On a separate note from Chapter 1 specifically, I want to add that PHB2 credits David Noonan as author on the front cover. Personally speaking, he is my favorite author from 3.5, and he is the author primarily responsible for the Goliaths (my favorite 3.5 race overall), the Illumians, and the Raptorans.

In general, he's a pretty good writer but most of his work appears to have been near the tail end of 3.5. He's listed as the only person under the heading of "Design" in the credits page, but a few other notable names are there as well. Christopher Perkins is listed as Design Manager, and he's still at D&D. Bill Slavicsek is listed as Director of RPG R&D, and he's been all over the RPG scene. Mike Mearls is listed on the Development Team, he himself left only a few months ago.

Several of those names were on the 4e and 5e team, and I think it's fun to look at how the classes in this book relate to classes in later editions. On the first page of the chapter, Beguiler references Warmage. Looking at the current edition, the Beguiler looks like it lent its spell list to the Arcane Trickster archetype for Rogue just as the Warmage's list lent itself to the Eldritch Knight archetype. The Knight feels very similar to what the 4e Fighter looked like, especially in its Bulwark of Defense and Vigilant Defender abilities. It feels like it embodies the idea on some forums that the Defender is just a melee Controller... but it's still 3.5 and that playstyle doesn't really do so much yet. This book clearly laid some foundations for later editions, and I think just from Chapter 1 it sets itself as one of the better books of the edition.