Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I am so-so on this book. I ordered it partly because of the thousands of 5-star reviews, believing it would be comprehensive and thorough; it wasn't what I was looking for. It spends the first part of the book going over the absolute basics of photography, and any art school graduate or person who took a photography course in high school or college will be familiar with it. Then it goes into a break down on the basic rules of composition, then the basics of using your camera, and from there a short part on common problems you might face. The rest of the book is concerned with "types" of photography and how to "master" them - portraits, landscapes, bird-photography, etc. One actual example of advice, "Try using a decorative perch from which to photograph birds to change it up". Overall, it's a book filled with advice for achieving his sort of style, as opposed to an actual textbook on photography and learning the ins-and-outs so you can develop your own look for yourself. It's definitely not a course for "mastering" anything. If you're a total beginner and have never taken an art class in your life, this book is for you. If you're familiar with the rules of color theory, composition, and know what an aperture is already, I suggest you look elsewhere.