Allaire's Cold Fusion is one of the best products on the Internet/intranet software market and hopefully will be used by tens-of-thousands of IT departments in the future. However, Allaire has not done a good job of making its Cold Fusion technology easily useable by large numbers of application developers. Mr. Desborough's book could have done that if it hadn't been rushed to press, which it certainly looks like it was. And the cover and title should have been designed and named much better so the intent of the book would not miscommunicate its content!

That having been said, I would recommend this book to any IT developer who is unfamiliar with Cold Fusion, who wants to get Cold Fusion applications up quickly, and who wants to do this IN CONJUNCTION with using one of Ben Forte's great books. That is to say, what is very much needed is a book that covers both the technology of Cold Fusion and getting sample applications up quickly (hmmm...). That was the intention of Mr. Desborough's book and if it had been executed correctly, would have been a major contribution to users of Allaire's great Cold Fusion technology.

If anything comes out of this it is that this book proves that there is a great need for one or more books that do fulfill the intent of this book. The need is certainly there. For its ideas and intent, the book gets an "A+", for its execution, it gets a "D", and for a final grade, a "C". It is NOT a book for experienced CF developers or a book from which to learn CF technology. It is a book that can provide insight into what applications are needed for most Intranets and some ideas on how to get them up as quickly as possible (with Ben's books at hand).