This is the first time I rate a technical book 5 stars.
No matter you are a novice or an expert, you would find this book useful. I read it cover by cover but find it was also written as a reference book. Not only tells you about the fundamentals of Spring Batch, it also tells about common design patterns used with Spring Batch.
There are some small drawbacks. The authors put into the book many basic knowledge about other technologies used with Spring Batch like Maven, Spring, JUnit, TDD, etc. Besides, they keep touting about Spring Batch. You can easily come across this kind of phrase "Thanks Spring Batch for a feature..."
But overall, it's a well written book with hands-on examples and experiences. It's worth your time.