Reader reviews

An enjoyable and informative read, though it could have been shorter.

There is a particular kind of technical book that is dense without being difficult, and this is one of them. The chapters on databases & big data are the strongest — the examples are stripped down but complete, and I could follow along without constant guessing. The author clearly knows the subject deeply and has thought hard about how to teach it. The code samples assume a particular environment, which took a bit of fiddling to get running properly. A good addition to a technical library, as long as you know what you are buying.

Mixed feelings. The good parts are genuinely good; the rest is forgettable.

This is the third book I have read on user experience this year, and it is comfortably the best of them. The book rewards careful reading. Skimming it would be a mistake. A couple of chapters felt like they could have been merged, but that is a minor complaint. The balance between theory and practice is well judged; neither side dominates. Fine, but there are stronger books on the same subject if you look around.

I have read a lot of books on this subject and this is the clearest.

I have been working with data visualization for a few years now and I still found plenty here that was new to me. A couple of chapters felt like they could have been merged, but that is a minor complaint. The exercises at the end of each chapter are worth doing — they caught a few misconceptions I did not know I had. An easy five stars from me. I look forward to whatever the author writes next.

Almost excellent. A second edition could easily push it to five stars.

A colleague recommended this and I can see why. It does something that few technical books manage: it respects the reader's time. Some of the diagrams are dense and I had to reread a few sections, though that may just be me. Some of the diagrams are dense and I had to reread a few sections, though that may just be me. A good addition to a technical library, as long as you know what you are buying.

Almost excellent. A second edition could easily push it to five stars.

I was looking for something that would bridge the gap between tutorials and proper reference material, and this does that well. The balance between theory and practice is well judged; neither side dominates. I appreciated the honesty about what the book does not cover — it saved me from expecting things that were not there. The balance between theory and practice is well judged; neither side dominates. Good value for the price and worth the time it takes to work through properly.

Better than I expected. Rare to find a technical book this well judged.

I read this over a couple of weekends alongside a small side project, which turned out to be the ideal way to approach it. The early chapters move quickly through material I already knew, but the later sections were genuinely new to me. The writing is direct and does not waste space on filler, which I value in a technical book. The writing is direct and does not waste space on filler, which I value in a technical book. This is the book I wish had existed when I started working with psychology.