Internet Books

First let me say that this book is very well written and easy to understand. It gives the reader wonderful info on MP3's and other music file formats as well as the comparsion from the standard CD format vs. MP3 format. Before reading this book, I had well above average knowledge of the various types of music files, playlist, jukeboxes, and MP3 and WMA and other music file formats. However, it did fill in some gaps that I had overlooked and I learned even more after reading the book. This is a very good reference book for the beginner. However, since it was written several years ago, it only touches on WMA's. Not that this book was written with more info on MP3 formats. Today we have in many Internet online stores the WMA/DRM (protected music). These types of music files need a newer MP3/WMA/DRM player that will handle the WMA/DRM music file format downloads, which many online music stores have. This is a great book, however, a bit historic. The MP3 players as described in this book (available at that time) came with only 64 meg flash drives and 64 meg flash cards. Now the norm is at least a 1 GIG flash player, and many MP3 players today have huge hard drives. However, this book still has good overall BASIC information. I highly recommend this book to a beginner just learning about MP3 music.

MP3's have become one of the hottest new things on the 'Net, to the delight of music lovers everywhere and most likely to the chagrin of the music industry. This book covers a wide variety of topics regarding MP3's, starting off with a brief description of how mp3's came to be, where to find and download mp3's, Internet radio stations, etc. The chapter on digital music and copyright law also contains useful information on just what it and is not legal with regards to having and/or downloading mp3's.

It also tells you what software and hardware is the best for playing mp3's and "ripping" your own mp3's. The descriptions of the software and hardware you can use are quite good. Next are three chapters describing in detail digital audio, along with MPEG audio. Then comes the section any mp3 "ripper" will be most interested in, ie converting music into mp3 form, by first converting it into a .wav format, then into mp3 and finally recording your own CD's.

The book's final chapters are a 'tutorial" on various mp3 software ripper programs like Audio Catalyst and Cool Edit. There's also some info about using WinAmp, which is one of the more popular mp3 players (and the one I use). There's also further information about related web sites, other books, even a glossary.

The future still looks bright for mp3. Not only is it a way for music lovers to download their favorite songs, it also is a way for new artists to "break through" by offering their music on various web sites in the form of mp3s.

This book offers quite a bit of good information about the MP3 phenemenon.

This is an outstanding book on Internet and personal computer audio with emphasis on the MP3 audio-encoding format. It covers the whole range of online audio from the Internet or CDs as well as streaming audio.

Starting with an overview of digital music and the Internet, the book explains why there's so much excitement over MP3 and online audio, discusses how to find music on the web, and reviews Internet Radio. The authors include the best discussion of digital music and copyright law I've seen anywhere.

The chapters on how to prepare your computer for digital audio discuss everything from what software is needed to what to watch for in selecting the best computer hardware, from CD drives, speakers, sound cards, and the cables that connect these things together or with your home entertainment system.

The portion of the book on understanding digital audio contains one of the best overall discussions of how sound and digital audio technology works anywhere. Especially valuable is the discussion of the tradeoffs involved in different selections of parameters in digital audio, such as bit-rates and sampling rates.

The book wraps-up with several excellent tutorials for basic computer tasks used for digital audio. In addition, there are tutorials for common tasks using several popular computer audio software programs.

Bruce Fries is a technology consultant & writer and an Associate member of the Audio Engineering Society. He also is the founder of TeamCom, a new media publishing company. Marty Fries is an audio engineer, technology consultant, and blues pianist. His audio engineering work includes designing and building studio sound equipment systems.

This is the best-written and edited book I've read on Internet audio and streaming audio to date. It's easy to read and explains complicated terms and concepts in terms anyone who can use a computer can understand.

Throughout the book are excellent links to additional resources, as well as an extensive index of websites on the topic of Internet audio. While the focus is on MP3 and audio files (vice streaming audio), much of the information applies to Internet radio as well.

I strongly recommend this book for anyone interested in working with MP3 audio files, whether beginner or experienced "ripper." I also highly recommend it for anyone who is interested in how to improve the recording, playing, or streaming of audio files from their computer. Finally, I recommend this book for anyone concerned about what is and what isn't legal in working with digital audio files.

Review by Mike Powers, Internet Radio Guide, October 1999

I'm the author of the MP3 and Internet Audio Handbook and I've just finished a new book, Digital Audio Essentials, that has approximately twice as much information plus detailed chapters on editing audio, digitizing vintage records, and setting up an Internet radio station. It covers both Macs and PCs and has instructions for using iTunes, Musicmatch Jukebox, Media Jukebox, Sound Forge, and Peak.

... This book by Bruce and Marty Fries covers THE FOREST and THE TREES - concerning all things about MP3 music technology - equally well! In other words, you will no longer be lost in THE FOREST about all things MP3 because of THE TREES! The authors cover the OVERVIEW (The Forest) of all things MP3 just as well as they cover all the minor DETAILS (The Trees). ... The authors make EXCELLENT teachers: they KNOW their subject well, and they know how to PRESENT it to you so that you NEVER get lost or feel left behind! The book is VERY well ORGANIZED. It is layed-out logically and flows from one chapter to the next in a natural and easy-to-follow way. Reading this book is NOT HARD, and because it is so easy to understand, you will learn faster!

... I can't say that I knew NOTHING about MP3 music and technology BEFORE I read this book, but after having read it I feel like I REALLY understand everything I need to know to make the right choices about how to record, play, and listen to music in the MP3 format. Most importantly, the authors do not only tell you ABOUT MP3 technology, they tell you HOW to use it, DO things with it, and WHERE to go on the world wide web to get more INFO on whatever you might be interested in concerning all things MP3. The book is packed to the gills on almost every page - cover-to-cover - with web site URL addresses where the reader can further their search for information about MP3 technology!

... The book is VERY thorough and detailed, with an easy-to-follow lay-out, easy-to-read text and design, and very helpful photographs and illustrations that make it almost impossible to NOT "get it"! After reading this book, if you don't know just about EVERYTHING concerning MP3, you just were not paying attention - because the authors have left NO STONE UNTURNED! ... The only regret I had was that they wrote the book (as they themselves confessed up-front!) for the IBM-compatible, PC crowd - and I am driving an APPLE iMac computer!!! ... I recently wrote to the authors about this, and they said that they are working right now on a revised edition that will have more information in the HOW TO SECTIONS for people using APPLE computers. This will be a welcome relief!

... Even so, there is a lot of helpful mention of places and products that concern the MAC CROWD (of which I'm one! : ), and they DO agree that the SOUNDJAM MP software by Cassidy & Greene "is one of the best for the Mac." (page 69). So, even if you're a Mac-man like me, you really can't go wrong reading this book because it covers all the bases. It's MORE than just an introduction. It's a great REFERENCE book to keep by your computer at all times - whether you're a consumer interested in LISTENING to MP3s or a musician who is interested in CREATING MP3s in order to upload onto musical web sites, over the Internet, on the world wide web so that ANYONE in the world can listen to and/or purchase one's music! ... My hat is off to the authors for a job well done! ALSO: this book is FUN to read! ..

This is one of my favorite Perl books. It really serves what it says it will. It covers a great amount of Perl coding, but like the title says, goes into a lot of networking code, functions and so on. For Perl network programming, you really should have and use this book.

Just to say this is a big introduction (from starts to experts) to the network stuff through the magnific language that is perl.
Do you want to be a hacker? do you know enought of perl? Do you feel the only you need to be a hacker is some specific book that prepares to it? this is the one, BUY IT, at the end you will think this is one of the best books you have already read, i promise you.

(if you already know the net, it explains how to do the stuff in perl in an exciting way!)

This book is excellent. This is one of very few books that the author really takes time, has a good plan to write a book and have good understanding of the subject.

I read many computer books that are just repetitive so it can make the books thick enough to look like a 'good book' (May be this is what US raaders like). I try my best to avoid those books. Those books do not say much in hundreds of pages.

But this book is not that kind of book. Every pages are worth to read. It is quite easy to follow. (I do know a bit of TCP/IP from reading other books before I read this book.) E.g. Stevens TCP/IP books. Unfortunately he died and he won't be able to update those great books.

Some authors are not professional, they just copy here and there. Then they put everything together. Those are terrible books to read. Those terrible books explain some simple concept again and again and take up hundreds of pages that can be done in half of volume. It is not just wasting the readers time (time is money) but also wasting the resource (trees)! Even most college textbooks are that way. Sometimes it is even worst since they know you won't haave much choices!

I seldom to give 5 stars. This book does deserve 5 stars.

You will enjoy this one if you like networking.

Everything you wanted to know about Perl and socket applications. Lincoln is very good about explaining all concepts and providing lots of examples.

Lincoln is the author of the CGI.pm module. In addition, he wrote a book about CGI.pm that is the bible - a "must have" for anyone doing Perl CGI work.

Lincoln is a great guy. He wrote a Perl module for Napster. I could not get it running on my Win32 system (my linux box was at work). Within an hour of sending him an email, he sent me a new module for Win32 that worked great. Lincoln did not even know who I was.

This book has been in my wish list for pretty long time, and before I actually buy it decided to check it out of my school's library. Enjoyment started at the first chapters of the book that I read in the library's caffeteria. The book definitely covers all the aspects of the Network Progamming, not only with Perl, but in general as well.

In the first chapters of the book, Lincoln Stein makes good use of such OO modules as IO::File and IO::Socket to demostrate that difference between local file operations and remote network programming isn't that much different at all ( at least in Perl ).

Chapter 2 shows you several applications that are built on pipes. The best thing about the chapter was the signals part, where L. Stein shows examples, catching all sorts of signals that your progam receives and reacts accordingly. One example was reacting to pressing of CTRL+C sequence of keys to terminate the progam.

I would call Chapter 3 the heart of the book, since it goes over Berkeley Sockets, the base for Network progamming in most systems, no matter what progamming language you tend to prefer. It also explains thoroughly Sockets Addressings, Network naming conventions, protocols, services and a lot more. This chapter, together with the Chapter 4 alone are worth the whole price of the book, I believe. The chapter in the end goes over some common netwook analysis tools, such as "nslookup", "ping", so on and so forth.

Chapter 4 tells you all you need about TCP Protocol. Shows several examples as well. Goes over Adjusting Socket options, and their uses.

Chapter 5 is not anything newer supposing you've been following all the pervious chapters. Untill this chapter, L. Stein demonstrates the coding using much low level Socket API. here Lincoln starts using IO::Socket's Object Oriented Interface for its handy functionalities that enable writing Networking applications more relieving.

Chapters 6, 7, 8 and 9 takes you through writing several commong network clients such as SMTP/mailing clients, Telnet, FTP clients. Also provides their complete source codes in case you just feel likek copying them. Chapter 9 gets into the most fun part: LWP and HTML/XML Parsing. Spends good 50 pages on those. Very exciting indeed!

The rest of the book (another half) is dedicated for writing Server applications, which I haven't read. I am sure the rest is as exciting as it's been up to this point. But no matter what, I am greatefull to the book for such an exciting and informative coverage of the topics. It's worth every penny that you spend on it. Buy it!

great book on xml, specially on different kind of parsers, their purpose, advantages and weakness.

If only every technical book was written this well! Anyone who is working with Java and XML should have a copy of this book. Highly example driven with clear explanations, the author makes using XML in your Java programs a breeze. Even better, the author has a style that makes the book fun to read as you feel like you are learning all sorts of secrets from an XML insider.

The book starts with a quick introduction to XML and then gets into how to create XML documents in your programs. The first four chapters cover everything you need to know about creating XML whether it is for XML-RPC, SOAP, or simply to store in a file. The next section covers parsing XML documents. SAX and DOM are compared and then the next eight chapters discuss these two methods of parsing documents, explaining how to use them, comparing them, and helping you determine how to decide which technique to use for which situation. The section on DOM explains not just how to parse documents using DOM but also how to create new documents. The final chapters of the book cover JDOM, XPATH, and XSLT.

Did I mention that this book is full of examples? The author doesn't rely on simply explaining how something works or how to use a technology (even though his explanations are excellent), he has examples to demonstrate everything he discusses. Each example builds upon the previous example and makes learning the techniques easy and enjoyable.

I really like reading this book. It is easy to read and understand. The author does a good job of describing the XML technologies related to JAVA. This book has a lot of code to analyze. This book is a must have for the experienced developer who wants to do JAVA with XML. I have a message for the experienced developer: THE CODE WILL CHALLENGE YOU; IT CHALLENGED ME!!!

Michael

This is definitely a valuable resource for anybody dealing with XML and Java, written by one of the best tech writers in town. The author covers in details a huge amount of topics and API, so many that you couldn't ask for more.
Be advised that some basic understanding of XML and intermediate Java skills are required to get the best out of this book

I bought this book when it first came out. I really enjoyed reading it. The book is well written. It has a lot useful code.
The author code that can be used in the real world of JAVA and XML. I liked the books section on JDOM. This book shows the differences between DOM and JDOM. Also, this book has a lot of information on SAX, DOM, JDOM, and it shows the differences when using each. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn JAVA and XML. Make sure you are an experienced developer before purchasing this book.

Michael

My first edition copy of this book is dog-eared and full of bookmarks. This is an excellent tutorial on installing and using qmail. It includes step-by-step instructions for each task involved in setting up and administering (as well as customizing) qmail. Great text. Highly recommended. You don't need to be a Linux expert to install qmail if you follow this guidebook.

Dave Sill did an excellent job of showing how to setup email server. If you know some Linux commands, you'll have no problem setup your first Linux email server. I personally prefer Dave's Qmail handbook to John Levine's Qmail (I got as well). Levine's Qmail is an great second book.

Best Linux book I ever bought!

Everything you need to know about Qmail from installation and complete configuration. There is no other book.

After a month, and hours of installing and reinstalling FreeBSD and Qmail, I finally got the mail server working right! This was my first attempt at a mail server which I use for my family members and a few friends. There are a few errors in the book in some of the scripts which did cause me many problems. That was a pain. But, even at that, I don't think I would have been able to get Qmail running without this book. It is a great book for a person like me who is always doing something a bit over my head.

I just finished setting up a mail server at home and this book really made it simple. I'm not a novice, so I can't speak to it's ease of use, but the steps were simple, and a bit verbose and repetitive, but overall the book was invaluable.

I also needed DNS and BIND to get everything working just the way I wanted, so I'd buy them both.

Tim

After reading this book over the holiday, I decided to give it a try on my new project. I applied the authors categories to business plans I needed to prepare. I have to admit that her approach made an improvement that even impressed my managers. Her questions in the appendix were also extremely useful in helping me think of more needs than I had originally thought were important. Her chapter on the parts of a requirement helped me supply the details that I would have omitted previously. Bottom line, the author makes you think allowing for better definition of product needs.

When trying to understand what information architectures are all about, this is the only book I have come across that answered all of my questions and placed the field in context with modern technologies. Unfortunately, most books on information architectures fall into two categories that miss the mark:

1. There are books written by IA experts before the internet, and the terms and viewpoint used require considerable on-the-fly translations to modern technologies.

2. There are books written by IT experts who couldn't spot an IA if it bit them on the leg. These books are fat with useless lists of IT technologies and acronyms.

Fredinandi's book is worth reading cover-to-cover, and more than once.

This is the first book about Requirements Pattern. You can easily understanding your problems after define all project's requirements. This book also provides a completes framework to categorizes and organizes the different types of requirements, forming a requirements set. It makes our project done on time and within budget. Thanks to Pat for this excellent book.

This book servers as an excellent source for gaining insight into the field of requirements engineering. Developers, Managers, Requirements Engineers and Testers could all benefit from reading this book. In addition to providing important information about requirements engineering in general, the book presents a requirement pattern framework targeted for e-business and web based applications.

This book servers as an excellent source for gaining insight into the field of requirements engineering. Developers, Managers, Requirements Engineers and Testers could all benefit from reading this book. In addition to providing important information about requirements engineering in general, the book presents a requirement pattern framework targeted for e-business and web based applications.

Secrets of Computer Espionage: by Joel McNamara is a must for any PC user. Staffed with so many examples (with a conversational funny tone) the book does a really good job. The book stresses the vulnerabilities and threats, explains in details the evolution of spy tactics, network eavesdropping and provide countermeasures as well.

It's good to know what's around us and be in the know!

Recommend ****
Guzman, Dror

Judging from the title, Secrets of Computer Espionage: Tactics and Countermeasures would appear to be geared to governments, security agencies, or high-level corporations. In fact, as the author makes clear, anyone with an Internet connection is a potential target of online espionage-even by such "mundane" means as viruses, worms, and phishing attacks-and this book is addressed to that huge audience.

Just who is spying on whom? The author explains that the typical person might be a target of bosses, friends, family members, hackers, and many others. Even people with nothing confidential or of value on their computers risk getting caught up in espionage and other cyber capers. For instance, hackers can use their computers as vehicles for staging attacks or as a location for storing illicit files, such as child pornography. And as more cell phones and PDAs connect to the Internet, the risks multiply.

What may be disturbing to some readers is that every computer device and peripheral provides at least one avenue of attack. The author explains many of these schemes, such as keystroke loggers and cleartext file transfers via file transfer protocol (FTP). In addition, operating-system and application-level vulnerabilities constitute even more ways that systems can be compromised.

Despite the grim picture painted by the author, the book isn't intended to make readers paranoid, but rather to acquaint them with the many risks posed by the Internet. This excellent book shows that someone quite possibly is out to get you, but it provides the tools to protect yourself.

The "Secrets of Computer Espionage" by Joel McNamara unveils what every PC user should know before they hop on to the internet Bandwagon. If you can read this review, then you need to purchase this book. Cyber Crime is the number one precursor to identity theft and the simple thruth is -- Internet Security is YOUR responsibility.

Joel McNamara makes you walk a mile in the bad guys shoes, forcing you to see both sides of the story. You will learn the real threats behind internet worms (such as Sasser) and trojan horses (like MyDoom). Discover why Windows(tm) isn't safe and learn who's after your PII (Personally Identifiable Information).

View the world through the eyes of an internet private eye and see that everything really is an open book, it just depends on where you look. Let Joel be your guide. Buy the ticket, take the ride... then go to www.pcpitbull.com and see what's really inside.

Joel McNamara's book is one of the very, very, few books that I classify as a "Must Read" for anyone involved in business or technology. This book does an amazing job of avoiding the "paranoia for paranoia's sake" tone seen so often in computer security books while still taking the issues seriously and discussing them intellegently.

The conversational tone is fun and often quite funny while not making the user feel talked down to. And Mr. McNamara does an equally great job of explaining very complex topics in way that works for both extremely sophisticated computer technology professionals and non-techies alike. I've brought this book around for side-discussions in the seminars I've given since it came out and my students, ranging from small business owners to 30+ year professional tech veterans in Fortune 50s have learned new and important lessons from it. For a book to address all these audiences is rare. For a book to succeed and be invaluable for all of them is virtually unheard of. This book succeeds amazingly well.

I've not only read the book through in one sitting, I keep referring back to it and it's incredibly useful web site on a regular basis.

Joel, thank you for writing one of the key books of the year!

You and your computer face a dizzying array of security threats, writes tech consultant Joel McNamara. Competitors, cops, crooks and even disgruntled kin would love a peek at your hard drive. But don't hyperventilate just yet. If you calmly analyze the desirability and vulnerability of your secrets, you can figure out how to protect yourself. McNamara's prose is surprisingly clear given the degree of difficulty of his topic, and he offers a number of useful sidebars, charts and examples from inside the tech business to juice up his instructional tome. We suggest this practical book to managers charged with protecting corporate data, and to people who are unsure just how safe their computers are.

The first book by Gina Lynn, SexRev 2.0 is an amazing look at the many possibilities of sexuality with the tools of the modern world. Her prose style is very easy to read. Her writing is to the point and direct, as is her attitude toward sex and relationships. This book is a very good introduction to the new technology of this century, and how it can be used to enhance your love life. After reading Gina's column for some time, it is nice to hear her 'voice' in a longer narrative context. I love the fact that you can look at her writing and say to yourself "I know she is speaking from experience."

Regina Lynn's book starts with an interesting and believable thesis ... that a new technology (the internet) has caused as much of a change in contemporary sexual patterns and practices as another new technology (the pill and other means of effective birth control) did a generation earlier.

As the Sex/Tech editor for Wired Magazine (in itself a respected distribution point for information about things new and technical), Ms. Lynn is in an almost unique position to keep up with the latest in this field. She brings much of this expertise to bear in this book.

With chapters dealing with everything from meeting people on line to women's access to pornography, she covers many aspects of the intersection of these two domains ... one ancient and one as modern as can be. Computers make possible powerful searches, which can bring people "together" who probably never could have met by chance in an earlier era. And women who would rather die than get caught sneaking down to Sam's Smut Shack to buy a dirty book from some pimply-faced clerk who went to school with their son can (and, the evidence suggests, do) go on line and download reading and viewing materials that suit their intersts.

She goes on to deal with things like sex toys, breaking up in the internet age, and a whole host of other issues.

But in the end, the end is (as Ms. Lynn says, optimistically, at the end of her book) much the same as the beginning:

"The future of sex is just that: sex, only better.
"Dig it."

There is no doubt that sex and tech are forever linked in our world and Regina Lynn's Sex Rev 2.0 is an entertaining, educational, and provocatively personal account of where these two fundamental forces in our lives currently stand. Regina does a marvelous job guiding the reader through the complexities, not only explaining the technology involved, but also the do's and don'ts to bring this material into your real life in a positive, healthy, and exciting way! In these times of extreme sexual oppression in this country, Regina should be recognized as sexual freedom fighter. I can't wait to see what version 3.0 has in store for us.

A smart savy guide to life love aqnd the internet. This is the real sex and web. It is both inteligent and entertaining and , well written . It's an easy guide to usiing texh to best advantage in social setting.. When left on a table necver fails to ignite conversation.

Regina Lynn does what so few manage to do: explain the basics about online sexuality without throwing her readers into a panic. Lynn provides a landscape of some of the ways that the Internet can *enhance* one's sexuality and sex life while most other books instill fear about this phenomenon in the average person. Sure, people become addicted to cybersex; people also become addicted to Twinkies. But most people are able to eat their Hostess products in moderation. And most people who choose to engage in online sexual activities -- or at least explore their options -- will do so to improve an in-person relationship, or use it to explore an aspect of their sexual identity they want to "try on" in a safer environment. Lynn writes with the notion that most people are simply curious about sex and the Internet as she paves the way for people to learn how the virtual world can improve their romances ans sex lives in the physical one. And she educates with compassion, humor, and savvy.

Wow, what an amazing tool to use to further communicate such a growing problem in our society today. This is an area most parents don't want to think about and the book provides parents with a platform to discuss this openly and honestly with their kids. Thank you for providing us with a chance to help protect our kids in a healthy honest way.

I was shocked to read that "90 percent of children ages 8-16 have viewed porn online - usually while doing homework." (OC Register article about this book on 12/3/07.) The odds are not good. Will your child be able to resist, when even the most innocent web search can pull up unintended results? If you have kids of any age, you can and must discuss this relevant topic with them. This book fosters that discussion perfectly. I applaud the creative and brave people behind this important and necessary parenting tool -- for handling such a tough topic in an accessible way.

This book has been so educational and eye opening for me and my family . This wonderful author has made a somewhat uncomfortable topic more comfortable for all of us. In addition, I loved the story. I am grateful that such a topic is being addressed. This is a pertinent topic. This awareness is so healthy and I love the solutions offered to this epademic. What a breath of fresh air. I feel that this kind book will be very healing for many.

What a great tool to educate and explain the temptations of our
complex world. The computer/internet have introduced such vast unknowns
and intrigue. I applaud Danielle for touching upon such a
sensitive subject that is so relative to today... she is fulfilling a need to reach out to today's generation now instead of later.

Wow, I never thought I would ever read a book that would cover such a topic in a non-threatning way. i think this is one that young boys should read and I would love to get feedback on how it helps girls. Back in the day, you found adult magazines under the bed. Today, with the Internet you never know unless your monitoring them.

One thing a parent can do to curb Internet surfing is to keep the computer out of the bedroom.

The book carefully, yet directly covers what parents know could be going on but are afraid or uncertain in how to bring it up. I actually asked my 19 year old to read it and he did. Getting No complaint from him is amazing. He did not say it was "dumb" or "retarded" and that tells me that it struck a cord and he liked it.


Dianelle has just made a parents life a bit easier. I look forward to seeing more from her as there are endless topics for her to write on.

I'm sad I waited so long to read this excellent book. "Troubleshooting Campus Networks" (TCN) was published in Jul 2002, and it belongs on every network administrator's shelf -- now! This is the best networking book since Scott Haugdahl's "Network Analysis and Troubleshooting" and Eric Hall's "Internet Core Protocols." TCN will truly test your networking knowledge; you'll quickly validate the truth and discard the fiction.

So many books discuss networks, but somehow distort subtle points. Authors Oppenheimer and Bardwell know their material inside-out and explain key points in clear, concise prose. Ever hear of the "37% utilization rule for Ethernet?" It's false. Think that TCP sequence numbers count packets? Wrong -- they count bytes of data. And why are sequence numbers seemingly "off by one?" Look at the difference between ordinal and cardinal numbers, described in ch. 9.

TCN displays an uncanny ability to include just the information that is needed. "Reversible half-ASCII," which accounts for odd-looking NetBIOS traces, appears in ch. 12. The sections on Windows networking are first-rate, with helpful comparisons of NetBIOS with IPX, TCP, and NetBEUI. Even theoretical but damaging attack methods, like corrupting Hot Standby Router Protocol messages (ch. 8), are illuminated.

I have two complaints. I would have liked more attention paid to the mechanics of analyzing traffic, including the use of taps. Also, the Windows chapter seemed to end abruptly, just when the dynamics of Windows 2000 networking and port 445 should have appeared.

TCN is designed to educate protocol analysts. People with this skill set can administer LANs, analyzer network-based IDS traffic, and deploy network infrastructure. I thank the authors for their efforts and look forward to their next endeavor.

I have had this book for about 10 days. It is excellent, destined to become a bestseller in its category. But this will not be surprising because Oppenheimer's previous book has received a stamp of approval in its category (Top Down Network Design, Cisco Press, ISBN: 1578700698). For those privileged to have Top Down Network Design, we know what I am talking about: a self-contained book that delivers beyond a Cisco Certification test.

It is in this very light that I rate Troubleshooting Campus Networks: it is a an extremely valuable reference book for network administrators, but it will also help you pass the Cisco CCNP Support exam.

Briefly going through the contents, Chapter 1 describes the book itself and its audience. Chapter 2 details formal network troubleshooting methods, including the Cisco Troubleshooting Method, protocol analysis, network traffic types and the various troubleshooting tools. Above all, it emphasizes the importance of proactive network management.

Chapter 3 provides in-depth knowledge on troubleshooting and Analyzing Ethernet Networks. And Chapter 4 will be even more appreciated: about 55 pages dedicated to troubleshooting and analyzing IEEE 802.11 Wireless Networks. This chapter alone will be of great assistance to those preparing for Certified Wireless Network Administrator (CWNA) from Planet3 Wireless, Inc. It provides an excellent introduction for those who want to know what Wireless LANs are all about.

Chapters 5 and 6 provide indepth knowledge on troubleshooting and analyzing the Spanning Tree Protocol and Virtual LANs respectively. Chapters 7 and 8 do the same for Campus IP Networks and Campus IP Routing Protocols.

What I have found to be of equally great value is Chapter 9, detailing TCP, UDP, and Upper Layer protocols' troubleshooting and analysis. Here, one would find the answers to the questions he may have had about HTTP, FTP, SMPT protocol analysis and the like.

Chapters 10, 11, 12 and 13, respectively provide the skills needed for troubleshooting and analyzing Campus IPX Networks, AppleTalk Networks, Windows Networking and Wide Area Networks.

In all, this is a powerful tool from which you will not only find the answers to day-to-day networking issues, but will also empower you to become a better network administrator.

If you are in network administration, a networking professional generally or preparing for Cisco CCNP Support exam, this is the book!

Good book for anyone who is having problems with their networks. Author makes things easily understandable and the book is a great reference.

Many books have I read where authors speak of Ethernet or TCP/IP or other subjects. This book fills in the gaps without being too vendor biased. Cisco and WildPackets are excellent companies, but the book really focuses on enhancing your network to it's fullest. I learned that just because my network "works", there may be many things ready to break that had not been troubleshot before. Now I really feel able to properly "fix" my troubles and not just make my network magically work when there is trouble behind the scenes waiting for a Friday night to break.
The two authors have been in the industry since it's inception and bring a passion for networking to the table with a focus on teaching those of us who do not have 20+ years in the trenches.
This book is not only a reference book, but a well written, easy to read explanation of networking and troubleshooting. With real-life scenarios from the authors and practical situations played out. I felt as though I had a mentor walking me through the logical steps of analysis.
Buy reference books and keep them on your selves for when you need them. Buy this book, read it and keep it close because you will need it!

My overall impression was that this is a great book. I felt that the first chapter was unnecessary detail, and sort of seemed like chest thumping to me. I find this book to be an excellent reference about just about all aspects of LAN communications. I was not impressed with the WAN protocols however. I sort of expected more of that, as you might find in a Campus network. I keep this book handy, and often find myself using it as a reference when I am unsure of a conclusion I have drawn. I recommend this book to anyone looking for reference material.

Upgrade Your Life is a great book. I've followed the blog for several years, but it's nice to have an analog version when you want to practice the best techniques available.

Recommended for information or technology workers who need to get more productive to survive and/or avoid insanity.

I suspect most people will find some useful tips in this book. As always, they are only useful if you actually do them. But many are fairly simple to implement which helps! And the book is written so you can go immediately to those areas of most interest to you, if you like.

Great book. Very good to organize your life and ways to work. It should include more contents special for geek and very technical computer user. It is a must have for those who worry about get organized and get the things done! :)

This is a collection of hints, tips and hacks for the technologically inclined. Areas covered are email, organizing your data, tricks to overcome your procrastination, clearing your mind, focusing your attention, streamlining common tasks, mastering the web, honing your computer survival skills and managing multiple computers.

Not at all ironically, the people for whom this book will be most useful - real geeks - will already know some, not all, of these things. I am most definitely a geek, but I did learn many new things and happy for that.

In some ways, the book will a half-loaf for many. There's a lot of Macintosh stuff that will not be helpful to Windows users and vice-versa. There's Windows Vista material that will not be useful to those (most of us, perhaps?) who are sticking with Windows XP. But this is not a major problem: the book has so much good stuff in it, that there is plenty for everyone.

Trapani's writing style is wonderfully clear, direct and concise.

Overall, other than calling it useful, versatile, eclectic and well-done, this book is difficult to classify. It merges real life (remembering to pick up the milk) with the technical (setting up a VPN) and lots, lots more. It is definitely a fun book to browse, packed with lots of great information.

A very worthwhile addition to your library.

Jerry

I'm not the most disorganized person on the planet, but I'm not the most organized either. I found the book to be a good reference and helpful in getting things organized. The chapter on e-mails - first chapter - actually worked. I feel my inbox is managed well. 200 new messages a day (that's not as much as some folks!) and I'm breezing through them without backlog. On the down side, I found a few tips a little too "organized" for my taste. I'm more about simple effective solutions and this book provides quite a few. It's well worth the investment.