Learn Windows PowerShell in a Month of Lunches [Paperback]

Don Jones is a well-known PowerShell MVP, trainer, author and blogger. This is his latest book on PowerShell. It sets out to teach a complete new comer to PowerShell how to use the language and commands to get stuff done. That is an important point - the book is about learning PowerShell so that you can use it to automate your administrative tasks.
The book is not an abstract look at PowerShell as a language but treats it as a tool you want to learn. It assumes you will be reading the chapters in order (which I would strongly recommend) and that you will be performing the exercises and running the code examples. Please make sure you do as it's the only way you will get the maximum benefit from the book.
As I have stated in other reviews I have three main criteria for judging a book:
* Is it technically accurate?
* Does deliver the material it claims to deliver?
* Is worth the cost of purchase and the time I spend reading it?
The first one is easy to deal with. Yes it is technically accurate. Don is an expert on the subject of PowerShell and more importantly for a book of this sort he is an expert on how to teach it. The book has been reviewed by a number of PowerShell experts and I performed the final technical review. It's as accurate as it can be!
The book has the following chapters:
1. Before you begin
2. Running commands
3. Using the help system
4. The pipeline: connecting commands
5. Adding commands
6. Objects: just data by another name
7. The pipeline, deeper
8. Formatting--and why it's done on the right
9. Filtering and comparisons
10. Remote control: one to one, and one to many
11. Tackling Windows Management Instrumentation
12. Multitasking with background jobs
13. Working with bunches of objects, one at a time
14. Security alert!
15. Variables: a place to store your stuff
16. Input and output
17. You call this scripting?
18. Sessions: remote control, with less work
19. From command to script to function
20. Adding logic and loops
21. Creating your own "cmdlets" and modules
22. Trapping and handling errors
23. Debugging techniques
24. Additional random tips, tricks, and techniques
25. Final exam: tackling an administrative task from scratch
26. Beyond the operating system: taking PowerShell further
27. Never the end
28. PowerShell cheat sheet
Each chapter is designed to be read, and the exercises performed, in an approximately one hour lunch break. They are short, concise and very much to the point. Don has a very easy writing style that stops the topics being dry. The humour comes through in places to liven things up.
This is a book about doing. If we look at chapter 17 for instance - this is where scripting is introduced as the previous chapters show what you can do with PowerShell just from the command line. The chapter has 7 solid examples plus a lab. There are two callouts urging you to try the code and a list of ideas to try at the end of the chapter. All of this in 12 pages!
As well as the basics of the PowerShell language the book covers what might be considered more advanced topics such as remoting and PowerShell jobs.
In a nutshell this book teaches you how to use PowerShell. If you work through the chapters and labs you can't fail to learn how to use PowerShell. Will it make you an overnight expert? No it won't but it will provide a very solid foundation for you to progress and discover more about PowerShell yourself.
Don is a teacher and that comes through the way the book is written and constructed. In terms of my last two questions:
* Does it deliver the material it claims - YES. There were a couple of points in the book that made me think about me assumptions about PowerShell.
* Is it worth the money to buy and the time to read - YES.
On the back cover there's a quote of mine "The book I wish I'd had when I started PowerShell". That sums it up for me. It's an excellent introduction to PowerShell itself and achieves exactly what it states it will do.
If you are new to PowerShell, or want to get started with it I can't recommend this book strongly enough. Buy it. Read it. Use it.

I wrote my first Powershell (powercli) script to interrogate vSphere last year but it was a very hit and miss affair, copying snippets of code from other people until I got something which did near enough what I needed. With my firm moving towards the latest MS technologies (Exchange 2011, SCCM, etc) I decided it was now time to learn PS properly and so bought this book.

So what can I say? Well I've read literally scores of technical books, everything from "Understanding IP6" to "The Suse Linux bible", but this text is by far and away the most enjoyable read out of the lot of them. It's not a tombstone of a book so immediately you feel that for once you might actually finish it, and that it wont be relegated to "reference manual" status.

The composition of the book is also excellent, with each chapter including practice examples designed to take about an hour each. The author is concise in his writing style but is still humorous, keeping the read enjoyable and relevant.

I've never before picked up a technical book and had trouble putting it down, but this book has changed all that. If you need or want to learn PowerShell and finally understand exactly what those scripts do in full, then this is the book for you!

An easy to read, informative, and worthwhile book with the added benefit of having a soft copy download available so you can cut/paste the text into your Powershell window.