I have never used Cold Fusion and was directed to this book as the first to read before others. The book did give me an ok understanding of the general concepts behind CF, but the information is hardly worthy of "mastering". The book covers many topics but with insufficient depth. Furthermore, I am convinced that the authors were paid by volume considering the annoying excess of repating the same code (when only a few lines hvae changed) or the continual use of redundant "Notes" (how many times do I have to be told where to get the sample code or that they are using a sample database). There are some minor errors in the book, including a reference in the last chapter to the next three chapters.