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Building Scalable Web Sites: Building, Scaling, and Optimizing the Next Generation of Web Applications Review by Mark Ruzomberka
Very Technical - Little Fluff Here
Typically when reading a technology book they fall into two categories.
They are over your head or too general. This book probably falls into the first category. I would imagine for the right techie this book would have so many great code examples they would love it. Had I bought this in the store, and not online, the sheer volume of code examples would have scared me away.
Not to worry, this book is great when paired with John Allspaw's "Art of Capacity Planning" John's book is 150 pages while this one is over 300, but they are a dense 300. If you want High Level go with Allspaw if you want Low Level go with Henderson. Also an FYI do not to copy all that code just use the 45 day trial to Safari to get access to the whole book online. This would allow you can download every word in the book, which is very slick.
For me, I did like the comparison in the opening chapter about how a web architect has to remodel a house while people are still living in it. Further along in the book Chapter 9 is worthwhile for the majority of readers even at a high level. Especially the 3 rules for scalability.
A scalable system has three simple characteristics:
They system can accommodate increased usage
The system can accommodate an increased data set
The system is maintainable
Communication is all about knowing your audience, and clearly I wasn't at a technical level for this book, but I still got a few great examples.