Most books on distributed java cover only one aspect (eg. RMI) in a level of detail that is really booring and time consuming to follow. This book gives a good coverage of available distributed computing methods in java (eg. RMI, CORBA, Voyager, etc.). None of the methods are covered in great detail but they are covered well enough to understand them and to know what you need to search for information about if you do implement one of them. The real value of this book is that it provides a clear overview of what methods can be used in distributed java so that informed decisions can be made as to which one should be implemented in a project. The only downside I see to this book is that there are a number of gramatical mistakes. The mistakes don't make the book unreadable and can be overlooked because the author is European, and English probably was not his first language. This downside is relatively minor, and the author's English is overall very good. An editor should have been used to catch these mistakes.
Do not buy this book if you don't understand object oriented programming and are not an experienced programmer. If you don't understand how to program, this book will be a waste of your time.
