[n00b101]

I think of Stroustrup's book as a reference manual. It is very comprehensive in covering the standard. Fact is that you don't learn to program by reading books any more than you learn to play a sport by reading books.

[microtonal]

Actually, I like Brokken's C++ annotations far more as a reference:

http://www.icce.rug.nl/documents/cplusplus/

It's written more lively and opinionated. Also, it's apt-gettable on Debian and Ubuntu :).

[gurkendoktor]

That is how I've ended up using his book, but what is the appeal of a heavy, printed reference manual? I could only make sense of the idioms and patterns in C++ by reading the Guru of the Week articles at the same time:

http://gotw.ca/gotw/index.htm

It didn't click at all while using Stroustrup's book, even when I did the exercises.