I was commenting to my wife the other day that while JoC does not seem to be written for complete beginners, that fact is actually a very good thing. There is a lot of Beginning Clojure / Beginning Lisp / etc. material out there. What I really wanted was a book for those who have already seen the light, so to speak, of Lisp. I've read The Little Lisper. I've read Lisp 1.5 Manual. I've written a Lisp interpreter in C. And so on. I'll use Lisp as long as I am still allowed to do so (I'm a grad student, so no issues yet!).<p>So I love Lisp and I love Clojure for being a new Lisp.<p>JoC talks directly to me. It references works and people I know about, but most of which I do not know enough about. It talks about how amazing Lisp is but tells me even more than I already knew. Much more. It's written as if the authors are saying, "Yes of course Lisp and Clojure are great, but here are all the reasons WHY." For example, the section "nil Pun With Care" is obviously written for someone who knows the variations on 'nil' found in different Lisps. JoC's style is similar to Rich Hickey's famous presentations ("Yes, nil is different in Clojure... ok, let's just get through this slide, you knew we'd have to at some point...").<p>JoC really takes Lisp appreciation to the next level. I was waiting for something like this!
If you can't possibly wait for the book until November, you can get a beta version of the ebook at <a href="http://www.manning.com/fogus/" rel="nofollow">http://www.manning.com/fogus/</a> for $28. Highly recommended.
Michael: I have been enjoying the MEAP while you have been writing it. My enthusiasm for Clojure is increasing and I like the book!<p>BTW, really off topic, but do you have any advice for making stack traces a little more useful (using Clojure 1.2)? This is still a sore spot for me.