Compulsory reading

I'm back here to purchase my 6th copy of this book, and 7th of Newcomer's earlier book ("Understanding Web Services"), as they are becoming compulsory reading in my division of a large and highly influential Financial Services technology player.

Newcomer and Lomow have done an outstanding job of putting a pragmatic, business and user-focused face on a field that is often either over-hyped, or too focused on technology for technology's sake. That is not to say that they only address the business-heads in this book (far from it - Newcomer in particular has been deeply involved in Web services technology and standards development since the very beginning, and this depth of knowledge of the technology is evident throughout), it is just that their discussion of the technology, even at its most abstract is easy to follow and well grounded in real-world benefits.

Rarely will you find a technical book written in such an approachable tone. Even more rarely will it cover the technology with the breadth and depth that these two industry luminaries demonstrate.

I have been working on the cutting edge of Web services and Mobile Web services for about five years, but was pleasantly surprised to find many new and refreshing insights and invaluable examples based on the real-world experience of the authors.

Perhaps the real value of this book, though, is demonstrated by my recent experience - When I show a copy to a senior manager they come back a few days later and ask me to get more copies. When I show a copy to a technical colleague, I have to fight to get it back!

Buy this book.

Other Reviews

• Practical SOA Book
• A word of reason in the super-hyped world of SOA
• Will save you a lot of time
• Compulsory reading
• Excellent view of SOA and how Web Services fit in