Book Review: "The Wireless Networking Starter Kit" Richard Forno www.infowarrior.org
19 January 2004 Copyright (c) 2004 by Author. "The Wireless Networking Starter Kit" Adam Engst and Glenn Fleishman (Peachpit, 2004) 530p Although a power user now, at one point in life - many moons ago - I was a computing novice. Even then, however, I shied away from how-to books on personal technology because they were either too simplistic (think of Microsoft "Bob"), overly complicated (think of Unix "man" pages) or otherwise very poorly written for the general reader looking for such entry-level help and hand-holding. Many times I was forced to learn things by trial-and-error -- not a bad way to learn computers, but certainly not the most efficient, either. Jump forward to 2004 and meet technology journalists Adam Engst and Glenn Fleishman. Their new "Wireless Networking Starter Kit" takes a very complex (and constantly-changing) topic and reduces it to bite-sized portions that readers of all levels can understand and learn from. They aren't just writers, they're consumer technologists with an outstanding understanding of the user experience (and lack of adequate vendor guidance) associated with today's technology. Even I learned a few new things from their musings, analysis, research, and clearly-presented how-to examples. The book focusses on the larger market of Macintosh and Windows users, but it's not difficult to apply their writings to the more geeky Unix environment, either. Readers beware: the "Starter's Kit" part of the book's title only refers to a percentage of the book's contents and overall value and worth to readers. Little, if anything, escapes the authors' mention. Whether it's to purchase and configure a wireless environment for the home or office for the first time, connect a cellular phone (from a variety of services and using competing protocols) to a laptop for the road warrior, learn how to secure wireless networks, or see what new products (e.g., wireless displays and cameras), services (e.g., VOIP), and international options (e.g., IPass) are available for the new or experienced wireless user, "The Wireless Networking Starter Kit" satisfies everyone, regardless of experience. Yet, to their credit, despite its depth of information, the book reminds me of any number of product documentation guides from the mid-1980s -- such as when Apple II and early Macintosh products were accompanied by thick, yet easily-digested manuals that used simple English, numerous (and quite helpful) screen-shots and a conversational style of presentation. In that regard, novices and pros alike will easily understand the many concepts, tools, technologies, and services presented in this book. New jargon, concepts, and technologies likewise are clearly explained - and not in the playschool-like manner characteristic of so many other modern how-to books - so readers are neither intimidated nor is their intelligence insulted. (How they can make interesting the dry history of the 802.11x protocol or concepts like network bridging is beyond me, but they do!) Especially helpful is that, given their backgrounds, the authors have exhaustively researched the wireless arena and, like a pair of literary Carnacs, are able to predict what follow-on questions - both easy and hard - a reader will have as they move through the book and provide useful answers accordingly in subsequent pages. As a power user, I was surprised by the number of times I smugly thought "what about X?" only to see X (and Y, and Z) addressed a few pages later. Granted, there are scores of how-to books available today. However, unlike feel-good books written for "dummies" or "idiots" this book deserves a prominent place on my geek reference bookshelf for its breadth and depth of useful information and the *very* readable manner that it's presented. Perhaps the "Starter Kit" in the title is a misnomer; were it up to me, I'd call it the "Best Damn Wireless Reference Guide Anywhere" and ship it with all new wireless products. # # # # # # Richard Forno is a Washington, DC-based security consultant and author of "Weapons of Mass Delusion" and O'Reilly's "Incident Response." His home in cyberspace is at http://www.infowarrior.org. -- You are a subscribed member of the infowarrior list. Visit www.infowarrior.org for list information or to unsubscribe. This message may be redistributed freely in its entirety. Any and all copyrights appearing in list messages are maintained by their respective owners.
