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Rating: 
Summary: Up-to-date and comprehensive
Review: I play only the Caro-Kann against e4 and have worked through several books and most of ECO. I was skeptical as to whether this book would have enough new info to be worth the price. It did. There is excellent coverage of new ideas in key lines up to this very year, and the author's coverage of some critical positions is very good, especially where the top players themselves have not yet made up their minds. This is not the only Caro-Kann book you would need in order to play the defense well, becuase there are several lines that are incredibly deep in theory, such as 6. Nge2 c5 in the Advance variation. But this is the first book to offer real coverage of 3. ... c5 against the Advance, rather than just reprinting Boleslavsky's ancient (and flawed) analysis, and the author recommends you try this if you prefer NOT to memorize long tables of variations. Excellent advice. Good coverage as well of 3. f3 and other sidelines. Upshot: not the place to go for the most detailed variations, but a great book to understand the defense as a whole and start developing it into your "repertoire" against e4 -- just as I have.
Rating:
Summary: Up-to-date and comprehensive
Review: I play only the Caro-Kann against e4 and have worked through several books and most of ECO. I was skeptical as to whether this book would have enough new info to be worth the price. It did. There is excellent coverage of new ideas in key lines up to this very year, and the author's coverage of some critical positions is very good, especially where the top players themselves have not yet made up their minds. This is not the only Caro-Kann book you would need in order to play the defense well, becuase there are several lines that are incredibly deep in theory, such as 6. Nge2 c5 in the Advance variation. But this is the first book to offer real coverage of 3. ... c5 against the Advance, rather than just reprinting Boleslavsky's ancient (and flawed) analysis, and the author recommends you try this if you prefer NOT to memorize long tables of variations. Excellent advice. Good coverage as well of 3. f3 and other sidelines. Upshot: not the place to go for the most detailed variations, but a great book to understand the defense as a whole and start developing it into your "repertoire" against e4 -- just as I have.
Rating: 
Summary: Good for starters, but not enough.
Review: If you know absolutely nothing about the CK, this book seems a very good place to start. I would imagine it ages very quickly, because he circles a lot around modern lines. It seems like a good buy for weaker players. Stronger players most definitely need additional database treatment, because his analysis is far from adequate in several important lines, but as an overall guide to where to put your effort, it is a good book.
Finally, I'd say: If you want to know how to play against it with white, skip the 3. f3 chapter. He actually recommends it(!) and gives a few example games where black plays horrifically as argument. Shame, mr. Gallagher!
Rating:
Summary: An expressly detailed discussion of the Caro-Kann Defense
Review: Joe Gallagher (2001 British Champion and English chess grandmaster) presents Starting Out: The Caro-Kann, an expressly detailed discussion of the Caro-Kann Defense in the game of chess. Pages and pages of matches, sample games and diagrams, theory and more comprise this expert study specifically written and designed for advanced chess players looking to sharpen their skill.
Rating: 
Summary: The ideal first book on the CK
Review: The Caro-Kann has been the first defence I studied versus 1.e4. It's a shame I didn't have that book when I studied it because Gallagher explained the ideas of the CK (for both white and black) very well, and I would have saved a lote of tiresome work (and painful defeats!) if I had it at that time! This book is especially impressive as Galagher's own experience on the CK is from the white side only. A must buy for a first book on the CK (especially for the black player). Even more experienced players can find many interesting section as "the fantasy variation" (where white playes 3.f3; ) is astounding (here Gallagher's own experience on the white side shines through).
Rating:
Summary: Excllent introduction to the Caro-Kann
Review: This book is a good introduction to the Caro-Kann and addresses some of the complaints about earlier books in this series (ie: this book has an index of variations!). One drawback is the author is not a Caro-Kann player -- I have not decided if that is net good or net bad. On the positive side, it means he wont be chearleading for either side, on the negative I think some enthusiasm may be lost. Like the rest of the series, the writing is quite crisp, and the example games fairly appropriate. The format is the same as in the previous games in the series, although the sicilian book in the series has a 'strategy' subtitle for general strategy for white and black -- that's not to say this information is missing here, it is simply not provided for in it's own section at the end of each variation. One thing i'm not terribly fond of in this book is the statistics section -- I don't find it too useful, and anyone with a decent database can generate statistics rather easily (the author used chessbase). Overall, if you have looked at a general opening book, and decided the Caro-Kann is something you wish to play, this is an excellent first book.
Rating:
Summary: Great Starting Out Book
Review: This is a very well written book and would be intersting to anyone who wants to learn to play the Caro Kann (this book would also be useful for the white side as well). The book is very manageble for people just learning the Caro and the quality of analisys is excellent.
Rating:
Summary: Great Starting Out Book
Review: This is a very well written book and would be intersting to anyone who wants to learn to play the Caro Kann (this book would also be useful for the white side as well). The book is very manageble for people just learning the Caro and the quality of analisys is excellent.
Rating:
Summary: Middle of the Road
Review: This opening guide failed to impress me at all. It was devoid of any general discussion about the themes of the opening and pawn structures arising from the caro-kann. I can get moves from fritz's database or elsewhere, but i at least want to understand what i'm doing when i add an opening to my repetoire. The format is quite decent, save for the diagrams, which bear completely useless captions (e.g. "a crazy position") instead of the usual "black to move" or "after 16...Nd4".
To be fair, there are a good number of complete games here (but none by karpov as black????) and that might get you somewhere, if Joel Gallagher's (who doesn't play the c-k) leaves you cold.
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