I was very impressed by how thorough the authors were, and how accessible the book is. I like to be up on the most current research and multiple theories of whatever subject I am studying, and this book excelled far beyond most textbooks I've used.
Very importantly: This book did not make the common mistake of taking generally accepted theories (the convention) as fact, and really did a great job of bringing in most of the current research and theories.
I felt I could trust these authors, and their intelligence and perceptiveness shined through, throughout the book. They went into things that matter to me a lot, such as feminist views, postmodern views, and cross-cultural views (though I would have liked to see a bit more of the cross-cultural views of development). The way the authors presented developmental psychology, I also think it brings up some important challenges to the conventional abnormal psychology approach, and abnormal psychology would do well to be more informed by developmental psychology (e.g. epigenetics--the new understanding that our genes change {flip off and on} in response to everything the individual does and experiences).
These women are truly scientific in their approach, and I can tell they really care about people. I was really astounded that it was possible for them to produce a work like this. The amount of research they were able to go through boggles my mind. And then to bring it together in a readable, visually appealing, and coherent way--this was a real gem to me in my studies.