UNIX System V Release 4: The Complete Reference

I asked a friend, ex-Bell Labs, which "How To Unix" I should buy. He said, "You gotta pay me for all my BAD Unix books I've bought before I'll give you the title."This is the GOOD book. As I hadn't seen a command line since DOS 1.0, when I bought a MacPlus, I wasn't excited about joining the world of CAT MAN DO. The book is very well organized. It isn't a tutorial, nor is it a complete reference. It's like having an experienced administrator walk you through all the important bits. If you're completely new to Unix, like I was, this will take you several evenings to work your way through it. Learning isn't difficult with the very simple and clean examples. Yes, it is a bit dated (early internet) and some commands are obsolete, but it doesn't detract at all from the content. The pace is steady (not 20 pages of how to login and then a crib sheet on 20 commands used by system adminstrators). Even if you are just a user (such as using Telnet to access your domain at an ISP) the book will help you and provide an appreciation for the capacity of Unix.

This book, though quite dated, is always one I've regretted lending out ('cause I never got it back). As a young sysadmin it was a godsend to me. These days I wish I had a chance to reread the advanced topics which I didn't understand at the time.