“Apache Camel Messaging System” is a new book (see http://www.packtpub.com/apache-camel-messaging-system/book) published on September, 25th, 2013 by PACKT PUBLISHING (ISBN: 9781782165347). Author is Evgeniy Sharapov. As it’s subtitle says, the book describes how to “tackle integration problems and learn practical ways to make data flow between your application and other systems using Apache Camel”.

Apache Camel is the best integration framework “on the market”. It has very good domain specific languages, many connectors, different companies behind it, and an awesome worldwide open source community. So, seeing a new book about Apache Camel is always good news!

Danger of Confusion

There are two new Apache Camel books:

• Apache Camel Messaging System, released in September 2013 by PACKT PUBLISHING, see this book review
• Apache Camel Message Routing, released in August 2013 by PACKT PUBLISHING, see https://www.kai-waehner.de/blog/2013/10/04/book-review-apache-camel-message-routing/

Sorry PACKT, this is ridiculous! Two books within one month with same name and almost same content. Therefore, both reviews are very similar. Why not connecting both authors to write ONE book ?! Be sure to buy just one of the two books!

Content

First of all, the book has only 70 pages. So it does not contain that much content. It offers a short introduction to Apache Camel. The book explains in detail what Camel is, how to install it, and how to get started. You will also learn about different domain specific languages and some Enteprise Integration Patterns.

Compare to the other new Camel book by PACKT, this one differs in two things:

• The introduction / theory is more detailed
• The practical examples are less detailed

Both alternatives are a good introduction to Camel, you can get started easily with both!

Conclusion

Good news:

• Yet another new Apache Camel book
• Easy to read
• Good examples
• Good starting point for newbies

Bad news:

• Just 70 pages. Just for getting started. Therefore, very expensive.
• You can find all information of this book on Camel’s website for free (though, newbies might not find all this information easily by searching the website)
• “Camel in Action” is also available. That’s another awesome Apache Camel book, which also explains all basics, but also many many more details (500 pages)
• If you already know Apache Camel, you do NOT need this book

Summary:

If you are looking an easy-to-read book for getting started with Apache Camel, then this book is for you. Afterwards, you still need to buy “Camel in action”, too. “Camel in action” is not as easy as this one for getting started, as even the first chapters contain many details. This might be to much for newbies. So, it is no bad idea to start with this book, then buy “Camel in Action” for using Apache Camel in your projects.

Best regards,

Kai Wähner

Twitter: @KaiWaehner

Website: www.kai-waehner.de