Rating: 
Summary: Ideal starting point
Review: A clean introduction to the topic, ideal for beginners or to people that just need an overview. It covers not only XML and DTD, but also different related technologies like XSL, Xpointer, Xlinks and XPath
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Summary: Great Book !
Review: A must have for all web developers.
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Summary: Anyone who wants to learn XML should have it
Review: After joy and excitement of "Perl & XML" title of Erik Ray, I decided to try his "Learning XML", and I enjoyed it even more!At every step of a discussion, the author makes sure he doesn't loose the reader and tries to get as clear as possible to ensure author and the reader are on the same page. When introducing an important syntax, always provides an indexed small diagram/image with detailed annotation. Also annotates real-life examples provided in the book. The chapters area well organized. Chapter 1, "Introduction" gives a brief picture of XML, how its being used today, potentials, tools needed and validating them. Chapter 2, "Markup and Core Concept" is definitely the heart of the book. The chapter lasts about 40 pages, and covers the core of XML and its syntax. By the end of the chapter, one can find tips to "Get the Most out of Markup", and a real-life example of a DocBook, followed by annotation. Chapter 3, "Connecting Resources with Links" talks about XLink and XPointer, the specifications you need to be able to manipulate links and locating the portions of text in a markup. Touches upon Formal Public Identified (FPI) and explains the syntax. By the end of the chapter gives an XHTML example followed by annotation. Chapter 4, "Presentation: Creating the End Product" is mainly about CSS and its syntax. Pros and cons are covered. Chapter 5, "Document Models: A Higher Level of Control" is about documenting your markup through DTDs or XML Schema. Very well presented! Chapter 6, "Transformation: Re purposing Documents" was the one I spent most of my time on, and the one I found the most valuable to be able to publish my first XML/XSLT web site (which I already did). Chapter 7 and 8 are "Internalization" and "Programming for XML" respectively. In the Programming chapter, all the examples are in Perl. I didn't find this chapter that useful, but I can take as an Appendix to his "Perl & XML" book. That's where that chapter should've belonged anyway. Anyone who wants to learn XML should buy this book.
Rating:
Summary: Anyone who wants to learn XML should have it
Review: After joy and excitement of "Perl & XML" title of Erik Ray, I decided to try his "Learning XML", and I enjoyed it even more! At every step of a discussion, the author makes sure he doesn't loose the reader and tries to get as clear as possible to ensure author and the reader are on the same page. When introducing an important syntax, always provides an indexed small diagram/image with detailed annotation. Also annotates real-life examples provided in the book. The chapters area well organized. Chapter 1, "Introduction" gives a brief picture of XML, how its being used today, potentials, tools needed and validating them. Chapter 2, "Markup and Core Concept" is definitely the heart of the book. The chapter lasts about 40 pages, and covers the core of XML and its syntax. By the end of the chapter, one can find tips to "Get the Most out of Markup", and a real-life example of a DocBook, followed by annotation. Chapter 3, "Connecting Resources with Links" talks about XLink and XPointer, the specifications you need to be able to manipulate links and locating the portions of text in a markup. Touches upon Formal Public Identified (FPI) and explains the syntax. By the end of the chapter gives an XHTML example followed by annotation. Chapter 4, "Presentation: Creating the End Product" is mainly about CSS and its syntax. Pros and cons are covered. Chapter 5, "Document Models: A Higher Level of Control" is about documenting your markup through DTDs or XML Schema. Very well presented! Chapter 6, "Transformation: Re purposing Documents" was the one I spent most of my time on, and the one I found the most valuable to be able to publish my first XML/XSLT web site (which I already did). Chapter 7 and 8 are "Internalization" and "Programming for XML" respectively. In the Programming chapter, all the examples are in Perl. I didn't find this chapter that useful, but I can take as an Appendix to his "Perl & XML" book. That's where that chapter should've belonged anyway. Anyone who wants to learn XML should buy this book.
Rating: 
Summary: A good Intro to XML
Review: Although I have yet to read this book cover to cover, I've paged through it and read snippets from each chapter. Learning XML gives a great overview of XML, DTDs, TLDs, SAX, DOM, etc. and explains the theory and ideas behind XML and why it's so great. If you want a casual intro to XML and don't feel the need to spend $60 on a 1,500 page WROX book, this is the perfect book for you.
Rating:
Summary: Good overview and introduction
Review: As someone who works in marketing and understands HTML, WML, and CSS, I needed a good overview that would let me start to get my head around XML and its related acronyms. I think this book delivered on that pretty well. It's not really as long as 350 pages since there are a couple of long code listings. One thing that is very nice is the clean typography and layout of the O'Reilly books. The other publishers could take a lesson from them. When dealing with new, complicated subjects, whitespace really is your friend. I agree with some of the other criticisms in previous reviews but for the most part, this is a good first book.
Rating:
Summary: A nice enough book, but...
Review: As with most O'Reilly books, the production/editing of this book is excellent. It is a great introduction to the technologies around XML, but doesn't really give you enough to get started with XML. For example, there is a great introduction to current XML parsers out there for XML, but you never really find out how to use them (granted, this may be the topic of a more advanced book...). What exactly do I do with an XML file? I'm not sure this question is really answered. Now don't get me wrong, I'm glad I bought this book, and I know this book will be a good reference source in the future. I'm just not sure this is the first place to stop in learning XML.
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Summary: Solid!
Review: As with virtually all O'Reilly books, Learning XML is an excellent reference book. It takes a look at all "parts" of this fairly new markup language, which you could say "boldy goes where HTML has not gone before." XML lets the user create their own markup language, but it isn't without its complexities, which is where this book helps greatly. Chapters on how it got started and what it is, the actual markup (including detailed explanations of elements, attributes, namespaces, and entities), connecting resources with links, stylesheets, and even one on programming in XML help the reader understand more about how this markup language can be best used. A great book to have if you want or need to learn the "nuts and bolts" of XML.
Rating:
Summary: Solid!
Review: As with virtually all O'Reilly books, Learning XML is an excellent reference book. It takes a look at all "parts" of this fairly new markup language, which you could say "boldy goes where HTML has not gone before." XML lets the user create their own markup language, but it isn't without its complexities, which is where this book helps greatly. Chapters on how it got started and what it is, the actual markup (including detailed explanations of elements, attributes, namespaces, and entities), connecting resources with links, stylesheets, and even one on programming in XML help the reader understand more about how this markup language can be best used. A great book to have if you want or need to learn the "nuts and bolts" of XML.
Rating: 
Summary: Suggested New Title: Anatomy of XML
Review: By page 177 I realized that I was never going to touch a keyboard while reading this book. I can't speak for everyone, but when I pick up a book expecting to learn the topic, I need theory, reference, examples and structured "assignments". This title offers the first three, but I never get to apply what I am learning hands-on in a graduated fashion. When I am finished, I have little more than the ability to recognize the components of XML. Just because you can recognize all the foods in a grocery store, and know the origins of all the spices on your spice rack, doesn't mean you can cook; the same principal applies here. I am fully aware that XML is comprised of many different elements, and many of the XML development environments are very expensive, but many are free and could have been used to teach the concept clearer. The title also has many errors, so the errata list on the publisher's web site is important. The book does not include any of the source code, so if you want that, you have to download it. Even then, it is not complete and file titles in the book do not always match the provided code file names. If you are looking for a hands-on book to learn XML, this isn't the title. If you know XML and are looking for a reference, again - not for you. However, if you are interested in it from more of an administrative overview position, then the title is worth the read. It can provide many answers and give a good base of information without the need to actually write any XML on your own.
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