Because it was published in August of 2001, this book is already slightly outdated. The basic concepts and syntax of voice Extensible Markup Language (VoiceXML) have not changed, however, and the book claims to introduce VoiceXML 2.0, which is the current VoiceXML release version.

The book is broken into three parts. Part 1, “Retrospective on Voice and the Web,” presents the basic concepts of the Internet, and explains how data is transferred from one location to another. Since the book is supposed to be for the intermediate to advanced user, I question the value of such a section. This level of detail is not necessary for an intermediate to advanced user, who most likely has a deep understanding of this data already. On the other hand, the section is too short and brief for a novice user to gain the knowledge necessary to really comprehend the rest of the book.

In Part 2, “The VoiceXML Language,” the author introduces the actual concepts of VoiceXML. The focus is on version 1.0, with a few mentions of what he expects in 2.0. I guess that’s why the cover claims the book introduces VoiceXML 2.0. After spending about 50 pages in Part 1 explaining the Internet, the author breezes through setting up a testing environment and explaining the application he intends to build as a learning example in about five pages. Still, most intermediate to advanced users should be able to get the example up and running with minimal effort, and should find the VoiceXML language tutorial fairly useful.

Part 3, “Incorporating Voice Into the Web,” walks the user through building a real example application, and integrating it with a Web site. While the information presented in the example and the related details do a good job of describing how to get the application to work, many of the pitfalls and issues that may arise in various implementations are skipped over, or only briefly mentioned. At the time of publication, systems that could handle the VoiceXML syntax were few and far between. As a result, the book is primarily written with one implementation in mind. If the user wants to use a different service, the examples will be slightly harder to follow.

As a whole, this book does an average job of introducing the reader to the VoiceXML syntax. It comes up a little short on explaining the technologies behind VoiceXML, and how it all ties together.