[mindcrime]

Is it more than superficial though? Depends on your definition of 'superficial':

I think that depends on who the audience is. If you're a CTO at a company that's up and running and live and you're beginning a deployment of something new, then yes, you need an overview rooted in hands-on experience. But if you're a guy who just wants to learn something new because "I might use this in the future" or "I'm just evaluating this" or whatever, a book which is based only on theory/research can be wildly useful if it helps you shortcut the learning curve to learning the tech. Actually, if it helps you shorten your own learning curve, it's beneficial in either of those scenarios, in a sense.