This book is excellent for someone who knows HTML basics and who wants to learn XML. The author does not use only examples, but also comparisons, which are really helpful. For example, XML is structure-oriented and not presentation-oriented, compared to HTML, this book explains the advantage of this difference. The presentation is clear, key notions as Namespace, Style Sheets, Dom and Sax, XLink and XPointer are all introduced in chapter one with examples, and explained in more detail in later chapters. It tells you also how to read this book, for example, chapter 3 is a little abstract, and at the beginning of this chapter, the author suggests you to skip half part and read this chapter later. The author repeats some notions several times, it may be helpful for beginner, but not for advanced. This book covers lots of topics, but not in depth. Overall, it is best suited for beginners. Int/adv readers better read <<Professional XML>>, <<XML unleashed>>, <<XSLT programmers reference>>, <<XML Elements of Style>> and other java/asp xml related books.