Rating: 
Summary: Best Aproach to Teaching I Have seen Yet.
Review: Not much to say, except I hope O'Reilly realizes what they have here in these two authors . . . or at the very least, in this stile of writing/teaching. Can't wait to see what else O'Reilly releases in the "Head First" line.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: This book is great. The cartoons are witty and the content is excellent. I especially like the retro images. It is a nice comfortable book that covers some extremely in depth topics.
This book provides an excellent introduction to Java. Remember this is only an introduction to Java and in my opinion it is not to be an all encompassing book on this subject.
I got a staff copy and we are using it to expose our Designers and business analyst to this technology. To date our results have been extremely successful.
Two points:
1. I wished this book was available when I started with Java.
2. I want to request an additional books
" Enterprise Development with JSP, Java, Java Beans and EJBs "
Rating:
Summary: Wade Into Java - Fun and Different
Review: For anyone desiring to wade into the waters of object-oriented programming using Java, this book is a good starting place. To get the first hint of what is inside just look at the cover. It is strewn with a series of techie-type jokes and office situations all wrapped in Java and Object terminology. You get the feeling that this will be fun and different. The book takes the reader on a trip using graphic examples, analogies with common everyday things, and mock discussions between objects with differing points of view such as "An instance variable takes cheap shots at a static variable". The book is a refreshing new approach to teaching technical material by using graphic presentation and programming examples that stimulate your imagination and your memory. Chapter-by-chapter the book presents new concepts accompanied by multiple examples and exercises. In one instance a wannabe Java programmer expresses her frustration at not understanding a particular concept. The book then tries another approach and presents the same material using a different illustration to make the point, which works well because it provides multiple opportunities for the reader to get the idea.
For anyone with some programming experience this is a rare find. Expect to quickly understand some basic Java concepts and to be writing a Java program in the first chapter. Each successive chapter expands on the previous chapter increasing the reader's knowledge along the way. Because this type of learning is fun it truly does provide a new type of learning environment. It serves not only as introduction to object orientation and Java but it is also a good book to keep around as an excellent technical reference. The book contains seventeen (17) chapters and two (2) appendices. The appendices contain the top ten lists of "other" things that are important for Java programmers but did not make it into the book and a simple client/server java application. In summary, this book is a huge success in explaining Java programming concepts and at the same time avoiding the normal technical "information overload". Go buy this book and enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: Good intro Java book
Review: Head First Java uses a new approach to writing a book on a technical subject. Rather than having pages and pages of dull technical details, the book is filled with exciting graphics, excellent examples with visual aids as well as source code, and, most important, an almost constant stream of questions, quizes, and exercises to help the reader gauge how much of the information he or she is absorbing. The book does more than just explain the technical capabilities of the language. Through various dialogs and examples, the authors lead the readers to discover how to use the language properly using good techniques and avoiding many common pitfalls. In short, although not a reference manual, this book is an excellent introductory book on Java.
Rating:
Summary: An Impromptu reply
Review: I generally don't review such books as these because they are
so good that other reviewers already say before me what I want
to say. But I have been particularly offended by JavaBugs review
'Confusing book'. I haven't read this book, nor do I intend to
read it because unfortunately I have out-grown this stage of learning. But I was checking the correct title so that I buy it
and send it to my nephew in India, and it was then that I saw this review from JavaBug from India. If he finds this book confusing, it is because the indian books never teach you how to
think. I wanted to tell this privately to my nephew, but after
reading JavaBug I want to say publicly that many Indian authors
are doing a crime in writing such sloppy text books that they
should be arrested for writing them. No wonder that JavaBug has
never learnt to think. But he shouldn't blame this book for
his sloppy thinking and the dismal quality of Indian books he has read. I repeat, I don't intend to read this book but I can recognize
in a moment what is good thinking and what is not.
Rattan Mann( originally from India)
Oslo, Norway
Rating:
Summary: Head First into Head First Java!!!
Review: As a university Java programming instructor, I am constantly looking for new and interesting ways to keep students awake as I try to cram some useful bits of knowledge into their heads. I think that Head First Java will alleviate a lot of pressure from me and a lot of boredom from the students! I can't say enough about this book. It presents introductory concepts of both Java programming and Object Oriented theory very well, and it appeals to a broad range of students through the use of humour and interesting activities. The activities are what I find most useful since many of them (like the crossword puzzles and fill-in-the-blank exercises) are not programming-based (i.e. the student doesn't have to program to arrive at the correct answer), and the student is therefore not as intimidated when faced with some of these activities. The skills they build with these exercises help them understand what they're doing when they move into the programming phase, which is, in my opinion, far more useful than simply piling on programming code and syntax without the student fully comprehending the what's and why's of what they're being asked to do. If you have some basic computer knowledge and can install the JDK to get started, this is the book for you. True, it is at an introductory level, but the important thing is that it teaches you the right places to look and the right questions to ask so that you can continue your Java studies further on your own. A great purchase!
Rating:
Summary: Head First This Way
Review: Head First Java is an excellent book. If you are not technologically oriented, if you have heard "The Java Jive", if perhaps you have techie friends and want to understand half of what they say, then this is the book for you. I purchased another Java programming book guaranteed to teach me Java in less than a few months and stopped reading it after ten pages because it was essentially a dictionary of computer terms. This book is different. It starts from the beginning. It explains what the different terms mean. It tells you how they work and gives examples of this. All without being bogged down with terminology. I now know what a class and method are - all those tiny but presumably obvious details which you should have learned in computer programming class but didn't. It's a great book. The only criticism I have is that it assumes you know how manipulate your computer to the point where you can start typing in programs. Alas, this took several days to figure out and might have totally scared someone else off.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: I knew there was something about this book that was going to get my attention. After finishing the book Sun Certified Programmer by the same authors (Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates), and successfully passed my exam, This was the next book I should definitely have. Explanations are awesome. It happens sometimes that you're reading a technical book and you get really tired of the way is written. Most of the times is too formal. Even if the book is interesting, you need something to keep you awake. The book is full of funny things that wakes you up and makes you feel more interested and willing to learn. Visual aids help a lot, because your brain works better with diagrams/images than pure text (mine does ;) ). Just try to find a book with a style like this one. Is unique. my $0.02
Rating:
Summary: Get started with Java here
Review: For those programmers that want to learn Java, this book is an excellent resource. It appears to be targeted towards experienced programmers coming from a different language. There is a great deal to like about this book. The content is at an appropriate depth and numerous topics are covered. Most important perhaps is the way that the material is covered. Graphics and text are mixed in such a way to keep the reader visually stimulated. The explanations are very atypical for a book on a technical subject. The book is organized as a tutorial of seventeen chapters that start with object oriented concepts and progress through graphics, swing, networking, I/O, RMI and deployment issues. I really like the Code Kitchen project. It is built in an incremental fashion on the material covered in the later chapters. In each chapter there is a group of exercises to challenge your retention of the material. But even more powerful are the learning concepts that the book is based on. Kathy and Bert are experienced instructors, but they have taken their knowledge of the content and merged it with the latest information in learning concepts to create a book that is fun to read, but a tremendous teaching tool. Dry and boring authors beware; tedious technical tomes are no longer acceptable, if they ever were. The book is an excellent investment in time and money for anyone that wants to learn Java, but if you prefer a more serious tone, there is always "Thinking in Java" by Bruce Eckel, another of my favorites. However, we liked the book so much that we bought several copies to start some of our staff down the Java road. One last point, do the exercises. They may seem a little trivial, but like calisthenics, they are very effective.
Rating: 
Summary: Confusing Book
Review: I tried to read this book twice but gave up after the first few pages. All the pictures overwhelmed me - picture overload. I think about reading it at night but fear that the pictures would haunt me in my dreams.
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