The Amazon synopsis accurately describes the content and function of this book. Each chapter includes multiple examples of the structure of the syntax and use of Splus functions, and concludes with exploratory exercises (with solutions) to further the chapter theme. I am a graduate student with a modest understanding of statistics and virtually no programming experience. This book enabled me to construct custom bootstrap functions for exploratory data analysis within two days of beginning to learn Splus. This book is more easily read than any other Splus guide I have found, and I would recommend it to anyone using Splus, beginners and experienced users alike.