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You generally can't pick up knowledge of Cisco products casually, the way you can learn about Microsoft Windows, Unix and other products that are more generally accessible. For this reason, Cisco: A Beginner's Guide performs a valuable service. It introduces Internet working novices to the language and fact base that underlie routers, switches, network protocols and the rest of the Internet's infrastructure. True enough, no book can teach you everything you need to know about a subject as complex as Internetworking, it does a great job of giving you the background you need to perform well in a class or do hands-on experiments intelligently. The book goes heavy on prose, enabling the reader to slowly absorb the truth about complex systems as the author lays a foundation of knowledge and proceeds to build upon it. Conceptual diagrams help drive home relationships among network devices, though a series of "blueprints" in the centre of this book suffer from being split down the middle by the book's binding--fold-outs would be far better. This is a superb book, one of the best around on Internetworking with Cisco. It would make an excellent first purchase for someone with ambitions to become a Cisco expert, as well as a fine "fundamentals" reference for more accomplished network engineers.--David Wall, amazon.com Topics covered: Internetworking from a theoretical standpoint, backed up by information on how Cisco products handle implementation (meaning, in part, that you get information on which Cisco lines and models are good for which jobs). Technically, readers get the goods on Cisco Internetwork Operating System (IOS), routers, switches, routing protocols and security. There's great information on the pantheon of Cisco certifications, too.
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