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A v readable first intro to design patterns(Rating: 5)
If you are already familiar with design patterns, want a reference manual, like your books technical and short, or are completely unfamiliar with java/c/c#, then this is not the book for you, as it's bulky, with long worked examples, and doesn't have class diagrams for some of the patterns, and relies on a v basic knowledge of at least one of these languages in its examples.

That said, if you're a design pattern novice, this is a very accessible and readable book, although a couple of the patterns were just plain confusing (the Factory & Abstract Factory being examples). It uses the latest 'cognitive science' and 'psychological research' to inform the learning style, making it visual, conversational, with lots of questions and challenges for the reader.

It covers the patterns set out in the original Gang of Four book Design patterns : elements of reusable object-oriented software(the grandaddy publication on design patterns, which although was the first, is reputed to be a hard read). It covers 15 patterns in detail, and 9 in brief:

Detail: Abstract Factory, Adapter, Command, Composite, Decorator, Facade, Factory Method, Iterator, Model-View-Controller, Observer, Proxy, Singleton, State, Strategy, Template Method.

Brief: Bridge, Builder, Chain of Responsiblity, Flyweight, Interpreter, Mediator, Memento, Prototype, Visitor.

Fantastic(Rating: 5)
Even though its a technical book I've read it non stop.

The approach that this book (this series, the "Head First") makes to learning is very refreshing and pleasant. Because it tries the total opposite of all the other technical books. For example: theres a lot of images that help understand what is being explained, the writing is informal instead of the classical formal tone.

You will learn Design Patterns in a very fast and fun time.

Best book on Design Patterns(Rating: 5)
Simply, this should be the book to buy if you want to learn OOP design patterns.
You'll like it even you don't like reading
Its in Java but also great for other oop languages, like c# or Action Script 3.

Yes, it's "Design Patterns For Dummies" - but in a good way!(Rating: 5)
If you're an OO programming beginner, this book is the perfect introduction to the main design patterns. It steps you through each one in such a clear way, you'll blast through it in no time. There's an awful lot of repetition and a crazy amount of whitespace (the book could have easily covered all of its content in less than half the number of pages), but it's such an easy read it really doesn't matter - and there's even a fair bit of humour in there to keep things entertaining.

Read this, then get the "proper" one by Gamma et al.

Wonderful(Rating: 5)
Having been a professional software developer for over 25 years I have read many books and they all suffer from the same symptoms - how do you get something technically demanding across in a way that makes you want to carry on reading.

This book is the answer. The GoF style-books, whilst technically outstanding, are incredibly hardgoing. This book, with its focus on teaching and learning makes the whole experience self-rewarding.

If you want to learn about design patterns, my advice would be, get an excellent grounding from this book, and then tackle the GoF tomes.