Wonderful exhaustive reference to Photoshop techniques, suffering only from lack of decent images to follow what the author is trying to tell you. The grayscale images on recycled paper convey far too little information for the amount of text covered. The color plates help some, but trying to locate them, in two far-apart locations yet, makes any connection between text and outcome all that more tedious.
Frankly, notwithstanding the disingenuous reasoning of why NOT to provide quality color images (whether on CD or online), it would have been cheaper in the end to include a CD with the book and dispense with the color plates altogether. The lack of see-for-yourself images is particularly troublesome in the promising section on layer blending modes. Deke keeps on talking and talking, but after a while you give up with a bad headache because even the original layer arrangement isn't all that clear. Too bad, really - this would have been one of the most outstanding parts of the book.
The Bible becomes even more confusing when you learn that there's a professional version with exactly the same title (librarians just love that!) -- sort of like an Old and a New Testament. Unfortunately, now that I own both versions, there are indeed some differences (mostly omissions) between the two. Even so, there are huge sections that are almost verbatim repetitions of the Old Testament, other than for the high-quality paper and the on-page color images (yet even here the section on layer blends remains unfulfilling for lack of a CD to learn how the author got there). Worse, the tantalizing in-depth treatment of Adobe's Camera RAW plugin doesn't show up till near the end and, truthfully, isn't that greatly changed from the original (even the tea kettle illustration remains unchanged, other than for the color).
In all truth, McClellands "All-in-One" text that includes a CD and video strips may be not as complete as the Bibles, but you'll learn a lot more, and retain it much better.
All told: the Bible(s) remains the definitive Photoshop reference work, presented in readable style with a nice touch of gentle humor. As it stands, this is a great resource for intermediate to advanced users, and a great buy pound-for-pound, well worth the top five stars. Substituting a CD for the color plates would turn this already bright star into one heck of a super-Nova.
