As someone who recently got an Amazon Alexa, I was excited to dive into this guide. Right off the bat, it delivered some solid basics - the setup walkthrough saved me from pulling my hair out when connecting to WiFi (though some users clearly struggled with this).

The book shines when listing Alexa's capabilities. I discovered fun commands like 'Alexa, beatbox for me' that became instant party tricks. The organization by categories (smart home, entertainment etc.) made it easy to skip to what I needed.

However, the 'how-to' details often fell short. When trying to create routines, I found myself Googling for clearer steps. The sections on newer Alexa features feel noticeably absent - like trying to learn iPhone tricks from a 2015 manual.

For complete beginners, this provides decent training wheels. But power users will outgrow it quickly. My copy now lives in the bathroom as light reading material rather than a true reference guide.