On page 55, we see Compare.java

final Function<Person, String> byName = person -> person.getName();
people.stream()
   .sorted(comparing(byName));

However, this can be further simplified to:

people.stream()
   .sorted(comparing(Person::getName));

On the same page, more from Compare.java:

final Function<Person, Integer> byAge = person -> person.getAge();
final Function<Person, String> byTheirName = person -> person.getName();
printPeople("Sorted in ascending order by age, then name: ",
                people.stream()
                        .sorted(comparing(byAge).thenComparing(byTheirName))
                        .collect(toList());

which can be simplified similarly to:

printPeople("Sorted in ascending order by age, then name: ",
                people.stream()
                        sorted(comparing(Person::getAge).thenComparing(Person::getName))
                        .collect(toList());

but which would be even better by separating the list generation and output tasks:

List<Person> asc =
                people.stream()
                        .sorted(comparing(Person::getAge).thenComparing(Person::getName))
                        .collect(toList());
        printPeople("Sorted in ascending order by age, then name: ", asc);

…all according to the JavaDoc for Comparator:

P.S.

Would it be clearer to explicitly write the class from which comparing() comes instead of assuming it has been imported statically? Like this:

people.stream()
   .sorted(Comparator.comparing(Person::getName));

instaed of

people.stream()
   .sorted(comparing(Person::getName));

Note that the collect()call

people.stream()
   .sorted(comparing(byAge).thenComparing(byTheirName))
   .collect(toList()));

…also assume a statically imported toList(). On the other hand, compare/fpij/OlderThan20.java on page 58 is explicit:

List<Person> olderThan20 =
   people.stream()
      .filter(person -> person.getAge() > 20)
      .collect(Collectors.toList());