Rating: 
Summary: Bravo, Bravo, Bravo!
Review: An XML books that starts where all others left off. I read this book along with "Java and XML" by Brett McLaughlin. I learned a lot more from Essential XML. But caveat lector, you have to invest some effort into reading this book. If you want fluf, then this book is not for you. My favorite chapter was the chapter on schemas. Just beautiful. Look elsewhere if you are into XSLT. The chapter on XSLT will leave you seen stars. This book that will join the canon of computer science.
Rating: 
Summary: Not useful at all.
Review: As I write this, I am looking at the Amazon.com sales ranking. It is ranked 385 right now. So looks like most of you have already bought this book. If you're like me, you probably looked at the author list and thought ..Don Box writing on XML...this got be good, and later realized what a waste of time and money this book is.Well, if you haven't already bought the book, look elsewhere. If you REALLY want to learn about XML, get those Wrox publishing books. I simply love them. If you're in XSLT, get Mickael Kay's book. If you're doing ASP with XML, get the Professional ASP, XML book. Stay away from this one.
Rating:
Summary: Beyond Markup
Review: As promised by the subtitle, this book is not a gentle introduction to angle brackets! Rather, it examines key XML technologies (XML, XPath, XSLT, SOAP) from the standpoint of an abstract information model for the exchange of typed data. This book will influence the way the industry looks at XML. It is not an easy read, but as with the authors' previous books, the effort will be richly rewarded. Highly recommended for readers who have a taste for abstraction and at least some familiarity with XML basics.
Rating:
Summary: Great XML book for REAL developers.
Review: Beware: if you're expecting one of those tomes on XML thatlooks like it will dislocate your shoulder when you pick it up, then this is not the book for you. This is not a 'how to' book per se. This book is very condensed hence the use of the word "essential" in the title. The book starts by explaining the Information Set...requirements that describe an abstract XML document without any reference to syntax. This lays down a firm theoretical foundation upon which the rest of the book builds. This is probably the 'dry' first 75 pages other reviewers are referring to. I suspect that other reviewers are looking for a book where they can mindlessly lift out whole code samples and inject them into their already late applications. This is not that kind of book. Visual Basic programmers of the world - die! This book does not have pictures of multiple authors on the front jacket (what incredible egos must be required to do that) that has become so popular lately. You must apply the information found in this book yourself. This book treats the reader with respect assuming they have a modicum of intelligence. No talking down here. The personal experiences of the authors' shine through. So often other XML books are merely some watered down re-write of some existing online help where clearly the author has little or no prior experience. Describing the theoretical origins of any standard(s) (let alone the XML standards) is not exactly dinner table conversation at best so I appreciate the authors' bravery at tackling such a topic. This is usually a thankless task, but much needed. The documents basics covered in the opening chapters are done with great detail including the BNF (Backus Naur Form) definitions of Information Set concepts like names, entities and attributes. This, I thought, was a nice touch. The code samples, as other reviewers have pointed out, are only in Java. As the authors point out SAX has only been defined in Java. It therefore makes sense use Java throughout for other code fragments. When covering the sections on DOM Level 2 it makes complete sense to use Java as DOM Level 2 is simply a set of abstract interfaces and lends itself perfectly to the Java language interface concept. The chapters on Navigation and Transforms are OK and don't go into massive depth. For a more rigorous coverage of these topics, see Michael Kay's book "XSLT" (ISBN: 1-861003-12-9). This book does a good job at mentioning the difference between two popular parser and DOM API implementations, namely, Microsoft MSXML v2.6 and XERCES J Parser. Although MSXML is now at v3.0 the overlap is probably about 98% so you shouldn't miss anything. Appendix A is a bit of waste of paper as it's nothing more than a straight reprint of the Information Set W3 specification. Appendix B contains twelve pages of XML Productions. Appendix C however contains a good Example Gallery. Examples include, "SAX/DOM Examples", "XPath Expressions", "Programming XPath", "XML Schema Examples", "XSLT Examples", "Programming XSLT" This book has truly deepened my knowledge and appreciation of the multiple XML standards. It was done in a way that no other book has been able to do; succinctly, concisely and to the point.
Rating:
Summary: The Bones of XML
Review: Buy this book for the chapter on schemas, if nothing else. XML is here to stay, offering itself as the main means for applications to exchange data. This book covers the essential bones of XML-- the things you need to understand to use XML effectively.
Rating: 
Summary: The road less traveled
Review: Don Box could have easily traded on his rep and put out another sorry XML book with the same tired examples. He and his co-authors delved into the topics you don't usually see covered and did it in cross platform fashion (How easy would it have been for them to write the samples using ATL/C++/COM?) The only reason I give it 4 stars is that it is a little dry.
Rating:
Summary: The Saints come together ( Don Box and Aaron )
Review: Essential COM was my first experience . A Wide Awakening to what we are all missing and an opportunity to acknowledge the messiah of COM , Don Box . WinINet and SOAP's illustrative examples proves enough the credibility and knowhow of what a man called "Aaron" is all about . If you don't know... When it's don and arron together , an new epic not to miss for sure.....
Rating:
Summary: Money back please!
Review: Essential XML commits the worst sin of any technical work: it assumes its readers are already familiar with the subject matter. Reading this book is is like joining a competitive high-level college course in mid-semester--one feels behind from the start. Perhaps the authors feel that readers who would admit to a need for a more gradual approach to the material are beneath their consideration as being weak technically. It's unfortunate that omniscience is one of the assumed attributes of the hacker. I for one am not omniscient, but prefer texts where the authors and editors have made a reasonable effort to present the material in a way accessible to readers with varying levels of prior expertise.
Rating: 
Summary: Misleading title
Review: I agree with one of previous posters that the book should have been called "The XML Infoset". I grabbed this book because I was really happy with two other books by Don Box and people from DevelopMentor ("Essential COM" and "Effective COM"). I don't use much of XML in my daily work and wanted to have a comprehensive book covering the technology. Unfortunately, it just concentrated on some XML topics, assuming the reader has already understood XML fairly well.
Rating:
Summary: Misleading title
Review: I agree with one of previous posters that the book should have been called "The XML Infoset". I grabbed this book because I was really happy with two other books by Don Box and people from DevelopMentor ("Essential COM" and "Effective COM"). I don't use much of XML in my daily work and wanted to have a comprehensive book covering the technology. Unfortunately, it just concentrated on some XML topics, assuming the reader has already understood XML fairly well.
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