Karl F. Larsen wrote in a message to Mike Bilow:
KFL> Rick from our Linux User Group bought a few books on
KFL> Linux and decided "A Practical Guide to Linux", Mark G.
KFL> Sobell, 1997 was best. I tried Walden Books but they had to
KFL> order it. I bought it for $39.95 but it took 5 days to get
KFL> to New Mexico.
This is actually a Linux-specific revision of a classic book by the same author
which has been used for years as a standard Unix college textbook.
KFL> It has 1.000 pages. It has a forward from Linus Torvalds.
KFL> It has 4 chapters on Shells and shell programming. It is
KFL> very well written in plain english. All the jargon of Unix
KFL> and Linux is discussed in plain english. There are questions
KFL> at the end of every Chapter.
Personally, I think that Sobell's book is not a good choice for a first book,
since the newbie user is usually a year or so away from worrying about how to
write shell programs. In general, Sobell assumes that the reader has some
nodding familiarity with using Unix, although the book certainly can be used as
a bare introductory text.
Some of the free books in the LDP ("http://metalab.unc.edu/mdw/ldp.html") are
very good and should not be overlooked, especially Matt Welsh's "Installation
and Getting Started Guide" and Larry Greenfield's "Linux User's Guide."
KFL> Linux in a Nutshell has all the information in a great
KFL> resource format. No explanation, but here it is. Of course
KFL> you need to know what your looking for. This book tells you
KFL> why you need it.
I have doubts that "Linux in a Nutshell" will tell you any more than the man
pages on the console, and in a less convenient format.
KFL> A person who reads the book and does all the home work
KFL> will be properly trained to sysop a Unix computer system at
KFL> some company.
I strongly disagree with that. Sobell, in particular, does not touch upon
system administration or networking in any serious way. His focus is on
teaching the reader how to be a shell power user, a reasonable thing but hardly
training for employment. My concept of the target niche for Sobell's book is
the non-computer academic who needs to use Unix to do some sort of serious
scientific or engineering research work.
Another book worth mentioning, if someone wants to take it a little further, is
"Unix Power Tools" from O'Reilly, which is in many ways what their "Linux in a
Nutshell" should have been.
-- Mike
