "Bible" as reference support texts when Oualline got a bit confusing. In comparison, reading Deitel for 10 minutes would provide greater clarity through depth but then would cause me to drift into snoozeland.

I recommend this book for beginning programmers like myself who like to talk to people over a beer more than read technical manuals in a spotless room. Some of the presentation is not nice and tidy, but the main concepts are very clear and directly presented.

As an added bonus, the binding is flexible so you can really bend it in two and read it on the train, but the fabric spine keeps it from falling apart. And its not heavy in a way that you want to avoid taking it along in your pocket and scribbling all over it! Portability is half the game! Nice work Oualline and O'Reilly!