Teach Yourself-- UNIX

The fourth edition is very helpful. The style is clear and plain, but overall this book would be improved by more attention paid to actual tasks than to commands per se, especially since some of these commands (to a newcomer) are cryptic. Nevertheless by taking notes and highlighting the index, it's easy enough to navigate this book. There's a helpful listing of major UNIX commands in the back. The book covers "getting started" (logging on and off, etc.), file and directory basics, UNIX tools (basic 'vi' stuff - the text editor), command customization, C/Korn/Bash shells, multitasking, the Internet and e-mail, FTP, shell and C++ programming basics, and system administration. As the authors state, the book is kept brief (397 pages) to ensure simple delivery of what's most needed to get started pushing buttons. The format is similar to Who's Afraid of C++? in that it tries to be user-friendly by supplying small quizzes and simple tasks at each chapter's conclusion to ensure you've grasped the basic ideas presented. This book can prove to be a life saver in any situation involving molecular orbital calculations involving UNIX navigation (C shell). Overall, this is a sympathetic and clear-cut introduction to UNIX.