Using Networks

In depth description and illustration of various network technologies, but unfortunately, having been published in 1998, it leaves out many of today's popular technologies.

I wish this had been the first book I purchased. Frank does an outstanding job of covering fundamental areas of networking. And in a way that is easy to understand. Highly recommend this book.

Great Book !, For the beginner and Intermediate Networker. I'm quite experienced myself and needed a book to pass around to my associates and I was surprisingly pleased with the informative content and history of everything. I wouldn't Exactly consider it "Using Networks", it's much, much MUCH deeper than that !!!!! Topics Range from ways to connect PC's for only print sharing, to all the standards in place today, to in depth physical layer discussions and the software market.Definitely worth $30 !!!, even if you only use it for it's 30 page Glossary !

I really liked the writing style of Frank J. Derfler. He explains the technical workings of networks in real world examples to help you understand the concepts. He is thorough and complete. You can read one chapter on the part you are interested in or read it from cover to cover. I found the use of acronyms to be confusing, but he explains that acronyms are part of the networking "language". The glossary was good, but incomplete. I went looking for definitions of terms mentioned, but was unable to find them in the glossary. Some of the drawings were dificult to read because the type was too small. Over all it is excellent in providing the information about general networking without any bias toward any particular product. I was glad I chose it!