One of the things I have learned in the last few years is how to buy a book about any given programming subject. That may sound odd, but here is an example of what happens when you don't know how to buy a book - you end up writing a review for it that sounds like this one:

"This book is cheap, but you get what you pay for . . . The index only goes up to "W", so you won't find XML mentioned anywhere. I wanted to know how to load XML into a datagrid, but this book didn't get me any closer. The book focuses almost exclusively on the datagrid control (so a more apt title would be 'Datagrid Kick Start'). You won't even find much (if anything) on listboxes, combo boxes, checkboxes, or radio buttons. It's always possible that these topics are mentioned somewhere in the book but not in the index." (culled from this place)

Okay, I agree - sometimes book titles are not chosen well. But I rarely assume that the title of the book is necessarily reasonably indicative of the contents therein. Why? Because, like this reviewer, I have found that some books are not all I expect them to be. There is another key. Sometimes I read reviews written by people who had bad expectations to start off with, and it seems that they are destined to blame the book and the author rather than admit they had not done the research needed to determine if the book was a good fit.

Here is what I do before I buy a book:

1. Read all of the reviews I can about it online - at Amazon, B&N, Bookpool, usenet, etc.
2. Ask my peers at work/school/church/standing-in-line-at-the-grocery-store/etc. if they know anything about it
3. Ask myself "have I read anything by this author, and if so, did I like that book?!
4. Take a gander at the table of contents and the index, if possible.
5. Honestly ask myself about my expectations and whether I really think the book is a good fit, rather than simply hoping it is

These steps, not necessarily in that order, usually help me successfully match a book to my needs. If others did the same, I think there would be fewer people dissatisfied with the books they buy. Now, that is by no means to say there are no bad/horrible/worthless books out there - there are. But I see so many books that *are* good get bad reviews because the reviewer was obviously neglectful in the due diligence department.