Rating: 
Summary: still a good read
Review: Having read this book a couple of years ago, I still browse through it frequently. David presents a gentle intro for the Python beginner but I appreciate the quick summaries of modules and methods. In fact, I reference this book a lot more than my "Essential Python Reference". Buy this book for a good intro to the language and keep it around for future reference.
Rating:
Summary: Worthwhile for new and experienced programmers
Review: I own several books on Python, but found this one the best as an introduction. Interspaced throughout the chapters are many examples, which are indeed simple, possibly trivial (as other reviewers have complained), but in fact are purposely so in order to illustrate succinctly the specific points in the surrounding text. As a further and important learning tool are the excellent "test questions" at the end of each chapter. Solving these (answers in the back of the book) will train the fingers to code python and the mind to think python.
Overall the writing style is VERY accessible. After you learn python, you may prefer a very terse reference manual like Python in a Nutshell, but you learn the language best if you start with "Learning Python".
Luckily, the second edition will soon be here -- the reader is advised to wait for that.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect to get started
Review: As an accountant and controller I had some programming experience as a user, but am no professional programmer. I was looking for an alternative to Visual Basic or C like dialects. I needed a language, to which I could add a database, with which I could process texts and numbers and preferrably spread sheets and above all, which would be simple and effective. I had tried Visual Basic, Delphi, Cache and others, but they all required too much time to start.
My objective was, to construct a database, that would read-in Excel spread sheets containing sales data of different countries every monty, store that data and compile comprehensive sales reports, that could be exported back to MS Excel.
Reading only this book, I was able to achieve this task within one month and was able to present a simple, but effective database, which allowed me to get the go-ahead with my project and earned me the respect of my boss.
I consider this book one of the best introductions I have seen for persons who have some basic knowledge about programming.
Rating:
Summary: A great intro to Python
Review: Even after the recent introduction of dozen or so python books in the last few months, Learning Python still remains one of the best, if not the best, resources to start learning about Python. I owned this book for a period of a year and a half after my introduction to Python. During most of that time, I often referred back to it, and I can say that this book was indespensible during that early period of Python features experimentation.This brings up a good point: the intended audience for this book are people who are just starting out with Python. If you are already familiar with Python, and have a year or so of experience under your belt, try Python in a Nutshell, Text Processing in Python and the excellent reference book: Python Essential Reference.
Rating:
Summary: Dabbled before? Now make a go of it!
Review: As a infrequent programmer, I've read about and studied other languages (C, Java) but found them too complex to master. The simplicity and power of Python, combined with this clear well-written book, made it possible to learn and start using Python right away. I read and worked through the (platform agnostic) examples on my Windows PC and quickly grasped the information being presented. This book makes occasional comparisons with other programming languages so that experienced programmers don't trip over the knowledge they already have. These comparisons don't get in the way of a first time learner. Well done!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Who is the target audience for this book?
Review: I first purchased this book nearly two years ago, but I never got past the first few chapters. I just picked this book up again, with the benefit of two years' experience programming in PHP and a little but of Java, and I realize why working through this book seemed like such slow going the first time around. On the one hand, "Learning Python" is written with a lot of hand-holding for readers who may not have much programming experience at all with any other languages; the basic concepts of variables, statements, functions, data types and the like are all clearly explained, which is a good thing for someone just starting out. On the other hand, there are also quite a few tips and bits of information about memory efficiency, or how certain elements of Python relate to their C underpinnings; things that a rank newbie probably won't understand, and probably doesn't need to know when they're just trying to learn the basics. These esoteric points are probably quite helpful/interesting for programmers coming from low level languages like C, but those programmers will be frustrated by the slow page of the sections covering basic mechanics. So you've got a book that moves at a beginners' pace that's full of asides targeted towards experienced programmers; beginners will be confused and overwhelmed, and experienced coders will just get frustrated. For what it's worth, I have the first edition of this book; I'm not sure how the second edition compares.
Rating: 
Summary: You'll love Python
Review: I debated whether I should write seven pages, footnoted, indexed, and full of examples on why you should not buy this book and choose to seek another source for learning Python. But if you're the type who would actually make it through all that to get to the main point, you might actually LIKE "Learning Python". I'd rather save you, the save-able, from experiencing the same pain that I am going through right now. So here is my one-word review: "Excruciating". I hope this has been helpful. By the way, Python is fantastic and is ironically everything that this book is not.
Rating:
Summary: Great orientation.
Review: This book is a great quick introduction to Python. And don't be fooled, this book DOES deal with some subtly advanced topics. Great job, I recommend it everywhere!
Rating:
Summary: Obsolete Help for Programmers
Review: This was a disappointing book since I have Python 2.2.2 and the book was written for 1.5.2. Mark clearly knows Python very well, but many new and powerful features have come out since 1.5.2. I may be more concerned about being current than most people, but for the work I do (application development), I need to know the full power of the language I am actually using. I advise waiting for the next edition. (...)
Rating:
Summary: extremely disappointed
Review: I bought this book because I originally bought the author's Programming Python book mistakenly thinking it would be similar to the Programming Perl book (which is a stellar book, where as the Python equivalent is more like a cookbook). It was immediately obvious that I was NOT going to learn Python from that book so I bought this one. Again, a mistake. It may be a fair overview of Python but it did not give me the tools I needed to be productive right away; and if it did have the information that I was looking for it was not obvious. Simple things like writing to standard error, file tests, executing separate programs and saving the output, parsing text, even how to force a script to bloody exit... basically common things people expect from a scripting language right away were given either little, weak, or *NO* obvious treatment. The appendix is no help either, I could not find most of these simple operations listed there under the usual key words. I'm sorry to say but this is the worst O'Reilly book I've come accross and (together with Programming Python) is a black mark on the series.
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