I have read many books from the New Best of Fine Woodworking series and this is among the best of them. Though this is really just a collection of articles written by many different authors surrounding the general theme, there is a lot of very valuable information here. As always with Taunton, the writing/editing is excellent and the color photographs and illustrations are quite good. In my mind, this "collection of articles" approach is even more valuable than a book by a single author. The reason for this is that as you read expert advice from many woodworking pros, you get the sense that they don't all agree on everything. In my mind this is one of the most important lessons to learn... woodworking methods and techniques are an extension of the woodworker and as such there is no single "right way" of doing things.
As for downsides to this book, it can get a bit tedious to read about tuning a block plane for the fifth time if you grasped the concept the first time it was mentioned. Fortunately there is a lot of information given beyond just the basics of tuning and maintaining your planes, including actual techniques to employ in various situations.
All in all, I highly recommend this book as an excellent resource to all beginner to intermediate woodworkers interested in beefing up their hand plane skills and anyone else interested in a tool that mankind has been using for thousands of years...