is Head First Servlets & JSP the right book for me?

Hi everyone
I am new to Servlets and JSP. I need to learn them fast and start coding. I stumbled upon this book Head first Servlets & JSP.Is this the book for people who want to take up SCWCD exam? I have no plans of taking the exam. I just need to use JSP and servlets in my next project, so i need to have good knowledge of the subject.I dont want to waste my time on a wrong book as i am in a very tight schedule so Is it the right book for me? If not please suggest me a good book. Thanks in advance for all ur suggestions and advice

I recently got this book and found it very good. I too had no intention of taking the exam but still it was very useful. Bear in mind though the book is written in such a way that you kind of need to go through it chapter by chapter, whereas with other books you might tend to dip in and out of various chapters. Personally I thought this was good but you do need to have a bit of time on your hands.

Same here. It's a very good learning book. And, despite what its look might suggest, it's not a "dummy" book; it covers a very broad area of subject with significant depth.
But it's true that it's a little hard to use as a reference book... Though by the time you really need a pure reference book, the Javadoc and Internet are often all you need!

Head First Servlets and JSP is good.

Another book I found very useful was "Core Servlets and JSP" by Marty Hall. There is a free copy of the first edition available at CoreServlets

I am going through this book as we speak. I find it very informative and it covers topics to a good depth. I had previously read Marty Hall's Core Servlets & JavaServer Pages 2nd Edition. His book seemed not to cover any topic as well as Head First. I think the Hall's book was intended to be the first part of a 2-part book because he keeps referring to "Volume 2" but as of today, there is no Volume 2. While Head first is a little more difficult to read just due to its style, which takes some getting used to, I find it provides a wealth of useful information and good examples that Hall's book did not.

Thank u guys for ur immediate replies.......

Head First Servlets and JSP is considerably newer than even the second edition of Hall's book. In terms of a second VOLUME, maybe that's the "MORE Servlets and JSPs" title.

I actually thought Core Servlets and JSPs had deeper technical information in it (maybe I am biased because I read Core Servlets and JSPs first), but that Head First Servlets and JSPs was an extremely enjoyable read with great, modern, presentation (like any other Kathy Sierra book I have read).

Also, check out the reviews on amazon.com for both books and see how they fit your needs.

Both Head First and Marty Halls 2 books (Core Servlets and More Servlets)are very good books. The HF book has detail about the subject and will get you a thorough understanding of it.. Marty's books has a whole lot of fully working examples that you can find useful as a professional. I have been doing this for a while, and at most shops I have worked at, the #1 book on developer's shelve is the Core Servlets book. I just recently bought the HF book since I started to think about the exam. As others have said, the book is not just an exam book. It's a very good Servlet/JSP develepment book.

Actually Volume 2 of Core Servlets is NOT the "More Servlets" title. It is due out in May 2006
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0131482602/qid=1136905524/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-7952615-4013461?n=507846&s=books&v=glance

That's great Brian, I will be looking forward to it coming out. By the way, the link refers to Volume II (2nd Edition). Is there a 1st edition for this book?