Guide to Unix Using Linux

Judging by the reviews, this appears to be a book you either love or hate, depending on how you like to learn. Incidentally, my review is based on the edition that preceded this one. Plusses: Although you can learn UNIX by reading books or online guides, anyone who has started from "zero" realizes that the process is very confusing to someone who doesn't already know UNIX--as strange as that may sound. This is often the case when the programmers and IT professionals write the books and online guides--you know, those people who believe anyone can look at a man page and understand exactly what is being stated. They forgot how much they know and it is reflected in the way the material is presented, which cannot be easily deciphered by someone who is not already "part of the group." Therefore, "ordinary" people or beginners--even those with experience outside of UNIX--need something better that will cover all the basics in a clear way that can be understood without already being a computer science major in college or an IT professional. For these people, Guide to UNIX Using Linux provides a welcome and relatively easy introduction to UNIX. (Although understanding UNIX is not a trivial process, it is fifty times easier to get acquainted with UNIX using this book than to try to figure out what to do using man pages in my opinion.) Negatives: The book contains some fundamental weaknesses. Sure, not all versions of UNIX or Linux the user may encounter are going to be identical, so I did not anticipate that every command would work perfectly with every system, but some of the examples did not work as expected. When the book refers to something that does not exist in the book text, you have a problem. For example, in the Chapter 2 review questions, it asks about a solution that simplifies things for users who must access files that have a long pathname. The answer is "Teach them to use a symbolic link." Although that is a correct answer, neither chapter 1 or 2 discusses symbolic links. Omissions like this can leave a person frustrated and confused. Further, after purchasing an $80.00 book, you would think that a reader should not have to go on the Internet to find answers to questions in their textbook. Overall, the book is very good. If you find the price a little steep, consider getting a used copy.

I'm not sure where you guys get your books but obviously you didn't read to far into this one. It is by far the most step-by-step unix book I've read. The book is clear and I had no problem understanding it. This man KNOWS what he's talking about because everything I learn from this book I try and sure enough it works perfectly. I was taught by Jack Dent's student. He's very knowledgable. I highly recommend this book to newbies and advanced unix/linux users.

I am using this book as a resource for teaching Linux to students. This book is good and well organized. Unlike most books out there, it does not start by explaining you how to install Linux, which is an excellent concept. You can learn the basics about Unix and once you are familiar with it you can go on and learn more. The "advanced" exercises really give you a good grasp of how to use the concepts explained in every chapter. I highly recommend it.

The authors had a definite end point in sight as they wrote this book. This book is good for people of all skill levels. The examples are all strong jumping off points for real world applications. A positive addition to my reference library.

I like the way each chapter smoothly hands off the ball to the next. You really learn a lot about the Unix operating environment, especially Linux. The accompanying CDROM is also a plus. It's a bit hefty, but serves well as both a tutorial and a reference. In addition, it is VERY well suited for students, as an unincluded extra CDROM supposedly offers many extra review questions per chapter (there are already quite a few). Overall, a really nice book. I recommend it to anyone with adequate computer literacy and a desire to learn this extensive OS.