I tend to read at least one of these "how to be a more professional programmer" books every year. Historically they haven't impressed me. This one was the rare exception - it really spoke to me, for some reason.

Nothing in this book is truly new or unique. But Martin raised a lot of really good points and some things that I had never really put much thought into in the past all of a sudden clicked for me.

I guess it really boils down to presentation - Martin (for the most part) presented "the same old stuff" as most books in this field, but he presented it in the right way for me. This may not be the right way for everyone, and that's okay, but this is a quick read and I'd encourage every software developer to at least give it a try.