"Use Cases: Requirements in Context" (Addison-Wesley; ISBN 0-201-65767-8) by Daryl Kulak and Eamonn Guiney is a book I've had in my review queue and had a hard time to getting into. This is largely because I'm personally not a big believer in use cases. I've even had the experience of presenting them to a skeptical class and even using the "offical" OO arguments could define them. Therefore, I admit I go into this book as a skeptic.

I was hoping to find that the book would convince me that use cases were really useful. Even though the book had chapters like "The Case for Use Cases", this book did not do a good job of defending and explaining the rational. It is more of a detailed how-to guide.

The structure of the book is basically some introductory chapters giving the overall view. Then it switches to explaining the different iterations you go through to build the use cases. Then it goes into management and team related issues.

The best chapter of the book is the one on "Classic Mistakes". It really is the index to the whole book and probably a better place to start if you are familiar with use cases rather than reading the book cover to cover.

The book concludes with "The Case for Use Cases", which I've already discussed. This chapter also includes a case study.

In summary, if you are a believer in use cases, this book will help you refine your techniques. If you are not a believer or do not know what use cases really are, this book is probably not a good choice.