I got this book for a Web Applications class, and have found it to serve as an excellent textbook. Like most Microsoft Press Step By Step books it is well written and is written in a way where it seems that the author is talking to you and not just presenting facts. The book starts off with an Intro to Windows Azure (what it is, who it is for, and the benefits of it, and how to use it), the talks about how the Azure servers work and what they use, and then goes into how to deploy your project in the Cloud, and includes using and creating AppFabric solutions, WCF Data Services and OData, and how to use SQL Azure. The book is easy to follow and has numerous screenshots of what the author sees when following the steps, so you can ensure that you are doing it right, by comparing screens.
In the end this is an easy to read book, that follows a simple step by step approach, by taking the readers hand and showing them how to do basic tasks, that can later allow the reader to combine these simple tasks to achieve larger projects. The book is well written and has nice screenshots to help ensure that you are on the right track. I found this book quite useful for learning Azure and how this service could benefit me!