Rating: 
Summary: Blogging for Beginners
Review: I too bought this book on the strength of the O'Reilly name. I expected to learn at least one or two new facts by reading this book. Not to sound arrogant, but this is a book I could have written myself. I've dabbled in BloggerPro, GreyMatter and MovableType, along with some other, more powerful CMSs (e.g., E107, GeekLog and Drupal). Unless you've never written a blog before and are a virtual neophyte online, this book is not for you. It cursorily reviews only the "top two" blog tools, Blogger/BloggerPro/Blogspot and Movable Type. It also delves into quite a bit of detail about Bloxsom, which is understandable, I suppose, since Bloxsom was developed by one of the book's contributors. I don't need handbooks for tools I don't use. If someone is interested in trying out a particular content management system, I doubt they'd think to purchase this O'Reilly book to help them do so, particularly since both Blogger and Movable Type have excellent websites and fora for their users to hash out installation problems. The book starts out with a minimum of information about blogging and its origins. Delves not at all into what blogging is now or may potentially become. There's no insight here. This book, in trying to be all things to all bloggers, fails miserably and merely becomes nothing to more people than it should have. My best suggestion for a great book ABOUT BLOGGING is Rebecca Blood's The Weblog Handbook. Spend your money on that; I promise that's one book you won't want to part with.
Rating:
Summary: Blogging for Beginners
Review: I too bought this book on the strength of the O'Reilly name. I expected to learn at least one or two new facts by reading this book. Not to sound arrogant, but this is a book I could have written myself. I've dabbled in BloggerPro, GreyMatter and MovableType, along with some other, more powerful CMSs (e.g., E107, GeekLog and Drupal). Unless you've never written a blog before and are a virtual neophyte online, this book is not for you. It cursorily reviews only the "top two" blog tools, Blogger/BloggerPro/Blogspot and Movable Type. It also delves into quite a bit of detail about Bloxsom, which is understandable, I suppose, since Bloxsom was developed by one of the book's contributors. I don't need handbooks for tools I don't use. If someone is interested in trying out a particular content management system, I doubt they'd think to purchase this O'Reilly book to help them do so, particularly since both Blogger and Movable Type have excellent websites and fora for their users to hash out installation problems. The book starts out with a minimum of information about blogging and its origins. Delves not at all into what blogging is now or may potentially become. There's no insight here. This book, in trying to be all things to all bloggers, fails miserably and merely becomes nothing to more people than it should have. My best suggestion for a great book ABOUT BLOGGING is Rebecca Blood's The Weblog Handbook. Spend your money on that; I promise that's one book you won't want to part with.
Rating: 
Summary: Use this book to get started, then pass it to a friend
Review: If you want to start blogging but don't know where to start, try this book. It is an overview of several applications that help you maintain a blog. You can read through the book to get a feel for which solution would work for you, and find the initial steps for setting up your blog. If you already have a blog, this book won't be very helpful. It does not go beyond the basics. For example I chose Movable Type as my solution. Now that I've got it going the book is no longer a useful reference, I depend on the Movable Type documentation instead. For total newbies: A blog is a website which has new entries added on a regular basis. It could be a journal, or a series of reviews, or a news page. "Blogging" is the act of maintaining such a website. I used a blog to keep friends and family updated while adopting a baby in another country. Do a google search and you will find 100s of blogs used in all sorts of ways.
Rating:
Summary: Use this book to get started, then pass it to a friend
Review: If you want to start blogging but don't know where to start, try this book. It is an overview of several applications that help you maintain a blog. You can read through the book to get a feel for which solution would work for you, and find the initial steps for setting up your blog. If you already have a blog, this book won't be very helpful. It does not go beyond the basics. For example I chose Movable Type as my solution. Now that I've got it going the book is no longer a useful reference, I depend on the Movable Type documentation instead. For total newbies: A blog is a website which has new entries added on a regular basis. It could be a journal, or a series of reviews, or a news page. "Blogging" is the act of maintaining such a website. I used a blog to keep friends and family updated while adopting a baby in another country. Do a google search and you will find 100s of blogs used in all sorts of ways.
Rating:
Summary: A thwarting of expectations
Review: One would expect that a powerhouse of technical publishing with a track record of sophisticated books would take a topic like blogging by the horns and create a book that would be as timeless as its others. Such was not the case. This book begins with a terse introduction to the concept of blogging and then proceeds with short chapters, each giving an introduction to a different blogging tool. The problem with this is that all tools accomplish the same end so if one already is blogging with one tool they have essentially one or two chapters in this book to occupy them (not to mention the fact that sections like 'installation' will often be skipped). The book has been written by several authors, each seemingly contributing a few chapters. There is no crime in this as some would have it, but it taxes continuity, becomes repetitive and also gives the reader a feeling that it was rushed by the publisher. The vacum that was for books on blogging has been filled however, so I would recommend another book like 'Blogging' by Biz Stone for anyone interested in the subject of blogging.
Rating: 
Summary: Read this before you start blogging
Review: Reading this book before you get started with a blog will save you time, money, and frustration. It will give you a fantastic overview of what is available as far as platforms and tools for blogging. It is not a reference, and it omits a lot of things one may wish to do with their blog. But it will be helpful to the novice. While this is a beginner's book, it is not written at a "Dummy" level, and the typical computer user will be right at home. The only disadvantage of the book is that once you zero in on a particular blog management system (e.g., Blogger) the sections dealing with the other systems are no longer particularly useful.
Rating:
Summary: Poorly Edited, Minorly Informative
Review: The book does say that if you are currently running a blog, a lot of the information contained will not be new, so I understand they are marketing to a newbie crowd. However, even for newbies, I really don't think the information contained therein is very useful. Mostly do to poor editing and layout. For example, in the first chapter they include screen shots to show you what a blog looks like.. seems reasonable enough. However, when the author is talking about including a hyperlink to whatever page his post may be talking about, they give full page wide screenshot of the word "Link"... it's just this big empty white space with a tiny word... "Link" just floating in the middle of it. Totally unhelpful.
Rating: 
Summary: Essential online docs, you mean
Review: This was the first disappointing O'Reilly book I've ever read. It's essentially a rehash of docs available online, and offers few, if any, new insights. Do not buy this book; rather, borrow it from the library or, best of all, visit the Web-based help docs for your preferred publishing system.
Rating:
Summary: ESSENTIALLY FOR NOVICE BLOGGERS
Review: With its slow-and-steady pattern, "Essential Blogging" is the book that will initiate novices into the blogging ritual. It highlighted every important tactic used in today's Weblog: including vital hints on how to select, install, and run blogging utilities. It also advices its reader on how to integrate random entry display with a blog front-page.
This book has a set of easy-to-follow rules on how to create, maintain, and collaborate weblogs. And for those who already know what they want, it provided guides which would enable them set-up their systems.
However, its worst offence is that a great chunk of its information were overtly summarized: thus, ensuring that its reference-value is curtailed. Also, it failed to expatiate on blogging essentials like: Greymatter and Live Journal.
Still, the fact that it served nourishing tips and code examples, raised its profile. It is a good starting-block for weblog beginners; but, expert bloggers may afford to overlook it.
Rating:
Summary: ESSENTIALLY FOR NOVICE BLOGGERS
Review: With its slow-and-steady pattern, "Essential Blogging" is the book that will initiate novices into the blogging ritual. It highlighted every important tactic used in today's Weblog: including vital hints on how to select, install, and run blogging utilities. It also advices its reader on how to integrate random entry display with a blog front-page.
This book has a set of easy-to-follow rules on how to create, maintain, and collaborate weblogs. And for those who already know what they want, it provided guides which would enable them set-up their systems.
However, its worst offence is that a great chunk of its information were overtly summarized: thus, ensuring that its reference-value is curtailed. Also, it failed to expatiate on blogging essentials like: Greymatter and Live Journal.
Still, the fact that it served nourishing tips and code examples, raised its profile. It is a good starting-block for weblog beginners; but, expert bloggers may afford to overlook it.
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