The criticisms of this book using big words are unfounded. OOAD is a complex idea (after you read this book, this will become crystal clear if it isn't already) and therefore needs and incorporates a robust vocabulary to articulate complex processes and ideas. If you are put off by big words, you will not be able to read about science, philosophy, mathematics or programming, all of whose ideas, by the way, are juxtaposed in Object Thinking.
As well, to say this book is "deeply slanted" and that the author "foams at the mouth" reagarding current programming practices is to completely disavow oneself from reality. Take a quick and simple peek and the current state of software design/projects/programs. See anything amiss? How about cost overruns, and projects that either get shelved halfway through, or take 5 times as long to build as planned. Mr. West simply says that true OO is rarely practiced, that there is a better method, and here it is. If anyone has any credible evidence that XP/Agile programming is the same or worse than traditional OO or structured programming practices, be sure to write your own book on it. It will go along ways to disproving theories that Dave West and others put forth.
For those who are open to expanding their current views about programming, get this book. Dave West is, at the least, a gifted writer whose book content is profound, and is a must for any serious computer programmer.
I thought I knew what OO programing was; I was wrong. It has nothing to do with, at its deepest (and true)level, programming or computers. It has everything to with the human condition and how we perceive and process the world around us.
This is a must-have book for anyone who aspires to be, or already is, an OO progammer. Superbly written, with profound content.
This is a no-brainer: buy it.