| Writing |  4 | | Content | 4 | | Readability | 4 | | Overall Satisfaction | 4 |
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4 of 5 A good book with a few problems Friday, August 06, 2004
Branden McIntyre from Newtown, CT
There has been one fundamental problem when one wants to learn networking; where to start. Wendell Odom tries to overcome this problem in Cisco Press’ Computer Networking first step. While this book is not perfect, it is one of the best books I’ve found to date to introduce network concepts. He has done an excellent job covering a much wider range of material than I would have thought possible in a 457 page book. However, as with all books, it comes with ups and downs.
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The good parts:
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Overall, this book introduces a wide range of concepts to a reader with little to no experience with networking. In the beginning of the book Mr. Odom starts by explaining exactly what a network is, and by the end he has introduced everything from VLANS to AAA. This wide range of material allows the reader to get a broad view of the networking landscape in a very short amount of time.
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I have always had one major problem with introductory networking books; the pictures have always been either non-existent or useless. Originally I started reading Cisco Press books because of their high quality illustrations and network diagrams, and they continue this tradition in Computer Networking first step. In areas there do seem to be a few too many pictures, but overall they are very well done.
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The bad parts:
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While I did enjoy Computer Networking first step, there were a few areas that did annoy me. The chief annoyance was the constant metaphors between networking and driving. While it worked quite well in the beginning of the book, it got tiresome after 457 pages. This constant reference to driving ended up confusing me more than helping me. This may partly be due to the fact that I already knew all of the material covered by the book, but it was irritating. However, networking is a very hard subject to introduce, and a metaphor to something that everyone can understand may be quite helpful to those who have never touched a network in real life.
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My second complaint really isn’t any fault of the book, but really the sheer amount knowledge needed for a proper introduction to networking. With such a wide range of material covered in 457 pages, nothing gets covered in any real depth. The entire chapter on network monitoring is 16 pages long, while I have read 500+ page books on the subject. So as long as one understands Computer Networking first step is an introductory book and doesn’t expect to be an expert, I would highly recommend it.
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