Well, Java Concurrency in Practice certainly isn't low quality but it is boring and outdated. An alternative would be Clojure For the Brave And True :)

Java may be outdated, but "Java Concurrency in Practice" is not outdated if you're one of the millions of Java programmers still working in that language.

Well, yeah. My point, made somewhat tongue in cheek, was that you can avoid all of the horror stories of Java concurrency by switching to Clojure.

The point is to get the reader ahead of the curve! It's not really Java they're suggesting you learn: it's concurrency. Once you learn concurrency in one language, much of your understanding carries forward to other languages.

Intel has told us multicore is the future. They're trying to get you ready for it. Less certain is whether Java or Clojure will be the new cool thing.

Only if you think Clojure is the natural progression of Java. This seems like a minority view though.

Android books from 2012 for one. Alternative would be recent Linux for Embedded Systems or anything else besides teaching you ICS API

Only Android Book I would get is "The Busy Coder's Guide to Android Development[1]" as it comes with continuous updates. It's also by one of the most knowledgeable app developers in the Android Community. It's worth it alone for how much he cares about backporting within the book and not just supporting the latest versions of Android.

Android development has not drastically changed since ICS, but there's enough that changes still that I would be reluctant to waste money on a book that does not update regularly.

[1] http://commonsware.com/Android/

That's not on Amazon. Do you mean "Building Embedded Linux Systems"? Or, are you referring to a self-published (or not yet published) book?