Rating: 
Summary: Great book...
Review: This book was the first O'Reilly book that I bought. It's the best JavaScript book I currently have in my programming library and I refer to it frequently. The book is part tutorial and part reference and is nicely done. If you're new to JavaScript this book is for you. The first section of the book introduces you to the basic syntax of the scripting language and offers some nice examples. If you are a JavaScript guru it makes a nice reference book. Worth a buy!
Rating: 
Summary: Weak Document Object Model examples and explanation
Review: But I am too busy to enjoy reading through mountains of pages to find what I need. This book is especially weak with trivial examples, and their (D)ocument (O)bject (M)odel explanation section was especially shallow. Index was not so intuitive either, since you must already know the keyword of what you are looking for. This book is great for theoreticans and academic people. I need a book to get my work done quickly as I have too much to do. The technically depth was atypical of Oreilly. Thye should include a complex application multi-windows multi-framset web application that controlling each other through functions and variable assignments. Anyway, who are these happy 5 stars people programming?
Rating: 
Summary: Not that Great for Beginners
Review: I took a beginning JavaScript class through another entity and was told to buy this book. I was not only unhappy with the class, but also quite unhappy with the book. It's a great reference book, but not a learning tool for beginners. At this point, I have no suggestions for other books.
Rating:
Summary: Double Duty
Review: I found this an excellent introduction to programming with Javascript (I did have experience in other languages). But even after becoming comfortable with the introductory concepts, I continue to use this book as a desktop reference. The entries are easy to follow and contain just the right amount of information on the command or object I'm looking up.
Rating:
Summary: The best Javascript reference book I own
Review: O'Reilly Press never ceases to amaze me. I have had this bookfor about a year now and it is my reference guide when I have aJavaScript question.I did not learn JavaScript from this book, Iknew quite a bit about the subject prior to reading the book. If youwant a book that will teach you more than the usual annoying web trick(window:open, mouseovers, etc) get this book. As far as I can telltheir code examples are virtually bug free. Usually any errors areposted with corrections on their web site... Even if you are brandnew to JavaScript I would suggest buying this book as your reference.Then go to the web and learn basic JavaScript from one of the manyJavaScript tutorials available on the web.
Rating:
Summary: Begginer to Advanced this book is a must have!
Review: If you are a begginer, or an advanced JavaScript programmer this book will be very worthy of your attention. From the first chapter where you will be saying to yourself "I'm not understand anything", to the last chapter where you will look back and lauph that you could not understand the topics he mentioned. If you are a high level HTML writer this book will not only help you, but it will make your web pages one step ahead of your competitors. "Reading Time:Beginner:Month/Advanced:Week."
Rating: 
Summary: An excellent JavaScript reference!
Review: This is the book to get if you want a reference guide to JavaScript! The book starts by going through language syntax (complete beginners - take note!), then covers working with objects in detail. The book then puts it all into context by covering all aspects of working with browsers - specifically how to manage and manipulate page content and the browser window itself to enhance display (eg. rollovers) and add client-side functionality (eg. form validation). The next section covers the document object model (browser DOM), and for me this was the only disappointment in the book. While I found every other part of the book thorough and informative, I found the DOM chapter a bit light-on. However, this is easily compensated for with the excellent reference section at the back of the book which details each object, explains its purpose, and describes all of its properties and methods. The book is almost worth its price just for this reference, and I almost always turn to the back first! As a web developer / back-end programmer, this is one of four books I always keep with me! The other three are "HTML: The Difinitive Guide", "ASP in a nutshell" and an SQL reference.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing and disorganized
Review: I bought this book hoping to finally have a complete Javascript reference. You know, the kind that lists the objects, then their properties and has a good index. At first glance this book appears to fill the bill, but after using it for some time I find myself going back to Goodman's "Javascript Bible". There is something half-baked in the organization of this book that makes it hard to find anything when I'm looking for it. In short, this is not the definitive guide, but merely one of several books you'll need on hand to program in Javascript. *Sigh*
Rating:
Summary: The Final Word (incl review of critics)
Review: As you may know, this book is considered THE Javascript book. What's makes the book worthwhile is it's fine discussion of Javascript's innerworkings. If you really want learn how Javascript's objects, functions, and data type handling work, then this is the book for you. The criticisms of this book fall into three catagories: 1) "Not for beginners". Yes, this book is not intended for people who have never studied object oriented programming. But that doesn't make it a 2 star book! Even beginners, if they are serious enough, will eventually need some clues about how Javascript really works. 2) "It's outdated". Again, yes; the reference section, and some of the browser dependant discussion is clearly outdated; BUT that still does not make this an outdated book! The author's in-depth explanation of Javascript innerworkings may never become outdated, and that alone is what makes this book worthwhile. 3) "Not enough examples". This is the only criticism that I actually agree with, and therefore the 4, instead of 5 stars. Not only can this book benefit from additional small examples, but the author's explanations are sometimes lacking, or even worse, missing. On a few examples, he basically says, "This is worthy of study. Go ahead and study it." Sorry, I expect more from my books, than a grumpy professor in a university lecture hall, nearing the end of class.
Rating:
Summary: A must read for JavaScripters
Review: This book was first suggested to me by an article written in Web Monkey by Thau. (Check it out at www.webmonkey.com) And from what I have read so far, this book seems to live up to it's title of being the definitive guide. Unlike the book however, many aspects of JavaScript (together with browser design) have a long way to go before we get to see a proper definitive version. As such, much text is wasted in pointing out the operational differences between Netscape and Internet Explorer as well as differences between versions. And so, redundant aspects in programing web pages becomes a central issue in most of this book. Hence, the book becomes a little less consise, especially towards the end. Flanagan does his best by avoiding some newer features offered by IE4 (in higher levels of the DOM) and as such the book is in one aspect incomplete. But in walking the tightrope between being consise and being complete is not an easy task, and I feel that Flanagan has done a superb job of removing the fluff without cutting a hole in the cloth. A highly recomended text for anyone who is familiar enough with the basics of HTML (and with just a dash of Java.) Beginners however may find it a little difficult to follow at first and may try something a little more light weight. (Webmonkey.com is a good place to start) In short, this book is one which no serious JavaScript programmer should be without. The only question you should ask yourself before buying is book is therefore, "Is JavaScript really worth the trouble?" I think it is.
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