by Eben Hewitt
Headache. That is what I got every time I picked up this book. Too cute. Too many short sentences. Sentence fragments. Headache. Recipes. Like reading my 12-year-old daughter's instant messages.
First thing to note is that this is a beginner's book. You won't find that anywhere in the description unfortunately. Second thing to note is that I blame this on "Head First Java". You know how when a successful TV show comes out and all the other networks try to copy it? You know how they never do it right because they always miss the point? It's as if someone saw "Survivor" and decided it was a success because people ate bugs so they made a show where people had to eat bugs to win. "Head First Java" uses humor to help focus the mind on difficult concepts. It makes use of educational techniques that have been studied by scientists. This book uses humor to be cool(?), funny(?) but most of the time the book is just annoying, which is a real shame because there is some good information here and some of it is very well presented. Other times I was left wondering why he stopped and didn't finish explaining a concept. Then there are these stream of consciousness blurbs that seem to just come out of nowhere and go on about anything except the topic at hand. I assume the author is trying to be amusing and be less like a traditional technical book but he fails at the former and overachieves at the latter.
At one point in the book the author suggests that if you still have questions that you should get some Zoloft and take up a hobby like gardening. I think it's a little odd for an author to suggest that his curious readers are in need of anti-depressants but if forced to read this book, it may not be a bad idea. cya.
This earned 2 stars on Amazon. The book is published by Prentice Hall.
The review can be seen on Amazon on My Amazon Reviews page.
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