Is the Silverlight 2 Bible worth purchasing?

Question

Someone on SO mentioned they'd bought a copy and I'm damned if I can find the question again.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Silverlight-2-Bible-Brad-Dayley/dp/0470375000/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224844673&sr=1-2

Has anyone bought this, if so is it worth it? Also, what about the MS book "Introducing Silverlight 2"?:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Introducing-Microsoft-Silverlight-Second-PRO-Developer/dp/073562528X/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b

Cheers
Kev

Answer 1

I'm rather waiting for Programming Silverlight 2 by Jesse Liberty and Tim Heuer.

Update: See Jesse Liberty's post here, at the bottom he recommends some Silverlight 2 books.

Answer 2

I am currently reading Microsoft's "Introducing Silverlight 2" and I really like it. It's a great book if you are just starting with Silverlight. Though he has a tendancy to repeat examples which can be annoying.

Answer 3

I think that there are 2 distinct audiences when it comes to Silverlight books and other technical resources.

Those totally new to XAML and Silverlight will benefit from introductory books and a clean briefing in the technology, whereas those who are coming to it from the world of WPF and existing knowledge of XAML seem better served, at the moment at least, by the excellent blogs out there - like Jesse's & Tim's and Silverlight insiders like Jeff Wilcox, Ning Zhang, Beatriz Sollnitz etc.

I will almost certainly buy Programming Silverlight 2 when it is available, but I have not gone for any of the currently published books which I think fall into the introductory category.

Answer 4

I have a copy of Pro Silverlight 2 in C# 2008 and I'm happy with it. It skips the introductory (i.e. what is html) and starts with more technical matters. A coworker had good things to say about the author. Has a good preview available on Google Books.

A brief look at the subjects in Silverlight 2 Bible tells me that there's a lot of space wasted on tasks that many devs have already done (installing VS 2008 for instance). And no preview available on Google Books.