Abstract:
It's quite a good book about Python usages, but not for beginners to programming. Could be a bit
smaller.

I started that book without no previous contact with Python, but with experience with a number of
different programming languages. I had no problems with reading the numerous examples from that book,
so I think that experienced programmers can use it for their first contact with Python. Important
note here: experienced programmers. It's not an introduction-to-programming type of book.

The book is not a Python syntax reference, but rather a reference for possible usage. In my opinion
it's a good thing, because it allows to see the language actually work and do some practical stuff.
It's a very big book, but it's not hard for me to find the needed fragment. With such approach,
it works nicely.

I have mentioned the book size... After some time it became more and more annoying;
it's simply too hard to keep easily.

To add to that, there are many paragraphs that could be easily removed without loosing the content.
The author attempted to write for a person with no programming experience (he introduces basic concepts),
still requiring basic knowledge of Python. That may work in one case: when that book is your second
programming book and the first one was some kind of Python reference or programming introduction with Python.
For an experienced programmer, or even somebody who has limited experience, most of the introductionary sections are simply not needed, like standard input/output discussion , nine pages about bacis concepts on networking and sockets etc. Removing them would make the book have a reasonable size, what would be a plus.

The author's style is lively and it's an interesting read. You can jump in to read a section of special
interest, however. There are many examples (some could be probably shorter), so everything can be found in the code. The author gives detailed explanations, also including external links when needed.

To sum up, the book is a good Python intro for an experienced programmer, who does not require introductions into topics like shell, networking, GUI and so on. It should be also OK for beginners, as long as they start from a book on programming basics (probably using Python) and are ready to read more about certain concepts, because they may not find the inf found in the book detailed enough. To ecide if it's for you you should browse it to see if the content satisfies you.