I was asked to review this book recently (with an eye on how it equates to PHP), and having just gone through it, I'm quite impressed. It is well written, well structured (taking you from no knowledge and going from there) and teaches you good design principles, without beating you over the head with them.
Having completed my review, it is apparent that PHP 5 has most of the good parts from java, without bogging you down in syntax. I view this as a good thing, making it easier for programmers to drift between the two languages more easily.
If I was asked to recommend a book on java programming, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this one. I would even consider recommending it to someone new to programming, because most of what it teaches applies equally well to other languages; it serves as a very useful primer, going into the right amount of detail, to make future employees useful regardless of the language that you're going to use.
I've seen lots of good books for beginners and lots of good books for advanced Java programmers. What I've been having trouble finding is something in-between.
I need a book that assumes that I already have experience programming in other languanges, and just gives me a jump-start into the most popular and useful Java libraries that I'll need to actually do something useful. I don't need a primer on variable types, for/while loops, and console-based "Hello, world" examples. I want to jump right into building a GUI app with buttons, images, and inputs!
Seen anything like that?
i've learned java with the 2nd edition of that book....
all their "learning <%insert language%>" books somewhat have the same sample code...
if you want to quickstart, you should have a look at their "for experienced programmers" series..