Unix Systems Books

I liked the book in a way, but its start you with a server point of view, i am new to linux and am still having problem connecting my box to the internet, i guess you have to buy more than one book to really understand linux and how it works, this is my 3rd linux book i am reading right now and so far i think its good enough to get you started.

This book has a very clear objective. It wants to get you from W95 to Linux on your PC and show you that you can get the same functionality you are used to on a PC in Linux.

It succeeds in that narrow scope. I am typing this from my newly running Linux system. However, this book is not enough to really get you running smoothly.

Linux is still not ready for the average user -- though the book would argue otherwise. There are enough gotchas to take you out of the narrow path of the book pretty quickly, and then you will need other resources. In my case, I need to learn how to get my sound card working and my Zip drive running, and the PPP dialer working. The paths suggested in the book didn't work.

Fortunately, the author points you to other resources on the web so you can continue your search.

The book comes with a copy of Red Hat 6.0. So it gives you everything you need to get started. However, I would also buy a reference type book as well.

If there is such a thing as four stars with a big exception this book gets it. The first thing to understand with this book is that it has a VERY narrow scope and objective. Within that scope it succeeds rather well but is still not exceptional.

The objective is to get a new user introduced to Linux and up and running with it as a day-to-day workstation, NOT a server. As a result, the focus is on GNOME and productivity applications. Things like system administration and moderate to advanced "Unixisms" are given only minimal attention. This is bad if you are looking for this sort of thing and if so you should look at the many other books out there. But if you are new to Linux and want to get it installed and running for general PC use this book does a good job. This book includes and is centered around Redhat Linux 6.0 and Corel's WordPerfect 8.0. Users of other distributions will find little useful information.

In the intro the author states "LCE teaches the concepts as well as the procedures of Linux usage. After you've read this book, you'll posses the understanding that will enable you to make the most use of GNOME." While some attention is given to the command prompt the author focuses on doing as much as possible through the GNOME interface. This is an admirable goal, and a unique one, but I did not feel quite enough depth was given to LinuxConf or file management.

The author has a somewhat odd (or certainly unusual) writing style. The book is written at a much higher level than the typical "Linux in a minute" books, which is refreshing. But this also leads to oddities such as in-text citations that give it a textbook feel, which just seems misplaced in this case (the author has a Ph.D so this should probably be expected I guess). Also I am not sure if the book successfully walks the tight rope of needed depth vs lighter survey for introductory level concepts. Some users may find it lacks enough depth while others will find it just a bit over their head.

Note: I was one of the technical editors for this book. These are my true thoughts and are not a result of my involvement with the production of _Linux Clearly Explained_.

One of the problems with many Linux books I have seen is their generality. Most try to appeal to the largest possible audience by merely including generic information and using only universally known (and often archaic) commands and tools. This often confuses the reader and greatly decreases their learning and productivity.

LCE has taken a single setup, Red Hat 6.0 with the GNOME user interface, and thoroughly explained how to use it. A book including _everything_ related to Linux, from beginner to guru, would have to be thousands of pages long. LCE concentrates getting the fundamentals across clearly and coherently. It is written on a level that is neither way above an experienced computer user, nor so beneath them that no useful information is presented.

I believe the most important aspects of this book is its treatment of GNOME. Many formerly command-line tasks are explained using GNOME-related tools. Before reading the book, I was unaware of how robust GNOME had become and was inpressed by how much it could do.

Overall, I highly recommend _Linux Clearly Explained_ to anyone starting on their path to Linux enlightenment.

I am a Computer Science professor at a community college. This is the fourth year I have taught Linux as a Unix system administration course. My biggest headache has always been selecting a text book that clearly explains the installation process.

Linux, Clearly Explained lives up to its name. This book was written by a teacher who outlines each procedure in a step-by-step manner. Not only was the installation a breeze, but the book carried you along from configurations to manipulations. It is very detailed in the use of the gnome desktop.

The only shortcoming for my class was the lack of information on NIC configuration. The book assumes that all users have modems for their online connections. However, configuring the NIC was easy and part of the installation process.

This book is also an easy read. Technical terms are explained before they are used. The book is written for the novice and remains true to its audience.

This book comes with a RedHat 6.0 cdrom. This version is now over a year (probably more) old. This means if you have a computer that is the same age, the cdrom will probably have the necessary drivers. Newer computer owners may need to download drivers off the Internet. The RedHat web page is a good source.

A second cdrom contained WordPerfect 8.0 for Linux. I loaded it and I am now using it as my main wordprocessor. I can save files in the MS-DOS format and transport them to any MicroSoft Windows platform.

Finally, as an educator, the only improvement needed to satisfy me would be questions and exercises at the end of each chapter. Bryan, I hope your listening.

I found this book VERY informative in the actual installlation process of Linux --- , but, did find that the CD-ROM Disk that came along with it a bit OOD ...I mean, Kernel 2.0.0, with Version 3.5...At the time,...(that is, circa 1997), it must have been "cutting edge"! But, now...it is 'Old Hat'...(and, not even 'Old RedHAt'....i.e., not even capable of psuedo-REDHatPkg.Manager).

Jt/mS

This book was definitely written by a mathematician--not because there are esoteric equations and techno-babble, but just the opposite. The writing is methodical, succinct and easy to read.

The book is not really about Linux, but about relational databases, and SQL (and odbc, etc.) in general. The examples are based off of freeware databases, thus fitting the loose categorization of a "Linux" book.

Although no "Dummies" book, I would highly recommend it as anyones first real SQL/relational database text!

This book brings you 90% of what you need to develop a database solution on Linux.

The first two chapter will change the way you look at a databse, and the third will consolidate your knowledge on SQL. The other chapters deal with Web Integration and other topics.

Like a friend of mine ( +ORC, the Red Cracker ) always says, hystorical knowledge is a must! And this books puts you into the stage of database development. After reading this book, you'll know it ALL!

Butzen and Forbes' text will seem a bit dry, compared to much of the computer literature on the shelves, but what they've done is lay aside the cute, breezy "user-friendly" style I find (and detest) in so many computer books in favor of a straightforward text that reminds me a bit of a college algebra textbook, but has taught me more in the first 150 pages than most computer books I recall reading in the past year.

The book comes with a CD with the Slackware Linux distribution and a several database tools so beginners (like me) with no access to a serious database system can get going quickly, but I'd recommend that anyone interested in professional database administration quickly followup the work in this book and the associated software by studying demo versions and manuals of the major commercial packages.

I expected this book to have some content related to scripting languanges such as Perl but unfortunately it doesn't. It is mainly dealing with creating and connecting database using C++ or Java which is definately tool for professional developers. It would be nicer if it covered the database connection using Perl or some other scripting language which is a much easier way to do the CGI work. Also, it only covers mSQL.

Okay, rarely do I rave about computer books ... especially books on such dry topics as running a DNS server. I'm just one of those book buyers who tries to do a little pre-purchase research and who expects those books that I *do* purchase to at least meet their billing. But this book far surpassed what I expected from it!

Craig Hunt's writing style could be compared to that of other tech writers like Mark Minasi or Tony Redmond (both of whom normally cater to the MS world, of course). This book reads like the author is speaking to you, moves quickly through the basics, spends just the right amount of time on the key issues, warns you of pitfalls you need to avoid, and gives you some important "heads up" pointers on things to look for down the road.

If you're new to Linux and are tasked with setting up a reliable, fire and forget DNS server based off of the BIND package, this book is your ticket to getting it done right the first time. It's both a hands-on tutorial and a light reference tome in one handy package. Worth the money and then some!

After strugling for two weeks trying to figure out Linux Server setups (specifically DNS) I got this book. This was the third book I bought (the other two just confused me more) and I wish I bought it first. It is clear and concise with good examples. It is readable and not just DBA-jargon and for once someone understood that if you are going to buy a book on how to set up a DNS, It means that you most probably are not familiar with all the little hidden details that needs to be remembered along the lines.

I would suggest this book to everyone, from the first-timers (newbies?) to the more proficient webmaster looking for some more internet security!

All I can say is "It's a great book!"

If you can only buy one book for running BIND on Linux, this is your book. Craig Hunt walks you through configuring DNS for many straight-forward, day to day configurations, as well as some quite esoteric setups and needs. The coverage of security and BIND is quite good, with ample explanations of the security issues of running a DNS server, ways to stop the "common" hacks of BIND, and options to look into for greater security (DNSSec, dedicated DNS server, keysigning, etc). The book's organization lends itself to reading cover to cover, picking up more details and better understanding as you go, while skipping areas that may or may not be germain to your particular situation (BIND 9, DNSSec etc).

This series of books from Sybex is turning out to be one of the best for Linux Administrators, the other titles (that I own) cover SAMBA and Apache, and are just as well written and compotent. While their are other books on BIND out there (such as DNS & BIND by O'Reilly) this one is the most approachable, and without sacrificing techinical details of an often misunderstood topic.

This books gives an excellent theoretical understanding of DNS but fails on giving technical details on installation and trouble shooting. Getting this software running is not a simple process.

I don't have the O'Reilly DNS book but based on the other O'Reilly books that I use, I would assume it has more help on installation atc. I would certainly suggest considering it first.

I bought all of Craig's Linux Library books but NFS and Samba. They are all great books and easier to read than O'Reilly but I find myself using my O'Reilly DNS and Bind book over this one because Craig doesn't cover Bind 9 in detail such as rndc.

He also dropped the ball on giving complete info on how to install and configure Bind 9.

I hope the second edition is better. Until then, get O'Reilly's DNS book. You'll be glad you did.

Chapter 1-2 provides lengthy explanation about Unix performance tuning. From DBA's standpoint, I would suggest readers to work closely with SA instead of trying to play SA's role. Read them but do not apply your knowledge without SA by your side!

Chapter 3 is a good one.

The rest of the books can be skipped if you have read OCP's training material or Oracle8 Backup & Recovery and Performance Tuning.

Regarding SQL tuning, I would highly recommend Oracle SQL High-Performance Tuning.

The second edition is 10 times better than the first edition (which I also rate highly). The second edition covers the latest releases of Oracle8 and provides an enormous amount of real-life examples that I used to increase our system's performance. This book is a wealth of information for system and database administrators as well as application developers.

Mr. Alomari managed to accomplish an extraordinary feat: presenting Oracle tuning in a concise, yet not superficial way. There are many originally undocumented (or poorly documented) features which are invaluable. A few topics, however, miss some explanation. But, all things considered, it is an excellent book. He addresses many issues that are really hard to find, especially on the interaction between UNIX and Oracle. When he says you cannot fix half of you car's engine, he is not exaggerating. In my consulting practice, I tend to see both many Oracle and many UNIX experts, but much work is poorly done because of this fragile knowledge by the two parties. This book may be an efficient tool for breaking that wall, and, believe me, it makes the difference. I only wonder why he did not cover other UNIXes like AIX and DIGITAL, which have a big market share...

For me is just the best Oracle Book that I saw ever (and I saw many in 10 years working exclusively with Oracle databases).

The only book that teaches well the diference between the two Oracle 8 parameters "db_writer_processes" and "dbwr_io_slaves".

All the other books that I saw, say that "db_writers" in 7 is now called "dbwr_io_slaves" in 8, and they don't even mention the "db_writer_processes" parameter, and that's wrong.

If your O.S. takes good advantage of async.io use "db_writer_processes" (multiple DBWR processes), if not, use "dbwr_io_slaves" (uses only one DBWR process no matter what you put on "db_writer_processes", the "dbrw_io_slaves" are slaves of that process, in this way oracle simulates async.io, but if your O.S. takes advantage of async.io and you use "dbwr_io_slaves", the performance can be a disaster).

Waiting for another great book from you and thank you very mutch.

I bought this on the recommendation of two people with much more tuning experience than I have. They both said that it gave the most complete set of tuning advice and I defer to their judgement on that. The editing, however, is terrible.

Some sections only cover to Solaris 2.4, while others are updated to cover 2.6. The information in the section "Stripping on Sun" is five years old, with the author/editor covering the next generation of product in a new section. It looks like a slipshod update of the original book.

The book covers Oracle,Unix and Hardware issues in equal depth. It is very much detailed (though there are very few errors) and better than most of the Oracle Tuning books.

The book title is 8i and Unix Performance Tuning. The year is 2005. You might think the book is not applicable these days because of the "8i". Not true.

I have been working in Oracle for several years. I have administered Oracle on Windows. I have worked on Unix and have done some Oracle administration. I know commands like ls, find, vi,... But I learnt a LOT from this book on Unix side of Oracle performance tuning. I wish I had read this book few years ago when our databases started to have big IO problems. If I had, I now realize that I would have solved the problems rather than our company paying $$$ to a high priced consultant.

The book covers the Unix side of Oracle very well, like no other book does. There are so many good books out in the market for Oracle, but not many (infact none) that I know of for Oracle/Unix combo, given that most serious Oracle installations are on Unix.

If you are new to administering Oracle on Unix, please read this book before you jump in (the Unix part - first 150 pages). You may learn new things even if you are experienced, depending on your level of knowledge. It was a tough read for me, but I did it. It gives basics of Unix kernel, memory and processor tuning, configuring and tuning I/O in Unix.

An update of the book that covers 9i/10g part of Oracle would be better. And also an update of the storage systems including modern storages like SAN, NAS etc. would be great. An explanation on basics of things like shared memory segment parameters (like SHMMAX, SHMMIN,.. Why is it that no oracle book covers them?), semaphores, and **anything** UNIX for Oracle will be great too. (how about Linux?)

I hope Ahmed reads this review :)

This is the only book that covers indepth tuning for Oracle databases in UNIX environments. The author cover tuning from a hardware, OS perspective as well as OLTP and DSS. This edition is better than the previous two. Topics convered include Volume Management, RAID, CPU, Memory for UNIX and all aspects of Oracle tuning. I recommend this book for experienced administrators (UNIX Admins and Oracle DBAs) because the author assumes good knowledge of Oracle architecture.

This book is an excellent overview of how the Oracle RDBMS runs on the various flavors of the Unix operating system. Knowledgeable Oracle DBA's will take away many performance tuning tips with a complete understanding of why, when, and how to implement. The first two chapters on The Unix Kernel and Paging/Swapping should be required reading for anyone administering Oracle on Unix.

I thought this book covered the topic of performance tuning Oracle on UNIX thoroughly. It includes Oracle 7, 8 and 8.1 on Solaris, Sequent and HP. It includes an entire chapter on each of OLTP and DSS. It also has chapters on installation of the OS and Oracle. It didn't really add much to my knowledge of 7.3 but I picked up several good tidbits on 8i.

If you use perl, you want this indispensible reference.

I work as a web developer and I use this set all the time. I can take it with me to help other developers and/or read it while away from my computer. It is very easy to locate what I need and allows me to find what I'm looking for when I don't quite know exactly what I'm looking for. It's not the end all to Perl references but it is the best hardcopy out there so far!

I must be honest, I'm writing this review mostly to netralize the bad reviews thus far.

That this book is on a CD only begins to demonstrate the effectiveness of it's contents, but this IS indeed an important feature.

I only wish this came out sooner (or I bought it sooner), when I was web-designing free-lance a couple of years ago.

I looked for some specific information in this book and found that there were *many* typos in the examples I examined. I contected the publisher (O'Reilly) and they told me that they rushed this to press. (Not at all typical of O'Reilly and hopefully not a harbinger of things to come.)

This is basicly just a software package. The books are not so special. There are a couple of average Perl books (with a selection of inacuracies in them), and a large amount of stuff availble free on the web already. The CPAN snapshot will date surprisingly fast, and really, which would you rather use, nice hypertext searchable web based module documentation or 3 inches of paper. This could only be useful if you don't have an internet connection. (Note you can get a modem for a lot less than the cost of this set.) If you want perl books, buy the Camel Book, or Advanced Perl Programming. However if you want to play (at a price) with Java Perl, buy this for that reason only.

I think that this is an excellent book for someone who already programs in Perl, but is looking to anchor and increase his/her knowledge via a different learning approach.

I found the format of this book to be very intuitive. I think that the book can be highly useful for many intermediate-level Perl programmers.

Before judging the book based on these reviews, make sure you get to browse it for 20 minutes to see if the book's content and instruction approach fit your needs.

While Perl is an important language for web programmers, I feel that it should be learned in whole and not in a small reference. The "Visual Blueprint" series has its purpose, however "Perl: Your visual blueprint for building Perl scripts" does not explain many important advanced tasks that Perl programmers often get into.

I enjoy the aesthetic quality of the Maran Graphics' books, and have nothing against this book. However, serious programmers who want to learn much more of Perl and CGI should take a look at Perl How to Program by the Deitels. It is much more effective in teaching Perl theory as well as giving you a lot examples that are complex enough to use multiple ideas. The Complete Perl Training Coarse (also from the Deitels) is very effective as well.

I am still a child, but I have explored many server-side programming technologies (Java Servlets, Applets, JSP, CGI, and Perl) and feel that I am expierenced enough to review this book.

This whole series is great for Developers who learn from example. This book gets to the point, without boring you with too much text.... but gives you more information than just syntax. You don't get the "crafty commentary" as you would in the Wall/Christansen books that lets you into the background and practicality of Perl, but this one is still worth taking a look at.

This is an excellent book if you want a straight forward, no nonsense guide to building Perl scripts. The book does not go into very much theory behind Perl. It does exactly as the cover describes, it gives you a "Visual (step by step) Blueprint" for building problem solving scripts. I liked this book because it was broken down very well into modules that get right to the point and show you what you need to know to solve the problem quickly and efficiently. However, these are basic scripts. To learn the theory behind Perl I would reccomend Learning Perl by Randal L. Schwartz.

This is not a book to learn Perl from. The inherent problem with this book is the author tries to give you a practical problem and then a way in Perl to solve the problem.

Compared to other instructional Perl books I found this one lacking the structure needed to learn the language.

It may be just me. Maybe these visual blueprint books are not the way I learn. I just know that this one will sit on my shelf collecting dust.

I bought this book, but there are no colour pics, only poor quality black and white images ( page 328 onwards ) All the other books i have seen have colour pics - why not this one ? - this is a rip off. And Amazon has no where to complain about this ... Greg, please help !

The Rendering with Radiance...Revised Edition ISBN is 0-9745381-0-8

As a contributor to the text, I am a bit biased, but I do think you will find the book's numerous chapters very helpful for folks of a wide range of skill levels. It is a great resource guide, reference book and tutorial. It includes the Radiance executables for a few Unix platforms on the CD-ROM! These alone will save you an hour or two. The book is well worth the money, but don't take my word for it.

The following review of "Rendering with Radiance" was published in the November 1998 issue of "Lighting Design + Application" magazine. It has been posted to AMAZON.COM by the author.

Ian Ashdown, P. Eng., LC byHeart Consultants Limited 620 Ballantree Road West Vancouver, BC Canada V7S 1W3 e-mail: byheart@acm.org

Lighting Design + Application contact:

Mark Newman, Editor Lighting Design + Application Illuminating Engineering Society of North America 120 Wall Street, 17th Floor New York, NY 10005 Tel: (212) 248-5000

Rendering with Radiance Greg Ward Larson and Rob Shakespeare ISBN 1-55860-499-5, Hard Cover 664 pages; 1998; Morgan Kaufmann Publishers

Many LD+A readers know Radiance as a lighting design and analysis program that was developed by Greg Ward (Larson) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Those who have investigated Radiance know that it is freely available, but usable only if you have a UNIX workstation and the patience to master more than 50 software tools. In ten years, it has attracted a coterie of fewer than 400 dedicated users.

Rendering with Radiance will undoubtedly change this. Originally conceived as a UNIX-style technical manual, the book is much more. It offers several tutorials, numerous application examples, and detailed discussions of the program's underlying mathematical algorithms. The accompanying CD-ROM includes example images, Radiance models and material libraries, reference manuals, and fully commented C source code for Radiance 3.1.

Despite first impressions, this book is not about computer graphics. The Radiance Lighting Simulation and Rendering System was created for advanced lighting designers and academic researchers, and more than half of the book is devoted to applying Radiance to real-world lighting problems. Ward Larson, Shakespeare and three contributing experts discuss luminaire modeling and lighting analysis, daylight simulation, animation, roadway lighting, theatre lighting, and exterior lighting. Even if you have committed yourself to using architectural visualization programs such as Lightscape and RadioRay, you will find an abundance of useful information in this book.

Radiance is the only software program that faithfully models the physical behavior of light, especially specular and semispecular reflections. It has a steep learning curve, but the quality of the architectural renderings it produces is unequalled by any commercial product. With Rendering with Radiance, we now have a user's manual that fully complements the capabilities of its namesake.

This truly is a remarkable book. Unlike most computer graphics texts, it presents lengthy discussions of IES photometric data files, luminance meters and spectrophotometers, the CIE overcast sky model, roadway light metrics, veiling luminance, spectral transmission data, and much more. The major algorithms used by Radiance are fully documented, including discussions of their limitations. There is more information in this book on lighting software use and design than can be found in all other books combined.

The major disadvantage of Radiance is that it was developed for UNIX workstations. In the past, this restricted the use of the program (really a set of UNIX tools) mostly to academic researchers. However, the freely-available and popular UNIX clone Linux now allows Radiance to be run with few difficulties on Windows and Macintosh computers.

Back by popular demand, Rendering with Radiance, Revised Edition is now available at a lower price. The authors have retained the publishing rights from Morgan Kaufman and are now self-publishing the book. It should be available through Amazon.com and others shortly. The new ISBN is 0-9745381-0-8. The revised edition corrects some typos, and eliminates the color plates and CD-ROM.

This book got me up and running in about 2 days with linux. The only problem was that it was incorrect in some places. The most notable mistake the author had was on the actual installation of linux. She forgot to tell the reader to make the swap file! The only other time that she was incorrect was with the setup of the file x86config. This is the file that sets up X-Windows. X-Windows is to Linux what Windows is to dos. It's a graphical interface. I still haven't got my copy of X-Windows up! Other than that, it shows, in great detail, how to setup anything you could imagine/want regarding www, ftp, a mailserver, etc. I recommend to buy it, as it is extremely easy to use. I would have given this a ten if the author would have a) fixed the errors I listed above, and b) didn't make the reader rely on past knowledge. I happened to have a lot of computer knowledge. This is essential, if you are going to set up Linux. So, to close, if you want Linux, and know nothing about computers, ask someone else to do it (after you've done it once, it's easy), or proceed at your own risk. You may get caught with a couple hunderd megs missing off your computer if you mess up! (or worse yet, you may have to reformat!)

This book is "very very" easy to follow and you should have no problem to get your Internet Server running with Linux. It provides all the essential materials that you should know about the installation of Internet Server. Perfect for Linux novice. The only flaw is lack of technical detaisl about Linux. However, if you just want to run an Internet Server with Linux in no time, this book is your choice.

A not surprising excelent book, because the well known experience of the autor. It is a practical guide, well exposed and documented, about how to install an internet site using a LINUX OS. No way to be lost. Recomendations and techniques are also well applied when developing web sytes in other related OS systems. It also includeas all you may need to install it on your own, including the LINUX system.

A must for LINUX owners or want to be, highly recomendable fot general internet syte developers.

This book covers the basics needed to install and maintain a Linux internet site. This is an excellent reference book for those who want to use linux to it's fullest. However, this book is not for the beginner. In fact, unless you have a strong computer background and have some experience on a unix/linux shell then you might be lost. There is a lot of information not included in this book, for example all the software (most of which is free) that is available. I would recommend this book to anyone with the appropiate computer background that wants to begin setting up their own internet site/ISP.

It helped to get the box up, but increasing needs like Virtual Domains, some everyday tasks, and hardware configuration are not mentioned here. The CD is good though. You need to know a bit of linux first (background). I'm not sure.. but there are more complete books on Linux Internet set-up.

This references goes beyond the SAS Reference Manual (V.8) for mixed models. This is an applied statistics book, but theory is given in an end chapter. Basic and advanced topics are presented, and although introductory sections are provided...the book is written at a graduate-level and previous experience with analysis of variance is a desirable prerequisite. Topics covered include common mixed models, analysis of repeated measures data, random effects models, analysis of covariance, random coefficient models, heterogeneous variance models, spatial variability, generalized linear mixed models, and nonlinear mixed models. Two to six examples are discussed in detail for each of these cases. If you're trying to figure out a split-plot analysis with random effects and a complicated covariance structure...i.e. messy data...this book will do for you in two hours, what a week of reading the standard SAS manuals would have done. Also, if you primarily work with mixed models, this book is a lot cheaper than the standard SAS manuals, and tells you more about mixed models.

This volume, while focusing on the Mixed procedure in SAS, gives a great overview of mixed models theory and application. Full of examples from a variety of fields and better yet, real data to hone one's skills.

Learning from the Singer 1997 paper, I was able to run hierarchical models by Proc Mixed easily. However, reading "SAS System for Mixed Models" got me more confused about what I was able to utilize easily. Not to mention, I spent more than $90 back then. Don't waste your money on it.

Tons of examples! It's a nice mix between theory and applications, citing scenarios from all industries. Not only do they show you the code, they also produce the output and go through it section by section.

Excellent examples and explainations. If you need to understand or utilized Proc Mixed, this is an excellent reference.