I have used this book in a Windows environment; a few years of on-again-off again coding. I agree with the reviewer who found the book very disorganized. I am ordering the old edition of the O'Reilly book on the vi editor (a very small book, better than the newest edition and less than 5 bucks) because I found it more helpful than this book (!!).

I will try to go through it (yet) again, because I like vim, and recognize its power. I just downloaded TextPad and tried it for the first time in probably 4 years, and I am running back to vim after less than an hour of TextPad (the "dd" command of vim to delete a line has become essential to me :) ).

So, buy the book, but use the web and the excellent listserv to understand vim.

The first time I tried to read this, I just didn't get it. A few months later, after being "tenderized" in a Goenka vipassana retreat, I bumped into it again. I was blown away, and still am.

His words are direct, surgical, pointed. His ability to describe things takes my breath away.

"You are not combustible nor is there is a need to collect fuel".

Check out "asmi" on a search engine for excerpts, but the book is way worth it to hold and read.