This book is a great beginning introduction to circuit bending. When I recieved it I was immediately ready to read it cover to cover. However, while the information regarding what parts to get, as detailed info on completing specific projects is great, I couldn't help being distracted by a good amount of slef indulgence from the author. I'm really interested in the technical aspects of bending, and how to be able to strike it out on my own once I learn a thing or two. This book enables you to do this. It reads as preachy at times, and I find the personal asides (long pasages about camping trips and windstorms blowing charred embers into a tent, talk of the hippie 60's, etc.) to be annoying. I was able to overlook them until about page 100, but they certainly get old quickly. From a more utilitarian standpoint, it is simply harder to find what you are looking for when wading through a sea of wacky quips.
Hippies and aliens aside, I would seriously reccomend this book to anyone who has no experience whatsoever in electronics. Ghazala teaches good soldering technique, and moves through explanations of electronic components at a slow pace. However, If you are interested in circuit bending and other DIY electronic music forms in a broader sense I would recommend the book "Handmade Electronic Music" by Nicolas Collins over this one, simply because it presents things more seroiusly, more concisely, and has useful historical asides (talk of John Cage, Nam June Paik) that are more interesting than Ghazala's personal tales.