Rating: 
Summary: Top notch book for top notch Java Developer
Review: I am a Sun Certified Java Developer and have 3 years programming in Java and yet found this book to be very useful. It sharpened my Java edges. The verdict is this: If you want to be a top notch Java programmer/developer, you need this book. Be warned that this book is NOT for someone to learn Java.
Rating:
Summary: Java isn't slow if you do it right
Review: Java's rep for being slow comes from 4 things:1. before JITs came along, it *was* slow
2. incorrect compile vs. VM preconceptions
3. Netscape 3/4's "Loading Java" message when it loaded the VM 4. bad programmers that make common mistakes The first three points are moot. The last point is answered very, very well in Bloch's book. Java isn't slow if you do it right. This book gives more useful advice towards this end than any I've seen in print.
Rating:
Summary: great for learning the java idiom
Review: Picking up the mechanics of the Java language is pretty easy for a decent C programmer, but what you start off with is a lot Java code that looks and smells like C. _Effective Java_ has some very good advice on patterns and conventions that go a long way toward making a programmer beginning Java comfortable with the idioms that make the best use of Java. _Effective Java_ is aptly named.
I am finding this book to be a fantastic resource while writing my first heavy project in Java. Absolute beginners in Java may not initially get that much out of the book -- you're initially too distracted by the semantics of the language -- but it's worth keeping this one on the bookshelf...I've found myself getting more out of this book as the code I'm writing becomes more involved.
Rating:
Summary: Naga
Review: Excellent Book. Provides very interesting insights into the Java language. Provides examples of good coding practices, and links to Patterns. I felt the same elation and spirit as I did a decade ago when reading "The C programming Language" by Dennis Ritchie. This book is a truly outstanding one.
Rating:
Summary: A revelation!
Review: Don't think you are a good java programmer till you finished to read this book. It will open your eyes and give you a chance to become one maybe, one day :)
Rating: 
Summary: Effective?
Review: Nothing close to "Effective C++" ( as title might suggest to
those familiar). This doesn't imply, that the author doesn't know the subject:
but the book isn't good.
Wordy. Little code. Not worth a place on your shelf.
Hope there won't be "More effective Java".
Rating:
Summary: Says what it does, does what it says.
Review: I like books that underpromise in their titles and overdeliver in their contents. This book has 57 items of programming advice that are not only well-chosen, but also reveal a clear, deep grasp of the language. Each one is justified with practical illustrations of what can happen if you only apply do-it-yourself intuition or, more likely, the most direct path to a solution. Joshua Bloch is cited by several sources as a math prodigy and an accomplished researcher. None of that high-octane stuff affects this book. The prose style is simple and practical. The author never strains to detail a complex or abstract tangent. For example, his piece on random number generation (under Item 30, "Know and Use the Libraries"), raises a whole slew of "interesting" questions, but he stays on point (trust the library to do work you don't know needs doing). He avoids proving his assertions when a demonstration will suffice, so the book stays short and focussed. Many of these points were review material for me, but I gained from Bloch's discussions nonetheless. As often as not, I preferred his reasoning over ones I have relied on; Bloch's just feels better rooted. And, in a world of high-stress schedules and moving-target projects, it's refreshing to hear someone with heavy concerns of his own preach the Good Word on better programming. This book will strengthen your understanding of Java. It will confirm the things you've been doing right all along, and politely show you how you could do better. It might also give you a way to move people who wouldn't listen to broken-record you, but would listen to a smart stranger who says the same thing. ;)
Rating:
Summary: Must have for serious programmers.
Review: I think this is one of the better Java books I have read. It illustrates very good and important points about Java. These are things that we might often over look.
Not only do the authors talk about 'what' are the good practices but also 'why'.
At appropriate places, the design patterns being refered to are mentioned and that just puts a better context to the whole story.
Although I would say that it is not a starter book and don't attempt it, if you are a beginner at OO/Java world. Bottom Line:
Read it, you'll not regret it.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent reference
Review: This is an excellent book by a (the?) primary author/architect of the Java Collections API. Not for beginners. Very pragmatic yet "principled". There are a lot of subtle "gotchas" pointed out.
Rating:
Summary: By far the best Java book I own!
Review: This book is far and away the best Java book I own. It reads like a mixture of "Practical Java" by Haggar (Java implementation specific advice) and "Code Complete" by McConnell (Good software engineering advice). The majority of the book covers good software construction practices that work well within the Java framework. The author was involved in the design and construction of the java libraries so he has a great deal of experience as to what is and is not a good design idea. Also, some design flaws in the Java libraries are pointed out as examples of how not to do things. This book assumes that the reader has a total understanding of Java basics and basic software design so it is not a book to learn Java from. I found "Practical Java" by Haggar to be a really good complement to what is not covered in this book. Anyone using the practices in this book will improve their code reliability, reuseability, and debugability (I probably made that word up).
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