Networks Books

Harlan Carvey's book, Windows Forensic Analyisis, is an invaluable resource in any computer forensic examination of a Windows based computer. In real-life experience, I had a case where I had to determine file use by a former employee. The company never took the computer out of service and continued to use the machine after the employee left the company. By using the information in Windows Forensic Analysis on system restore points and MRU registry entries, I was able to determine not only what files were used but on what days. This book is one of the first I look to when I have questions on examining Windows systems. If you only have one reference book for Windows examinations, this should be the one. A must-have for any computer forensic examiners library!!

Once again Harlan Carvey has provided a resource worth every penny. The chapters detailing registry and memory analysis alone were extremely valuable to me. The accompanying DVD provides countless Perl scripts to assist in the collection and sorting of data.

This book is essential for understanding how to analyze memory dumps, albeit many forensic investigators will usually turnoff a computer instead of getting a memory capture to do a more traditional analysis.

The included scripts are very helpful. This book unlike many other books in this genera is designed for the technical professional. Forensic analysis is often like a who done it mystery, and having some more tools in your toolkit will assist you in thinking outside the box. The registry analysis was thorough and essential for a recent project. The memory dump analysis scripts were helpful in a recent Defcon Capture the Flag Competition. A sample chapter is avaliable online.

I purchased this book a few days ago, and as soon as I read the first chapter, I realized that I needed to read the entire book as quickly as possible. This is a wonderful book, and parts of it truely invoked a state of "nerdvana" in me!

PRO's:

First, I will say that the information in this book is tightly packed. There is no unnecessary verbage, and the writing is direct, to the point and understandable. There is a high ratio of technical content to noise, and this greatly contributed to my enjoyment of the book. Even in the technical areas that I was already familiar with, I found the summary of the information to be precise, accurate and helpful. I can see keeping the book around as a reference guide for years to come. The general structure of the book, for example the sections in grey boxes with the [!] annotation, works well, and the end-of-chapter summary and review (particularly the Q&A) are good.

There were several sections, ones that I was personally weak in to start with, that I found particularly helpful, such as the sections on analyzing packed or compressed executables and malware. I had just never gotten around to reading the whitepapers on these, and I'm glad I didn't as those chapters of the book summarized in a few pages what would have taken many more to pick up by reading other original sources. I personally thought that the chapter-to-chapter flow of the narrative was fine for anyone who does incident response on a regular basis.

Through the years, Harlan Carvey has developed and made available his tools in an open (perl) format with no need for compensation. The tools on the DVD alone are worth the money of the book, and are a great addition to any IR toolkit. The references to third party tools, many of which I hadn't heard of, were also particularly helpful.

CON's:

If you are not very technical, or not very familiar with the Windows operating system, you may be overwhelmed by the level of technical detail. If you are an experienced administrator, however, you should be able to adapt what you know about other operating systems (e.g. file structures, process execution, etc.) fairly easily. There were a few typographical errors in the book that didn't detract from its readability or technical accuracy.

All in all, and excellent book, and a must-have for ANY windows incident responder.

Harlan poured his clear love of incident response and of the forensic profession into this book. Windows Forensic Analysis dives into many exceptional topics that are routinely overlooked in similar material. The entire book covers many novel analysis techniques and topics, the registry analysis chapter and the file analysis chapter discusses many detailed artifacts and areas of examination during forensics that up until this was published was only discussed deep inside forensic circles or discovered through hard earned on-the-ground experience. The book's only drawback is that it covers too many topics and the chapters do not flow together as well as I would have hoped. A single chapter is excellent, but in many cases it doesn't lead you to the next one. I also found that the entire book could have been written on just registry forensics. However, in order to create broad appeal, the registry section was probably shortened. You can tell Harlan has a lot more to tell. Finally, the CDROM companion could have had more polish to the file layout as finding some of the tools is slightly confusing upon initial glance. Even with these minor drawbacks, the information in each chapter is phenomenal. I recommend this book to anyone looking to advance their understanding of the Windows analysis environment.

This is an amazing book. It's not a tutorial for a building device driver. For device driver developers, it is an essential reference for understanding NT's kernel system. This book is also great for those who are not building device drivers but want to understand the NT kernel. The chapters on virtual memory, I/O architecture and I/O managers are totally worth the price of the book.

If you are writing Windows Device Drivers, this is one of 3 books you absolutely must have. Buy it.

Dear all,

We have an plotter printer HP 7550a and we run NT as operating system. There are no drivers for nt for this printer.

We now are trying to get this printer working under wp 5.1 because there are no printer drivers for NT.

Who can help me get the driver I am looking for. It does not matter if it is an NT driver or an corel wp5.1 driver.

Please help me we would realy appriciate this efford !

with kind regards,

Jeropen van Mourik

ING BANK Netherlands

This book is VERY well written and VERY readable. I needed other sources to get an actual driver written (see Chris Cant's book) but only because this book gives a much more complete picture and I needed something more specific. That's my point...if you want a good, solid understanding of the system and an excellent reference, get this book. It's not often one finds technical-minded people with such writing skill.

I think its a good book and well organized, my only black poing is that I missed a toolkit section like WinDriver-www.jungo.com- or numega that enable easy and quick development.

This is an outstanding work about leadership in the church. It is written in such a way as to bring leaders out of their seats and into the 21st century. "A Work of Heart" will change your thinking about leading today's church.

It is said that before one can address a problem - or opportunity - one must understand that problem (or opportunity). McNeal certainly has understood the opportunity offered the Christian Church to reach out to a pre-Christian (not post-Christian) North American culture. This work presents a passionate appeal to transition to a missional, externally focused approach to ministry by gaining insight into how God shapes the hearts of spiritual leaders through six distinct shaping dynamics in the Christian life. These spiritually formed leaders will have drawn closer to the heart of God, thus recognizing their call to serve in Jesus' name and in His way. Excellent book. Highly recommend.

Absolutely the best book on spiritual leadership and development I've ever read! I have bought and sent numerous copies to friends involved in spiritual leadership positions. I'm sold on Reggie McNeal and the powerful scriptural insights he shares.

One of the best books on leadership I have ever read. The four brief biographies (on Moses, David, Paul and Jesus) that make up the first part of the book are extremely insightful and practical. McNeal writes with authenticity and clarity. There's not a lot of "fluff" or stuff that's rehashed from one leadership book to another. Every chapter is well worth a slow read. His dry wit also adds some spice to the read. Very good stuff.

Great content - I learned a lot

After reading Joe's book it is easy to understand why he is one of the top headhunters in the country. He makes networking fun and easy.

Joe's message can be interpreted as one to always be networking as all jobs are temporary. When you are working you are really just between transitions, and creating networks is best when you have a job. Many of us are already networking but didn't know it and Joe helps us see the light of our opportunities.

Joe's approach to networking is so basic and simple anyone can do it. He articulates it in a way that will inspire anyone to overcome their obstacles and take advantage of their opportunities so they can make the most of what life has to offer.

Simple, insightful and inspirational. Anyone who reads this will understand not just the 'how to' but the 'why to' in a concise, thought provoking way. Great inspiration from someone that lives what he preaches and 'works' his network very effectively.

Work your Network is the definitive guide for learning
the art of networking. Joe's personal approach is
truly extraordinary and his depth of the subject is
superb. The reader will learn the principles and
philosophy that took the author from obscurity to one
of the most successful recruiters in the country. If
you are looking for a concise treatise on the subject,
Work your Network delivers.

The 45-SECOND PRESENTATION really will CHANGE your life. It's the most important book for new networkers!

This is an excellent book for anyone who is involved with or is thinking about pursuing an income opportunity in network marketing. I am in the MonaVie business - [...] - and this book helped me drastically increase my income! Will definitely recommend this book to everyone in the business!

Ryan Tyson
[...]

As a "seasoned" network marketer, I have never found a book that helps explain what we do today vs. decades ago when network marketing began AND that explains the power of exponential growth using leverage and duplication. It is clear after reading just the preface if you are cut out for this business, which saves a lot of time on the front end. Using the book then as a training manual for how to do what we do becomes a tool and capitalizes on the duplication process. The only question that one must ask themselves after reading the first two paragraphs of the Preface is...."can you do this?"...and to that I mean, can you hand the book to someone and ask them to read the first two paragraphs of the Preface....that person will tell you either "I'm interested, or I'm not interested"...and you can move on.
Network marketing is like driving a car. Why would you talk about the vehicle you have to drive if you don't know how to drive. We get to teach people how to drive FIRST...then show them the vehicle we use to make money together using Leverage/Duplication/Exponential Growth!
GREAT tool. Thanks, Don Failla (his 2nd Edition is even better!!!)

This book is great for beginners. Its short enough so they don't get overwhelmed! Especially if they have never been in network marketing before. My entire distributorship of 19,000 people across the country will be getting this book before I even take time with them and coach them.

I enjoyed this book. Some of the information I already knew...or did I? The book does a great job at clarifying what we already know about network marketing. More importantly, the book brings the reality of network marketing to light; without having to do it in 500 pages. The Beauty of this book is that it cross-platform to what ever you are marketing. The principles or mechanics to network marketing are pretty much the same regardless of what is being marketed. Furthermore, the book does a great job at illustrating the real reason why some marketers fail and others succeed.

This is a great title for someone who is looking for the right way to build a business and needs to learn the proper strategy for building your infrastructure.

This book does not teach you how to sell your products, enroll distributors, or do your back office work. This book, and for that matter none of these books should. Your upline sponsor and the organization you are marketing for should. You really should reconsider your products organization if they don't.

This title not only helped me, It helped each one of my down line. I have trippled my team with in 20 day of reading and sharing this title.

i'm buying copies to give to family and friends. i'm buying copies to hand out to the young, disinfranchised people i meet. it's invigorating and i plan to follow all its suggestions.

This is the must-have quick reference guide for progressives and moderates. Whether you are an activist, an aspiring activist, or a someone who just wants to have the answers to shut up your conservative friends and family, this is the book for you. This is the handy go-to book for anyone looking to take on the misleading propoganda of the right in today's fractured society.

Let me also say that if you are looking 50 simple ways to take on the Right, this book will give you that and much more. Yes, it does have 50 areas in which to take on the Right, but it provides several options for doing so in each of the 50 areas. Therefore, you can choose some or all of the options depending upon what you choose. Moreover, it lists resources where you can go for assistance or more information.

But "50 Simple Things" does not stop there. Need a list of progressive news sources: it's in the book. This book is chock full of internet web sites and web logs to help you coordinate with others or gather more information. Media watchdogs: they're in the book. In fact, there are so many internet sources listed in this book that I became physically tired of linking to all of them.

But this book is not just for internet geeks like me, it has phone numbers for organizations that you can contact. Ideas for campaigns and campaign volunteers. Little ways that you can stick it to the Right.

This is the handiest quide for progressives and moderates I have yet to see. I have read many books on progressive issues, but none match "50 Simple Things" in ease of reading and coverage of major issues. And the best thing is that "50 Simple Things" is about simple things everyone can do and it is set out in a concise book that is less than 200 pages. All of the things you need in a small, very portable format.

This is a great resource for anyone concerned about the direction our country is being moved in. It's time for the "common sense" majority to stop being silent witnesses.

This is a great book for any budding political activist, or anyone who just wants to do something to help fight the rise of the conservative-religious-right movement in the United States. It's a quick read and is organized so that it can be used as a ready reference.

I found out I was alredy doing about 33% of the 50 things, but even for those I was already doing, helpful information and sources were provided that made the purchase worthwhile.

My wife read part of the book, and wound up putting a sticker for the Green Party candidate for Senate in our state; one of her coworkers noticed and asked my wife about who that person was, and as a result, the Green Party candidate has gained another vote.

As the title states, this book describes a number of things that anyone can do to counteract the Right's strong influence in present-day America.

Some of the actions included require little or no effort. Join a progressive group, be it local or international. Take back control of the American political vocabulary. Donate a subscription to a progressive magazine to your local library. Become familiar with the parts of the Bible that support progressive positions. Visit alternative news web sites. Also, visit right-wing sites to begin to understand the Right.

Some actions require a little more effort. Adopt a blog. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper (even if your letter is not printed, it might encourage the editor to print a similar letter). Did you know that the Pledge of Allegiance was written by a Christian socialist named Francis Bellamy? Talk to your neighbors, and to your congressperson's local office. Attend local meetings, like school board, city council or planning and zoning commission; the Right will be there. Support public education, along with local arts and artists. Stand up for science in the classroom. Volunteer for a political campaign.

For the committed individual, become an expert on a particular subject. Look for right-wing spin in your local media. Start your own media. On Election Day, become a poll watcher. Spread the word the "person of faith" does not automatically equal "conservative." Last, but not least, why don't you run for office?

The only part of this book that may cause disagreement is the assertion of the publishers that the Democratic Party needs to be reformed back into the progressive party it once was. Like it or not, America is a 2-party system, and reforming the Democratic Party is easier than starting over with a third party. On the other hand, many people in America believe that the Democrats are just as bad as the Republicans, and, therefore, not worth saving.

Aside from that, this is a gem of a book. It contains plenty of inspiration for people of any age or income level. Even if the reader can do only 1 or 2 of the things mentioned in this book, it will help to change the tide in America. This book is very much worth reading.

Al-Jazeera is the all-Arabic TV news channel which burst on to the international scene in the wake of September 11 and the war in Afghanistan. Its unfettered access to that country during the war and its showing of the bin Laden tapes made it an automatic force on the world stage.Based in the Gulf state of Qatar, it came from the remnants of the BBC Arabic TV service. With the help of startup money from the Emir of Qatar, Al-Jazeera was to have complete editorial independence.In a part of the world where the press is usually government controlled, Al-Jazeera is not afraid to get specific and name names. At one time or another, it has been criticized or condemned by seemingly every government in the Arab world, for broadcasting things that the local government would prefer not be broadcast. Every local editorial of condemnation and every denial of press credentials to Al-Jazeera reporters just increases its audience all over the world by satellite.One of the things that Al-Jazeera is most known for is its talk shows, especially a nightly, two-hour show called The Opposite Direction. Two guests appear on the show, with totally opposite opinions on a certain issue, and with help from live phone calls, the sparks fly. Even by American TV standards, things get pretty loud and lively. Arab governments have noticed, and have begun imitating the format on their tame and boring government TV channels.Even though Al-Jazeera is an Arab TV channel, it has tried very hard to be impartial, hosting members of the Bush Administration, after September 11, and government officials from Israel.For those who want to decide for themselves if Al-Jazeera is a legitimate news broadcaster or a terrorist mouthpiece, this book is highly recommended. It's comprehensive, clearly written and is quite enlightening.

All the reviews I've read for this book have been unequivocally complimentary. One newspaper said it should be required reading for Bush's entire cabinet! Quite bold, but rightly so. After reading this book, I came to the realization that everything Al-Jazeera is courageous enough to air, my own country's media is petrified of. I wonder why our government is so afraid of a democratic Arab world? While the dozens of titles coming out on the Middle East are regurgitating the same history and concepts, this book is a refreshing new look at a MODERN Middle East, not a primitive and orientalized one.

This is a great book and I highly recommend it for everyone striving to know about the Arab media from an objective perspective. The book will inform you about the Arabs' struggle for freedom of speech through an unbiased Arab network that is not subject to the control of any government. The authors have succesfully portrayed the true picture of the Arab media scene through Arab eyes.

Al Jazeera is giving us a vivid and moving picture of a New Arab World in the making. There is no way to go back in times. This media channel is succeeding to keep one step ahead of many others advancing, foreign or local, TVs.
Live transmissions are notably courageous in their way struggling so hard to persuade local (and influential) governments to let them work into the `heart' of the stories being anchored, against the background of petty local political bickering and futility.
It is not easy, but the beauty about it is that it is also challenging, and a source of pride to millions of Arabs

Collaboratively written by Egyptian born Middle East journalist Mohammed El-Nawawy and Middle East media expert Adel Iskandar, Al-Jazeera: How The Free Arab News Network Scooped The World And Changed The Middle East is a fascinating and informed history. This is a superbly presented account of Al-Jazeera, a modern, independent, entirely Arab television news network based in Qatar, which since the September 11 attacks, gained high profile prominence through daily exposure on CNN. This is also the compelling story of Al-Jazeera's struggle to keep its independence as an international news network, beholden to none. Overall, Al-Jazeera is an engaging, unique, detailed study of the origin of the Al-Jazeera network, its broadcasts, its effect on Arab viewers, and its struggle for a free press. Al-Jazeera is very highly recommended for Journalism Studies and Mideast Studies supplemental reading lists and academic reference collections.

Becoming the Professional Woman is a valuable tool for all women. The values and ethics beautifully depicted in this book mirror the qualities all women should strive to obtain in any career. Women now have an equal footing in the work world. Those that came before us worked hard to achieve this change. Becoming the Professional Women is filled with lessons, tools and tips to assist any woman at any age in multiple professions to live up to her highest potential.
As a professional woman I only regret this book was not avaialable earlier in my career. After completing this book it is now clear to me that growing into a Professional Woman need not be stressful or painful if you utilize the wealth on information and tools provided by the various authors in Becoming the Professional Woman.

I have three professional women in my life - my wife and two daughters - who will find the ideas so eloquently captured on the pages of this book to be a valuable tool to enahnce their professional carreers. The contents are of particular relevance and importance to my two daughters, both young professionals trying to find their way in a male dominated business world. The ideas in this book could revolutionize the thinking of many young professional women, providing them with the edge they need to become dominant in their professions.

"Becoming The Professional Woman" edited by Linda Ellis Eastman is an anthology written by a diverse group of twenty-five successful women. These ladies share powerful tips designed to help women entering the business world. The articles cover a variety of subjects, ranging from Sharva Hampton-Campbell's "Overcoming Obstacles", to Dr. Brenda Ward's teachings on how to gain "Assertiveness Skills", to learning Marketing Strategies written by Nyda Bittmann-Neville and how to organize a Career Wardrobe penned by Laura Leezer. Written in an accessible tone each section is accompanied by exercises and worksheets designed to help the reader identify strengths and weaknesses. The resulting self-evaluation allowing readers the opportunity to assess themselves with clarity.

I am a first-time author and find myself often navigating in uncharted terrain and this book has been a godsend. The topics are timely and the advice offered useful. A valuable resource, "Becoming the Professional Woman" is a comprehensive manual that is a `must-have' for today's women interacting in the work and career world.

This is one of the most informative books I have read this year. It supplies you with tips on almost anything you can ever be faced with as a professional. This book is a must read for professional growth.

As a professional with a Ph.D., I browsed through this book while waiting for a friend. I decided to buy it. It gives down-to-earth advice on how to become successful. The book covers all the topics needed by the young professional from assertivness to etiquette to communication skills to finances. The exercises in each chapter are particularly helpful since they focus the reader on what he/she must do to succeed. I consider the book to be a must read for all professionals, both men and women.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story - a parable explaining the concept of Intelligent Design for those not inclined to immerse themselves in the theory. I recognized all the common arguments against intelligent design which were skillfully woven into the parable and properly explained, for those who want more, at the end of the book.I used the parable to better illustrate the concept to my children and it really drove the point home in an easily understandable manner.
It's a good story, easy to read and a worthwhile asset for your library. I'm going to get all my teenagers to read it since it's pretty difficult to run much theory past them.Even though they understand the basics of the argument, I need them to know more so that they can better explain it to their friends and even their indoctrinated teachers.This is an excellent way to get the job done -I thoroughly recommend this to all those interested in ID and especially for those that have family members or friends that are difficult to engage on the topic!

I found this book to present a unique perspective on evolution and intelligent design. Unlike most books that are heavily into theoretical arguments, the Cave Painting illustrates the debate with an allegory -- highlighting presuppositions and logical flaws. If you prefer more detailed and scientific reasoning, the second HALF of the book is a thorough set of endnotes including copious quotes and references to support the arguments presented in the text. Highly recommended.

This book does all things well. It entertains and explains at the same time. It is not only a masterful introduction to the subject, but a concise yet comprehensive summary of the matter as well. Buy more than one so you can share it with others - somebody you know needs this book. And the conversations that ensue will more than make up for the investment.

The Cave Painting is a critically important book that covers one of the most heated controversies in the western world today. In short, the contents of the book are summarized in the introduction: "We are the product of intelligent design or we are not the product of intelligent design. One of these claims must be true and truth is not changed by your theory or mine." For this reason it behooves us to carefully look into the facts. The author, an accomplished corporate attorney, in 526 pages carefully documents his case. Many Neo-Darwinists may not agree, but they need to at least carefully review the evidence which has convienced millions of Americans and many scientists that life, which as Richard Dawkins documents, appears to be designed, actually is designed. Page 229 to page 526 carefully documents the author's case with 691 footnotes. Is design an illusion, as argued by Richard Dawkins, or is design real, as most Americans have concluded. Bullock covers many of the arguments against Intelligent Design, showing why and how they fail. One example, which I can relate to because of my career research involvement, is the claim by Richard Dawkins that half of an eye is better than no eye (page 262). The enormous amount of research on sight has shown why this argument is fallacious. Half an eye is in no way equal to half as effective vision as a whole eye, but rather no vision. As Duke-Elder documented in his 24 volume classic work, the eye is clearly irreducibly complex. Work on disease conditions and knock out genes has repeatedly confirmed this. One still has vision in spite of certain conditions, such as near-sightedness or far-slightness or astigmatism, but these conditions result from slight eyeball variations and are not comparable to half an eye or even one-twentieth of an eye as Neo-Darwinists try to argue. Even very minor variations, such as in tear production levels, can render vision difficult or largely impossible. These examples in no way show how the eye could evolve from a cell. Some argue "don't evolutionists have a neat progression from an eyespot to a lensless eye to a human eye, proving the eye can evolve by slow gradual changes from non-differentiated cells?" Sounds logical. My response is "read the book."

The Cave Painting presents, in an exciting prose, the crux of the "Intelligent Design" debate. By demonstrating the concept of "design inference" in an actual novel, Mr. Bullock clears the air for all future discussion.

Everything in the universe has the scientific right to be studied -- and it also has the right to have this question asked of it:

"Is it naturally occuring, or is it designed?"

In contemporary culture, this question is asked of many issues: forensics, archeology, SETI, and any venture where one must decide whether something is "deliberate" or "accidental". Mr. Bullock demands that this question also be allowed to be asked of biology, DNA, or life in general.

A great book, great appendices, and long over-due!

This is a very long book. It is full of detail, with configs & scenarios backing up the theory.
Although if you are interested in following the scenarios on real equipment, you will need to take out a hefty bank loan to cover it.

If anyone is having trouble understanding certain topics in BCMSN especially when it comes to practical configuration, then this book is a good addition to your existing BCMSN study guide.

I really like the chapters on AAA and Multicasting. The author explains on how to configure a Cisco Secure ACS 3.2 along with router/switch configuration command. Other BCMSN study guide just throws you the router/switch configuration command and let you figure out the AAA server configuration by yourself.

The multicasting chapter explains step by step on how sparse & dense mode, multicast routing table, IGMP really works. The step by step explanation on how the IGMP packet flows when the client first request a multicast group in sparse mode and step by step explanation on packet flows when a source initially multicast a group in dense mode.

Overall, this is a good book with many practical configuration examples. Howerver, I wish that this book would also include MST.

There is a new contender in the heavy weight LAN switching category of networking books. Justin Menga's CCNP Practical Studies: Switching, is an excellent addition to the Cisco Press family. Many consider the Clark and Hamilton book the acme of LAN switching, but Menga's book stands right there in the upper echelons.

The book starts off with basic switch connectivity - identifying the different Cisco Catalyst switches, operating systems, supervisor engines and switching modules as well as installing, configuring, monitoring and troubleshooting a Catalyst switch on a network.

More advanced topics such as VLANS, trunking , spanning tree, inter-VLAN routing, layer 3 switching, multicast and security are covered in depth. Each chapter has several configuration scenarios that help in understanding the subject matter and reinforcing concepts.
Working with actual equipment would be best but for those who do not have access to switching equipment; the configurations are detailed and clear enough to follow.

For those who will be implementing VoIP on their networks, a good grasp of QoS is essential. The QoS chapter adequately covers how to configure end-to-end quality of service on a LAN.

This work is a great effort by Justin Menga and I highly recommend this book both as a reference book and to prepare for the CCNP switching exam.

This book is certainly "practical". There are some passages in each chapter for just reading, but the majority of pages in this book are showing actual commands and outputs from several models of Cisco switches. I intend to keep it arms lenghth from my desktop at work as a reference. What if you have a switch down one day because the operating system is corrupted? CCNP Practical Studies: Switching has what to do in this situation for both the Cisco IOS and Catalyst OS.
Justin Menga's 958-page manual is not for beginners to Cisco, or for the CIO who just wants to know the "skinny". In these pages are the dirty details of how the lower layers of the OSI model work in today's campus LANs. Besides CCNP and CCIE candidates, any LAN administrator will find this book useful. The individual who reads this book should have a basic understanding of networking and Cisco equipment.
The first chapter reviews the specifications and capabilities of at least six families of Cisco switches, familiarizing the reader with the equipment that will be used throughout the book. Special attention is placed on the 3550 series switch, which is covered in the CCIE exam. VLANs are covered from many angles in several chapters. This includes concepts, how it works with the big expensive switches verses the lower end models, and the Catalyst versus IOS models. Multilayer switching (MLS) is compared to the next-generation CEF-based Layer 3 switching. However, both are covered thoroughly since both will around for awhile.
A great extra in the book for the certification candidate and teacher are the labs in Chapter 11 and the solutions to them in the appendices. I would really consider the entire book sort of a lab. But the ending labs cover the major parts of the book with two comprehensive assignments. Menga does seem repetitive at times. For example, he remids us several times that if we manually set the speed and duplex on one end of a switched Ethernet connection we should manually set it on the other end. This redundancy is perhaps justified by the probablity that Justin Menga has seen this error many times in network troubleshooting and it can also be an intermittent problem: the worst kind to solve.
One can appreciate the amount of time it takes to write a book of this magnitude. The author had to have access to a number of switches and routers to produce all the output and screen shots in the book. He also shares a number of "notes" that are helpful. Such as, that Cisco has discontinued supplying a tftp server program and recommends a place to download freeware that he has tested.
When reading computer self-study guides, occasionally one finds a volume that accomplishes its goal so well that no other book is needed. CCNP Practical Studies: Switching comes close to this ideal. Improvements that the book could have include a small glossary to help the student define terms that are unfamiliar.

This book is a great book. Doesn't get any deeper than this, but I had a very hard time with the figures and the numbering. The text would refer to a figure that didn't exist but the figure above it would be the right one (with a wrong number). Also, a lot of the figures were missing components called out in the scenerios or text. As a previous technical writer, this book drove me insane to read. Also, the chapters needed to be broken up a little more. 100 pages per chapter is way too long.

Otherwise, yes it is a good book. Tons of detail, however, you will be handicapped considerably without having $10,000.00 worth of switch and router gear just laying around. I bought Boson's Netsim hoping to help, and it didn't have any of the commands needed to do these labs. Bottom line, get the real thing if you can.