I own the O'Reilly XSLT Cookbook and Michael Kay's enormous XSLT Programmer's Reference, but I refer to the pocket reference more often than either of them. Evan Lenz targets exactly what you need to know to get a solid grasp on the fundamentals of XSLT, instantly clarifies those little built-in quirks that drive you crazy, and concisely explains every last option in the perfect amount of detail needed to utilize those parts of the language.
With as open-ended of a syntax as XML is, you need a solid base for manipulating it with open-ended functionality; I think the downfall of the cookbooks and the pre-designed scripts is that they're locked into a specific structure, and it's never going to be exactly what you need for your project. With the XSLT Pocket Reference, however, it's the exact opposite - Lenz empowers you to use these basic tools to their full extent, with your own creativity and innovation as the backdrop. Then when you run into a quirk, you'll find that there's another small part of his explanation that will get you back on track in no time.
I bought this book because I only have access to MSXSL (XSLT 1.0 only) at work, and it's allowed me to do amazing things with the most basic structures. My only complaint about the book is that it spends a good third of the book outlining different EXSLT elements and functions; I think that a library of EXSLT extensions would be better handled in its own book. Other than that, I couldn't be happier with it.
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