I would say this is an overpriced book especially given that an introduction can be found on the r website for free. The book also wasn't clear in many places, especially towards the end when the author was building on concepts. Maybe this would not be a problem in a classroom setting where questions could be asked in order to clarify certain points. also i found the examples irrelevant and uninteresting (though of course this may not be the case for someone else). All in all i would not recommend this book as it seems to me to be a re-writing of the author's lecture notes...