His book is titled "Effective Modern C++," which necessarily contains opinions about what is effective and what is modern. Without practical experience writing software, his opinions won't be grounded, and so his advice won't be sound.
That said, I think he does a good job being even-handed. For example, his chapter on auto covers both advantages and pathological cases, and goes on to say:
First, take a deep breath and relax. auto is an option, not a mandate. If, in your professional judgment, your code will be clearer or more maintainable or in some other way better by using explicit type declarations, you’re free to continue using them. But bear in mind that C++ breaks no new ground in adopting what is generally known in the programming languages world as type inference.
That said, I think he does a good job being even-handed. For example, his chapter on auto covers both advantages and pathological cases, and goes on to say:
First, take a deep breath and relax. auto is an option, not a mandate. If, in your professional judgment, your code will be clearer or more maintainable or in some other way better by using explicit type declarations, you’re free to continue using them. But bear in mind that C++ breaks no new ground in adopting what is generally known in the programming languages world as type inference.
So he is not excessively proscriptive.