Am I just too prejudiced against anything Java or does Headfirst Java look the most horrible publishing concept I've seen for a long time? What are O'Reilly thinking of? A book on Java full of irrelevant and desperately unfunny "light" relief that's neither educational nor entertaining?

I must confess I would have expected more from O'Reilly - a visual-oriented book with designs by Edward Tufte, maybe. Or wit and irreverant writing of the quality of Phil Greenspun.

But who is this book for? Anyone who needs educational resources diluted in this way is hardly likely to have the patience and concentration to cut it as a Java programmer. Hell! I don't have the patience and concentration to cut it as a Java programmer, even though I'm smart enough to read one of O'Reilly's normal books on the subject. So, if the form is appropriate for you, the content probably isn't. And vice versa.

The suspicion is that O'Reilly don't care. They know there's a market for wannabes : people who like the idea that they could learn this stuff, and feel encouraged that this format makes it easier than ever. Once they buy the book, does it matter that they get little out of it? Maybe not.