This should be one of your books if you are really serious about Ada. The author was one of the leaders of the small team that actually designed the Ada language and does a great job of presenting the essentials of the language in a easy to read format. While more complete examples would have helped, this is still the book you want to have on your desk when creating an Ada program. It should not, however, be the only book. Ada is a complex and beautiful language - it helps to see it from more than one view. Many reviewers of this book who gave it a poor score appear to be students or people who don't like the language in any case. If you don't see the value of learning Ada, no book will help that much. Some reviewers could not even spell the language (i.e. it is Ada, named after Ada Lovelace Byron, not ADA as in the American Dental Association). Ada is not as highly used as some other languages but is still a very popular language in certain segments and can provide a rewarding career for the serious student. I have been steadily employed for over 10 years using only Ada and have no trouble making a six figure income. I certainly don't see Ada as a 'dead language'!