Rating: 
Summary: Buy it, Read it, Understand it, but don't treat it as gospel
Review: Nielsen offers many excellent, authoritative insights into enhancing the usability of websites. Any person designing websites for professional use would definitely benefit from reading this book, though much of what was said could be gained from sites on the net like websitesthatsuck.com. I'd advise listening closely to the general thesis of this book, and not necessarily adhering to all of the specific points. Some of Nielsen's recommendations are a bit extreme (the oft-cited example of link colors). But most of his points are backed by experience and research, and as such are valuable observations which should be heard. Of particular value are his many references to the studies he has performed. Very interesting! The book is also littered with numerous illustrations which help to clarify his points, though his examples do seem to focus more on what doesn't work than what does. And finally, it's amazing to find a book about usability which itself has such a usability flaw. What's up with those big flaps on the inside covers? If they are supposed to be bookmarks, they don't work well. Very annoying. All in all, a good (but not outstanding) book which every web designer should read. You can never get too much education about good website design!
Rating: 
Summary: not the practice of simplicity
Review: This book conatins great tips, about how to make your webpage more usable. The authors main point is the practice of simplicity. The only problem is, that he himself did not practice simlicity. He goes on for pages about a signle topic explaining it from 4 diffrent angles. Nielsen is on target with all of his advice, but there is just not enough information in this book to make it a must buy.
Rating: 
Summary: Designer Sin No More
Review: Jakob Nielsen's Designing Web Usability is a highly readable look at a wide variety of issues affecting usability of web sites. While I didn't agree with every single thing in the book, it does a great job of raising many usability issues that may not come to mind for many designers. In the future, when designing a site, I plan to skim through the book again as a check to make sure I have considered various usability concerns.One thing I have to say, though, get ready for that pang of panic when Jakob points out various usability issues that may just never have crossed your mind and you think of all the site you've got out there right now that violate his "rules." I admit I don't sleep quite as soundly now that my eyes have been opened to all the evil I've done. If you are designing web sites for a living, you need this book just as much as you need a book on the rules of grammer and punctuation if you write for a living. You may not follow every rule on every occasion, but you need a good reference to know what the rules should be.
Rating:
Summary: Quite possibly the best book on web design ever written
Review: It takes a little bit of a creative flair to follow Jakob's guidelines yet still manage to have a brand, but otherwise it's a stellar book that contains 99% of the best practices on the web. Best of genre, by far. As users get decreasingly tolerant of long load times, the guidelines in this book will become increasingly apropos.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed
Review: I was ready to love this book. Unfortunately, it's so conservative that I'm sending it back. Adhering strictly to these standards leaves little room for innovation. Some good lessons in common sense, but some points seem to go against good design sense. I know people who take the author's word as gospel, and, truly, I wanted to believe. For an alternative, try IDG's Great Web Architecture.
Rating:
Summary: Really serious about reaching the whole net?
Review: If you really want to reach everyone on the net without alienating anyone, this is your gospel. If your creative interests and impressing yourself and your friends are more important, don't waste your time on this book.
Rating:
Summary: Expensive, not polished, but priceless
Review: Bad designers beware - here is a lucid eye-opening analysis of making the web useful and not just pretty. Most web sites and design books are based on one person's creative or technical skill using special effects on the web - Nielsen bases his reflections on testing, real people, and experience. Special effects without content and without considering the ultimate user of the information is useless. Many nice-looking web sites are good for one visit only, this book will help you keep people coming back. The price is high, but I'd pay twice the price for more of the same.
Rating:
Summary: a must read for all web builders
Review: we are building lots of sites and pages everyday, are our users happy with our efforts? the practice of simplicity, what a right point to remember before broadband internet becomes popular. simple (but not raw or crude) is beautiful enough.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing level of workmanship by publisher
Review: A good-looking book with lots of illustrations and nice layout concept. Good, commonsense information about what makes a Web page/site easy and pleasant for the user. However, I was really distressed to find glaring proofreading-type errors---given the price of this book, I don't expect captions to be cut off in the middle and important words to be left out of sentences. Mr. Nielsen needs to find a publisher that employs PROOFREADERS. I will be attempting to return it--not because of the content, but because there was such a discrepancy between the price and the workmanship (or lack thereof).
Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended reading for any web developer
Review: This book will quickly give you the information you need to design a web site well. It is part of a two book series with this one focussing on the "how" and the next one on the "why". Sure, Nielsen mentions the results of research and user tests throughout the book, but doesn't dwell on it. This information is just used as supporting evidence for his design points. It is fair to say that the material in this book is common sense. While you read it, everything Nielsen says makes perfect sense, but look around the web a bit and you'll find many sites that violate these basic principles. Other books make the same points, but I haven't come across any that do it as well as this one -- by backing the points up with research and several examples. If you are looking for one web usability book to buy, this is it. Some reviews clearly feel the other way, but I think the book itself is a case study in usability. The layout of each page is create and the screenshots are very clear and well captioned.
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