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Rating: 
Summary: It contains more problems than are acceptable.
Review: As computers increase in power and capability, they are becoming more and more like a household appliance. Like the television set, when they first appeared there was at most one to a house. That has now changed, as many families have several computers, sometimes one for each family member. At this time, there are fourteen computers in my house that service the five inhabitants.
The combination of this change, a drop in price of the connection hardware and easier to use networking software has led to many people networking their household computers together. In many cases, this is also economical , as it allows for resources such as printers to be shared. However, networking computers is quite different from using standard application software or programming, so anyone who wants to build a network will most likely need some assistance. That is the primary audience for this book, although anyone considering a career in computer networking will also find it a suitable primer.
All of the basics are covered and then some, as many of the protocols that drive networking are also briefly examined. Additional topics include hosting a web site, working with applications loaded on a network server, protecting your data and an initial foray into network security. True to the title, none is covered in any great depth, but there are many pointers to other Que books that contain additional material on the topic.
Unfortunately, a lot of the material is outdated. Networking is an area changing as fast as the mother of all networks, namely the Internet, and a book being somewhat behind the curve is inevitable. However, this one is more behind than it should be. There are errors, something that is also unavoidable, but the number in this book exceeds what is generally considered acceptable.
Networking computers is a skill that has filtered down to the home, after starting at a very high esoteric plane. These changes have led to a demand for basic books in networking, a condition that this book satisfies, but only to a point.
Rating: 
Summary: Out-of-date
Review: Bad written and full of mistakes - an example :Chapter 7 - Working with Novell Netware "NetWare does not provide DNS or DHCP services. These network services, if required on the network, must be provided by a server running some other NOS." This guy knows nothing about Netware - since 1998 Netware has built-in DNS and DHCP servers. If you want a real good begginners guide go to : Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach Featuring the Internet by James Kurose and Keith Ross (ISBN 0-201-47711-4) Its really an excellent source of information for beginners
Rating:
Summary: Spend Your Money Elsewhere
Review: Currently, I hold an MSCIS with emphasis in wide-area network (WAN) technology, and I was given the book as a gift nearly a year ago. About five days ago, I opened the book and began reading through the pages. I read the book from front to back, and I found many errors in the writing as well as difficult-to-grasp explanations that were not completely accurate. Additionally, Chapter 13 leaves the reader confused to say the least. Was the book intended to teach basic networking concepts or hypertext markup language (HTML) coding for beginners? In the same chapter, the reader is left wondering if he/she purchased a book on website design methods and techniques rather than networking. In my humble opinion, the book is not one that should be read by someone seriously interested in obtaining a higher degree in the field of networking as a subset of the information technology major of study. For one who knows nothing about information technology and recently purchased a computer, it might seem to be a wholesome read, but from my standpoint, I would preferred to have spent the time reading something a bit more substantial in both quality and content. Lastly, most end users rarely utilize the command shell, commonly referred to as the command prompt, to complete any task in the graphical user interface (GUI) environments of contemporary operating systems, so discussing ping and other such utilities does nothing to boost the learning curve of the beginner. If the book is given as a gift, then take my advice, donate it to the public library and ask for a tax deduction slip.
Rating: 
Summary: Good entry level material...
Review: Review
I'm the type of developer who really doesn't know much about the networking side of things. I can follow instructions OK, but when you start talking about subnet masks and DHCP, you lose me quickly. While I don't want to become a networking engineer, I do want to understand a bit more about the technology. To that end, I read through this book. Good reading... The book starts with the basics of networks and protocols. From there, you will learn about the different types of networks (peer-to-peer and network operating systems), and how you can set up networking with three major NOS packages. With that basic foundation in place, the author branches out into how networking works with the Internet. Finally, the topic of network security is covered in order to be able to keep yourself safe. The material is a good mix of explanation and usable instructions. For example, if you are setting up Linux to work in a networked environment, you can use the information in this book to help you get it set up and running. There are a number of Tip and Note sidebars that add additional information (such as disk partitioning on Linux) that may not be exactly network related, but is important information to know within the context of networking. Each chapter ends with an "Absolute Minimum" section that recaps the chapter with a number of bullet points that were covered. Some people might find the cutesy graphics a bit too much. But remember, this is a beginner's book, not a comprehensive "how to" for running your network. Conclusion
If you are looking for an understandable introduction to networking that doesn't assume you want to become a certified networking engineer, this book will work well for you.
Rating:
Summary: Don't waste your money on this
Review: The book speaks of being up to date with DOS 3.2, and advanced users with Windows 3.1, hard drives of super size 250 Meg. Gimme a break. Why are they still selling this outdated book? Far from being an introduction to networks, the writer quickly plunges into complex subjects far beyond the scope of an introduction, leaving the reader wondering what is happening. The only thing this book indicates is that the author was employed in the computing field and that the author is neither a writer nor an instructor.
Rating:
Summary: Very very poor checking
Review: This book looked fine to me in the store but very shortly after I commenced to read it I discovered that it was obviously a rush job and very little care seems to have gone into checking it. Chapter two makes reference to material thats supposed to be in Chapter one but isnt while theres reference to stuff within Chapter two as being in chapter two (sorry it thats a bit complicated:) but it is obvious that this has just been cut and pasted in the revision from a later chapter. Given the poor quality of the checking it would make me lose confidence in the technical side of things. How can you trust a book where the poor quality of checking and proofreading is so obvious?
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty Easy to Follow
Review: This was probably an excellent book when it was published, but as previous reviewers noted - as early as 1997!!! - this book is woefully outdated. Imagine my consternation upon finding that this was the required textbook for a college "Introduction to LANs" course I took last fall (2000)! This book is helpful, up to a point, but there must be newer books out there that would be even more useful.
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