From the first time I encountered this book I was impressed with the idea and approach of teaching someone with no background whatsoever. This almost guaranteed a comprehensive coverage of a language that definitely has its complexities. The book as a whole, with its give and take between the author and his student, allow the nooks and crannies of almost all the subjects covered to be exposed and explained in simple terms.

In this regard there is no question that this book is unique and has an offering that few other books can match.

However, from a different perspective one has to wonder how relevant this book would be to most people interested in learning programming and who might be the target audience? This book assumes almost zero knowledge, not only about C++, but about computers in general. Although there are probably many people out there with such limited knowledge, I question how many of them are actually interested in learning how to program. Or conversely whether someone looking to learn programming, and specifically C++, would want to have to wade through very basic explanations about CPUs and RAM?

The other area of concern is after reading through the dialog I came to realize that although such a conversation is enlightening, everyone has there own set of questions that they need answered after being exposed to a given topic. And as basic as the Susan's questions might have been the conversation does not assure a comprehensive coverage of the topic.

My last concern about the book is the number of errors most likely due more to editing oversight that a shortcoming of the author. From my perspective a book for beginners must be as close to perfect on technical details as humanly possible since the reader is not in a position to quickly realize that this is merely a typo and move on. But rather they will assume the text is correct and try to reconcile it with the limited knowledge they have acquired so far.

One example is the answers listed on page 44 where the author is trying to explain binary and hexadecimal representation. Whereas the answers to the decimal numbers are correct the answers to the hexadecimal questions are all to the power of 2 instead of the appropriate power. These minor details can be very confusing for the target audience and can be a source of major confusion.

The bottom line is that this book has offered a unique approach teaching a difficult subject and it should serve its target audience well.