Unlike most of my other book reviews, I didn’t receive any incentive to write this review.
One of my New Year’s resolutions for 2012 was to learn more Node.js… so I did a bit of Googling for good beginner’s resources, and I stumbled across The Node Beginner Book by Manuel Kiessling.
Overall Thoughts
Considering the book’s title, I think the content is spot-on. Developers who are looking for an introduction to Node.js will find this book to be easy to understand, full of useful examples that are expanded in each chapter, and generally enlightening.
I will definitely recommend that others completely new to Node.js read this.
More specifically…
As a JavaScript enthusiast, I will say that I was left wanting MUCH more. To be fair, Kiessling does say:
Which is why this is no “from novice to expert” book. It’s more like “from novice to advanced novice”.
The book also sticks to using Node.js as a (local) web server… and there’s about a million other things you can do with it. Kiessling doesn’t really mention that.
What would you recommend?
Having said all of this, the book accomplished for me what I needed: an easy introduction to Node.js.
I guess I now need some recommendations for more complete books on the subject. What can you recommend?
About Arthur Kay
Arthur Kay is a long-time nerd and JavaScript enthusiast. He lives in the Chicago suburbs and is active in the local web development community.
Arthur currently works for Sencha, Inc. as a Solutions Engineer. The thoughts, ideas, and opinions expressed on this website are Arthur's alone and do not represent his employer.