RW InDesign CS is a wonderful book. I own the previous (RW InDesign 2) version as well. Both Blatner and Kvern know InDesign well. Kvern has a slightly twisted spin on the world that makes it possible for him to make it interesting and exciting to uncover the details of InDesign. Both are always interested in helping other users in online forums. The book is meticulously designed with abundant screenshots with real world explanations.
The book covers more than the basics, with sections that simply change your perspective about the possibilities in InDesign. It is just part of my upgrade plan to always upgrade to the next version of Real World InDesign CS. I've done it twice and look forward to the next one.

This book belongs in the hands of anyone wanting to utilize InDesign to its fullest potential. There are tips and tricks throughout the book that you will not find documented anywhere else.

I had Real World InDesign 2 in my library already, but purchased Real World InDesign CS to ensure I had all of the latest tricks that Kvern and Blatner added in this edition available at my finger tips.

While this is not the type of book that most people will sit and read cover-to-cover, it easy enough to look up the precise topic you want to read more about. (If you are like me, and do read it cover-to-cover, you'll find it very entertaining as well as informative.)

If you want to really get to learn InDesign from the bottom up also with its more advanced functions, this is the book you should get. Granted, it is not for beginners in the first hand, but for those of us who work with the application all the time and need to dig deeper to understand what it can do, be it nested styles, tables, master pages or whatever.

The authors have deep knowledge and insight of the application and there are no others that could share their knowledge better. It might not teach you how to do design, but it teaches you how to use and understand the application. And it give you a level of depth that no other book about InDesign does.

I have had the Real World InDesign book as a reference for when I want to have things explained so I understand them since the very first version of this book, when Ole was the only author of it. With the addition av David Blatner as a co-author also came the understanding of what QuarkXPress users might want and need to know to get started with InDesign, now that more and more of them are converting to Indesign.

That Ole works for Adobe does not mean that he is a non-critical advocate for the application. He runs his own race here and not Adobes.

The Real World InDesign CS book is the best reference book you can buy if you want real deep knowledge of the application, and not only one more manual (which the Classroom in a Book is in my opinion).