>Just a thought...
>
>After reading some of the other posts on this thread, it occurred to me that reading JimB's and Steve's book first might be the right way to go about reading the series. My gut reaction is that what's presented in there could be applied in the other books, resulting in the reader getting more out of them. Of course, not having read the others, this is pure speculation. It seems, however, to make sense.

Tamar and Ted express that very sentiment in the *Who Need's This Book?* intro in Hacker's. They advertise it as an intermediate-level book. However, I think it is a must for beginner's as well because of the documentation of all the commands, functions, features, etc.