This book is a really helpful reference. I'm the author of "R for SAS and SPSS Users", and I thought you might be interested in how these two books differ.
"SAS and R" is a well-crafted dictionary of how to do things in both SAS and R. For each topic the authors clearly and concisely show how to perform that task in SAS, then in R. They typically provide a paragraph of description for each. The brevity of explanation allows the authors to cover a wider range of topics. If you needed to know more about a topic, at least they have given you a good start and you'll know what SAS statements or R functions to pursue. That's helpful information, especially in R. Each chapter concludes with example programs with output which demonstrate the topics covered. Output for both packages is shown. The book does include brief introductions to both SAS and R in the appendices but, as the authors state in the preface, their book is not meant to be read cover to cover. However, unlike a standard dictionary, the entries are organized by category, so reading several entries in a row is usually helpful.
"R for SAS and SPSS Users" is a step-by-step introductory text, meant to be read in order. I assume you already know SAS or SPSS, and the only discussion of them is used to help you learn R. Rather than a paragraph of explanation per topic, I typically provide several pages, stepping through complete example programs, and pointing out where beginners typically make mistakes (often caused by expecting R to work more like SAS or SPSS). However, given that added explanation, the range of topics is narrower. I do include programs in all three at the end of each topic, but I provide detailed explanations for only the R programs. To save space, I show only the R output. While I include some redundancy to facilitate using it as a reference, it is important to read it through at least once.
So for someone learning R, these books complement each other well. I recommend starting with "R for SAS and SPSS Users" to build a solid understanding of R, then use "SAS and R" to look up any additional topics.
For someone learning SAS, I recommend reading a book devoted to that topic, such as, "The Little SAS Book: A Primer", then using "SAS and R" to look up the many topics that book does not cover. "R for SAS and SPSS Users" is not a good choice for learning SAS or SPSS.
In either case, you'll probably need additional books devoted to the particular methods of analysis you need.
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