I was browsing in a bookshop, looking for an authoritative book about CORBA. If it contained information about using Java with CORBA that would be a bonus. When I first picked up this book I was put off by the cover, which has a drawing of two Martians on it. I know they are Martians because the book Forward starts 'Greetings, Earthlings! I'm Zog, the captain of the Martian team.' At this point I almost put it back on the shelf. I'm glad I didn't.

This is an very well written book, explaining in depth, but with commendable clarity, how to 'do' CORBA with Java, complete with code and explanations of what going on, benchmarks, comparisons with Java's RMI and Microsoft's DCOM (and why CORBA/Java is better!). If you are interested in Client/Server programming with Java, you should be considering using CORBA and I doubt you will find a better book explaining why and how. Definitely recommended.