Learning Python by O'reilly

After too many years to think about, I finally finished reading Learning Python by Lutz & Ascher from O'Reilly media. I picked up the second edition a few years ago and had been reading that. Currently the book is on its 4th edition and comes in at a whopping 1216 pages (mine was only 590 p.) At that many pages, the 4th ed. might be better called the Python Compendium or something more appropriate to its length. That much in a book titled 'Learning' would definitely scare me off entirely.

Anyways, the book is in its 4th edition for a reason, its very comprehensive and well written. I felt that the material was presented in a fairly straightforward manner and it was well-indexed (always a sign of a good book). The only minor issue I had was with the examples, some of them were quite obtuse especially when given the subject material they were deisgned to test. As a whole I found it to be an excellent book and it will be a great desktop reference in the future.