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Rating: 
Summary: Don't waste your time or money
Review: A complete waste. No learning or humor. There's barely enough material for a magazine article let alone a book. Now, after trashing the book, I'll see if I can find a sucker who doesn't read reviews to re-sell this book to.
Rating: 
Summary: Will have you rolling on the floor !!
Review: Amazingly Wacked !! Like his previous Best Seller* that no normal person has ever heard of ("Mr. Bunny's Guide to Active X") this gem raises and answers questions that not even normal programmers (oxymoron?) would ever think to ask. E.g., "Which came first, the Comment or the Code?" -- answer -- White Space! It pokes fun at everything from its own copyright "No part of this book ... blah, blah, blah, without the secret handshake." to resume writing suggestions "... listing your greatest accomplishments (unless, of course, you are Monica Lewinsky.)" I liked "Diagram 1" which displayed everything from the top level ("Java Program") down to the lowest levels ("Pizza Crumbs" and "Tile or Carpet.") The Common Programming Errors section (like everything else) was also was amazingly creative (and more importantly, funny!) -- including "Calling no argument constructor when there is no no-argument constructor is a no-no resulting in an argument with the compiler." and "C." Finally, explaining the challenge the compiler faces -- making your java code understandable to a box of sand. (In all my years of compiler writing, I never though of this.) Get this book!! Even if you're not a nerd, it will have you rolling. (What about the "Backward" which is, of course, the Forward in reverse!) ---- *I saw this #1 rating in "Boston Software Newspaper" also, one of the local book store owners told me they sold nearly twice as many "Mr. Bunny's Guide to Active X" last year as the #2 title.)
Rating: 
Summary: Solid Gold
Review: Beyond words. This is one of the greatest texts ever written.
Rating:
Summary: Great Fun Reading book
Review: For all the technical/non-technical people, this is a very good reading in leisure time. If you know the programming language he is talking about, that gives more fun. Wonderful reading, absolute funny style of writing.
Rating:
Summary: Funniest thing in print (for people who know Java)
Review: I don't get the negative reviews. Well, whatever. This is pure, hilarious, brilliant, hurts-when-you-laugh from a guy who knows his Java. Don't expect to learn anything about Java. It's just a stream of great injokes. Includes enormous curly braces, examples of white space, meeting "the primitives", explaining interfaces with a guy who's the mayor and a sheriff and a painter and a whole bunch of other things. And the illustrations are hilarious for anyone who's suffered through too many life cycle illustrations, those silly marketing layer diagrams, and "simple" illustrations of how Java works. Anyone who knows the difference between an interface and a class will love this.
Rating:
Summary: Occasionally humorous
Review: I was given this book by a friend who didn't want his copy anymore. I have since been unsuccessful in passing it off to someone else.
Mr. Egremont's humor is hit-or-miss, and mostly, it misses. It seems clear that he has some knowledge of the Java language, but for the book to qualify as a humorous parody, I expect the jokes to be more relevant and less nonsensical.
Rating:
Summary: If "Mad Magazine" Wrote a Java Book
Review: If you're considering buying this book, note that it is satire. Although the book takes the form of an introductory text, as satire it is not suitable as a tutorial. Satire is educational and funny only if you already understand the satirized subject. Java is a big topic and a tough subject to satirize, and we have to admire Egremont for taking on the challenge. He is often insightful, and often funny. In many ways the book is too short, skipping many topics I would enjoy seeing roasted, like package protection and marker interfaces. On the other hand, the book's 128 pages taxed my indulgence for satire.
Rating:
Summary: Read as satire or don't read at all
Review: Satire is a very difficult topic to write well and to maintain the flow and quality over the course of an entire book is one of the rarest of achievements. This book is a satire on the Java language and while it has many good points that are quite funny, it does lag and at times, becomes a bit repetitive. Trust me, if you read this book with the thought that you will learn something significant about the Java language, you will be very disappointed. Reading it for any purpose other than amusement will probably bore you to going back to programming in BASIC.
However, if your purpose is to have a little fun and take some time to reduce your level of seriousness about the fast-paced world of programming, then this is a book that you may like. I have inserted the word "may" because it is necessary for you to have a taste for satire to enjoy it.
Quite frankly, I did not enjoy reading the first few pages, as I had not yet placed myself in the satirical state of mind. But once I did so, I went back to the start and read it over, enjoying the (un)subtle turn of computing phrases. This is not a book that everyone can enjoy, but if you fit the previously stated caveats, then it is possible to read it with pleasure.
Rating:
Summary: Tries to be Funny & Informative. Fails.
Review: While I don't have anything against using a *little* humor to get a point across, the entire point of this book is apparently to be humorous while trying to be an introduction to the Java language. It fails in both respects. It is so heavily laced with attempts at over-the-top humor that it becomes unreadable. The reader is left sifting the text for actual information about Java, and often coming up empty-handed. I finally concluded that this book is actually intended for *experienced* Java programmers who have the background to appreciate the humor, but who obviously would have had to have learned their Java elsewhere.
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