I received a review copy of James Floyd Kelly’s book ‘LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT-G Programming Guide’ published by APRESS. James (Jim) does an excellent job explaining NXT-G to newbie programmers. To date, this is the best resource I would suggest for NXT owner (especially younger ones) who stare at the blocks palette in NXT-G wondering “where should I start?”. Jim gives a good introduction, explaining what a ‘program’ is all about, and teaches one after the other all the block in the NXT-G palette. Each block is described in its own chapter, which are written short to free time for experimenting with the newly acquired knowledge. The language is easy to understand, and Jim’s humor makes it even more enjoyable.
Still, in my opinion there’re some material which are lacking in this excellent book. Building each chapter to teach one block there’s not much ‘integration’ of the knowledge into more elaborate (and interesting) programs. After learning on Move block and Sensor block one is fully prepared to make Tribot travel on a line – a chapter explaining this program would be a great addition. I would have been happier if between ‘block-specific’ chapters there were more in-depth chapters combining blocks into programs which are more ‘fun’ and exciting – which is the main reason kids play NXT, right?
Another issue is the lack of references. There is a huge (over 3000) models published in NXTLOG, many contains simply NXT-G programs. I think any NXT book should refer it’s reader to official sites (such as NXTLOG) and community sites (such as NXTasy repository). It might have slipped my eyes – but I did not find any references in the book.
Last, although each chapter ends with some discussion on possible experiments one can done with the newly learned material, I find these instructions too obscure. I rather have a 2-3 listed items like ‘make SPOT do this and that’ then ‘it is possible to do this and that, and that too…’. I personally believe kids need more clear instructions what to do…

In conclusion – Jim’s book is a great resource for kids. In particular kids who got their NXT as a present, and have little or no adult support. Its weak points are less important for the novice, but would be more important after some experience is gained. Maybe Jim is planning on publishing ‘NXT-G Programming Guide - Part 2’ with more ‘advanced’ programming explained? Bottom line - strongly recommended.