But, once you get past the style, this is a great introduction to NLP. The ideas are clearly, concisely explained and laid out in an organized fashion with plenty of headings. Like a textbook, there are 43 meaningful exercises here that lead you through all the concepts presented. I looked over quite a few NLP books before this one. This is simply the most practical, organized, learnable really, intro to NLP I've seen. Hopefully, a more personal version can be written someday.