Data Mining in 20 Minutes Coffee Book Series

Outstanding. I kept finding reasons to come back to it.

I came to this book already familiar with the basics, and it still had plenty to offer. The author avoids over-explaining, which keeps the pace up but means you need to pay attention. It is denser than the page count suggests, and I found myself slowing down around the middle. This is the book I wish had existed when I started working with javascript.

Recommended, with the caveat that it is not a gentle introduction.

I read this over a couple of weekends alongside a small side project, which turned out to be the ideal way to approach it. The writing is direct and does not waste space on filler, which I value in a technical book. The index and cross-references are surprisingly good, which matters for a book I will come back to. Some of the diagrams are dense and I had to reread a few sections, though that may just be me. A good addition to a technical library, as long as you know what you are buying.

The clearest explanation of javascript I have come across.

A colleague recommended this and I can see why. It does something that few technical books manage: it respects the reader's time. Some of the material is available elsewhere, but rarely presented this clearly. Some of the material is available elsewhere, but rarely presented this clearly. The explanations are careful without being condescending, which is a difficult balance to strike. This is the book I wish had existed when I started working with javascript.