I've just finished reading Joel on Software and written my review. This book won a Jolt Productivity Award in 2005 and has recieved many recomendations so I figured it was about time I read it.
I really enjoyed this book, I pretty much read it over a period of two days, which is unusual as I most commonly take a couple of weeks to read technical books. Not that this book was particularly technical. So why did I enjoy the book? For a number of reasons, one would be that Joel has a fairly good sense of humor and I found myself chuckling a number of times. Many of the jokes require a certain amount of arcane knowledge, I got many, but I suspect that others just passed me by. Secondly it's well written, well reasoned and full of useful anicdotes and stories (I guess that's really secondly, thirdly and fourthly).
The book is based on a number of entries in Joel's blog JoelOnSoftware.com. So you could probably save yourself a bunch of money and read them there. However I find myself spending enough time sitting in front of a computer monitor as it is, and sometimes it's just nice to sit down in the company of a dead tree.
I think the sub-title of the book "...will prove of interest to software developers, designers, and managers, and to those who, whether by good fortune or ill luck, work with them in some capacity" sums up this books intended audience very well. If you fall into one of these categories then you will probably enjoy, or at least find this book useful.
From reading this book I get the impression that Joel is one smart cookie, in fact perhaps one cookie is an inadequate comparison - maybe a whole box of smart cookies would be required, Joel may even be worth his weight in smart cookies, this would however depend on Joels weight (and hence his cookie consumption). I think it is probably sufficient to say that I have found his articles insightful, thought provoking and helpful - even though many of them are a few years old now.
I think that I would rate this my third favorite computer book, which should be enough for you to rush out and buy a copy. My first two (in case you were wondering) would be Code Complete then The Pragmatic Programmer. If after reading this review you feel an urge to purchase it, you can get it from Amazon.