Rating: 
Summary: Waste of money - Don't buy this mess
Review: I wasted my money buying this book. This book is a good example for "Too many authors spoil the book" and looks like a spoiled Sphagetti content. Most iritating things are the code examples discussed does'nt work with J2EE 1.4 RI. Some of the APIs are already deprecated. The authors skipped discussing lot of APIs. Now I am referring to the tutorial downloaded from the sun site.I saved your money.
Rating: 
Summary: A bookshelf must have
Review: I work for a company that does a lot of inhouse software development and was tasked with finding the best book on J2EE 1.4. After reading half a dozen I came across this one and stopped: the authors are "movers and shakers" in the industry, have a wealth of experience in and around J2EE, and have the uncanny ability to translate that experience to good text. The examples, code samples and diagrams are all well thought out. The structuring of the book has also been well done, though perhaps a few of the more advanced subjects could have been expanded a bit. Although I wondered if the fact that this book is based on a beta version of 1.4 would detract, it didn't (or at least I didn't notice it): when I'm looking for a good technical book, especially in an area as complex as J2EE, and especially when I'm recommending it for people of varying skills, I look at the overall feel and end result on me. And this book left me knowing a lot about 1.4 and feeling like it hadn't been an effort! That's important, because it doesn't really matter if a book is cutting edge, if the authors make you feel like you're wading through mollasses to get anywhere! These authors didn't make me feel like that at all. OK, I'll have to tell my guys to check up on a few minor things, but after reading this book they'll have the skills and confidence to know where to look and what questions to ask. Great book guys, and many thanks.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best books on J2EE
Review: I'm an independent consultant and have been doing a lot of J2EE work over the years. Now that 1.4 is on the horizon I'm getting lots of questions from my clients and requests to migrate stuff to it. I've looked at other books on the subject, but this is the one that really did it for me: it's well structured, easy to get into and just flows. The authors obviously know their stuff, and by the time I was finished I felt that I did too. This is without a doubt one of the best books on J2EE architecture I've read and certainly the best one of 1.4. Don't let the size put you off. You can structure your own way through the chapters if you really need to, leaving out those things that don't concern you immediately. There's a lot of hints and tips as one of the other reviewers mentioned and also many cross-references, so if you miss something to start with 'cause you don't think it's relevant, if the authors do they'll let you know! A great book at a pretty good price too.
Rating:
Summary: Expertly written and easy to follow
Review: I'm relatively new to Java and J2EE, so this book was kind of like jumping in to the deep end. However, thanks to the authors' clear and concise writing style, I learned to swim pretty quickly in the new J2EE 1.4 pool! The size of the book was a bit daunting at first, but I decided to give it a go. I found the book really pulled the concepts together and presented them in a useful way. This isn't the first J2EE book I've read, but it is definitely the best I've come across so far. After finishing the book (which is well worn and dog-eared now!) I feel like I'm ready to tackle some of the new concepts in J2EE 1.4. I certainly won't be spending money on another 1.4 book in the forseeable future. My recommendation in a nutshell would be: buy it - you won't regret it if you're prepared to put the effort into reading it.
Rating:
Summary: Lacking in detail to an extreme
Review: I've gotten as far as chapter 7 and there is next to no usable information. In less than 40 pages it attempts to cover servlets, filters, and event listeners. I regret spending the money on this book.
Rating:
Summary: Didn't meet expectations
Review: Isn't this book supposed to be advanced reading level? It reads like a child's book with words like "screw" and "buzzword-friendly." Plus, there's so much info to cover in J2EE that it only explains the minimum needed to get started. If you plan on reading this book, don't expect to gain substantial knowledge from it. This book is only good for one thing: to establish an introduction. The real deal is to read the specifications which are advanced reading level and written by technical writers appointed by Sun Microsystems.
Rating:
Summary: Keeping in Touch with the Future
Review: Just glancing over the breadth of this book's chapter headings tells you right off the bat that you aren't going to get in-depth treatment of the subjects, since many, if not most of the subjects covered might well require one or more books dedicated to each. But you will get a good sense of where Java is going in the next release, allowing the savvy programmer or manager to catch up with the next wave of Java changes before it crashes down on his or her head. This is not a book for the expert in, say, Java Database applications to delve into the arcane depths of J2EE support for the intricacies of modern database design and techniques. It is a book for the beginning Java programmer, for programming management and architects, and for the expert Java programmer taking on new projects, anyone who wants an overview of the entirety of J2EE 1.4 before being tasked with implementing it yesterday or by tomorrow at the latest. This is the book one would want to have read through before walking into a strategy and planning meeting, or sitting down for a job interview, or planning needed classes for programming staff, or keeping one's resume current with the state of the art. With an average of thirty-three pages devoted to each topic, the information presented is usually packed solid, and it must be admitted that a few of the authors have more technical prowess than the gift to turn a dainty phrase, but technical writers being what they are, the fact that the book is clearly written in English and takes pains to be accessible to a wide range of potential readers is a strong point that far outweighs the few flaws. Buy this book. Read it. You'll spare yourself a lot of confusion and come away with a strong grounding in the fundamentals of the next edition of J2EE. Isn't that what a Bible is? Not a cookbook, but a guide.
Rating:
Summary: Java Community Process
Review: Several of the authors of this book are members of the Java Community Process which means that this book will discuss only the latest APIs and be highly accurate. I do not know of a better source for learning about J2EE than this book.
Rating:
Summary: J2EE 1.4 joke book
Review: The authors used J2EE 1.4 first beta as their reference, with current beta 2 release most chapters gone obsolete right away. The authors also forgot the point Weblogic and Websphere does not implement j2ee 1.4. This is an obsolete bible! The official release of j2ee 1.4 spec is 6 months away. Don't waste your money.
Rating:
Summary: reads like a novel
Review: The best book on J2EE i've seen --- this is an excellent introduction to this vast subject, combining the insight of several experts in the field. This book can actually be read chapter by chapter without being boring. It's written in an amazingly refreshing style and doesn't dwell on the API level but succeeds in capturing the higher-level design and usage patterns. This makes the knowledge collected in this book independent of the actual technology and therefore valid for years to come. Highly recommended!
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