XML purists may well decry this book. XML has captured overwhelming mindshare amongst developers as the preferred means of data interchange between programs. Plus, for recording to and from files, if you are starting a project with no legacy hangups, XML is often used.
Notice the caveat. Unfortunately, you as a developer cannot often start with a blank page. You may have to cater to existing data being stored in various formats, like CSV (Comma Separated Values). Or you have flat files with each line like "a=b". Or perhaps existing apps talk via EDI, which is quite common in certain industries.
Most XML books gloss over such details. Usually for good reason. Typically, they are trying to educate a reader who has never used XML. So for pedagogic clarity they deprecate these impedance mismatches. Which is correct, but of little help to you right here and now.
Rawlins tries to fill this gap. He assumes you know XML. The book rapidly goes into the grubby little details of how to overcome those impedance mismatches. Mundane but necessary. Somewhat inelegant manipulations, by the very nature of the topic. The book fills a real need. Though I suspect that many readers, and maybe even the author, wish this need will eventually evaporate. The pragmatists amongst you won't see this as imminent. The reality is that we will all have to support legacy apps indefinitely. Which should generate a steady demand for this book.