Rating:  - bad
ADO, javascript and microsoft based.
XSLT is impossible to understand.
This subject of "beginning xml" should be written in 400 pages and not in 822.
What if you want continu to "expert xml"?
Shall you read 3000 pages in 3 books?yes you can buy all the wrox xml line!!
:-)
Rating:  - THE intro for (MS) Developers
See my full comment on XML Bible Gold Edition. Basically, these two books are complementary - one for Coders and the other for Writers/Designers.
This is the best intro for Developers I can find so far. It covers the basics, then immediately proceed to SOAP, RPC, Web Services, and all the buzz that's going on right now. The coverage seems perfectly balanced btw breadth and depth.
Two annoyances came thru in my cursory read:
- Heavy Microsoft bias: explanations for setting up sample SOAP and other servers are targeted to Windows only, no Unix/Linux support. Many of the code samples are in ASP, although some others are in Java. Annoying but perhaps inevitable given MS' de facto leadership on the technology so far.
- No CD, although the examples are supposed to be available online.
Rating: - Good coverage of XML and related standards
Definitely a good book for beginners; also a nice reference guide. Covers XML, Namespaces, DOM, SAX, XSLT, SOAP, Schemas, etc. Two case studies show building Web applications and Web services using XML.
Rating:  - Not Great
I found this book confusing. I am pretty good with HTML and have some experience programming Visual Basic.
I would not recommend this for beginners. It did a decent job of "how" but left me in the cold about "why".
XML, XSL, XSLT, XPath, DOM, SAX, DTD, EDD, how do all these relate, or do they? The authors assumed Javascript expertise and did not communicate toward beginners, but experienced web programmers.
Chris La Porte
Rating:  - Jeff Rafter is XML's Zeus
Editor Jeff Rafter contributes more information to this field than any other person on Earth. I think they should have named this book "XML Perfected, By: Jeff Rafter and other anonymous people--that, while not as brilliant, are passable." Hand him a lollipop and call him Uncle Einstein.
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