Rating: 
Summary: Why I wrote the book, and some corrections to this page
Review:
This book is based on a courses that I taught at the
Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India, at Columbia University, and at Cornell. My aim was to teach students why networks were built
the way they were. I wanted them to question every design decision, and to understand how these decisions would change if
we changed the assumptions.
By an engineering approach, I mean that one should begin by identifying the fundamental
constraints on a problem, make reasonable "real-world" assumptions, and then examine several alternative solutions,
trading off their pros and cons. An engineer recognizes that no solution is perfect, but that every solution represents a
particular trade-off between cost and benefit.
The second aspect of an engineering approach is to learn by doing. This book is meant to be used with implementation
exercises on the Internet and on the REAL network simulator. These exercises, which are available on-line at
Finally, unlike
other textbooks in the area, this book simultaneously studies the principles underlying the Internet, the telephone network,
and asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) networks.
For more details, see the web site
Note that the book no longer includes a CD ROM (we put the content on the web instead). Second, it should be available around May 10th
Rating: 
Summary: Can't Live without it!
Review: Anyone who is involved with networking or telecommunications will find this book invaluable. The author discusses how computer and telephone networks work through well thought out examples and why networks are built the way they are. Not only is this text a great for learning about networks but I use it as a reference again and again. This book is one of the most frequently used books in my library. A Must Have
Rating:
Summary: I wish I had written this book. This is a must have.
Review: Dr. Keshav has a real winner here. For each of the past 3 groups that I have been bringing up to speed in the communications area, I have bought a case lot of this book. I pass them out and suggest people read the first 3 chapters and scan the rest. They did and they did much better work. Many come back and say that they have enjoyed the latter chapters as much as the clear introductory ones. I left my last copy with a friend, and am about to order 3 more for my new group. The insights are apropos and very clearly illustrated. The prioritization is crisp and accurate. The text is easy to get through and very rewarding to both the crossover engineer and the instructor able to use help from a master.
Rating:
Summary: No desert rides: This one gets the butter out of milk.
Review: Dr.S.Keshav has brought out a style of times that helps us best understand the subject right at its nerve centre. Infact his approach "Engineering Approach" to help understand and appreciate the subject is what makes the difference. No other book has provided such a clarity and direct dive into the subject of networking technology. This review of mine is due two years and am glad having made it today.
Rating: 
Summary: Serious text for developers of networking devices
Review: I am a senior engineer for network security operations who enjoys learning about networking technologies. I read this book because it compares and contrasts telephone, Internet, and ATM networks. I also have a general interest in learning how networks operate. I concentrate on security, but I realize knowing more about networks in general helps my intrusion detection work. I strongly recommend reading this book if you develop or research networking products. Less focused readers will quickly become overwhelmed, as I was! Mr. Keshav states "the bulk of this book is written at a level suitable for first-year graduate students in computer science or electrical engineering." He is not kidding! While Mr. Keshav does an excellent job discussing technical material, the extreme level to which he takes explanations demands a very dedicated reader. I was happy enough to learn of the many trade-offs required for sound network device design. Once Mr. Keshav began illuminating exactly how some technologies work (with theorems, equations, and statistics), I began skimming. My favorite sections included chapters 1 through 4, the "basic" material introducing telephone, Internet, and ATM networks. Chapters 5 (Protocol Layering), 6 (System Design) and 7 (Multiple Access) were also good. Beyond chapter 7 (with some exceptions), I found the material deeper than the interest level I have as a security professional. Some may wonder about the relevance of a book written in 1996 to current networking practice. I believe the bulk of the text remains useful, since it uses technological examples to frame underlying design approaches. Furthermore, Mr. Keshav provides a way to think about networks by defining crucial terms and concepts in clear terms. These definitions are reinforced by excellent summaries, tables, and glossaries. "An Engineering Approach" provides an incredible number of answers to the "why" questions of telephone, Internet, and ATM networking. Other books will give mainly the "what" or sometimes "how." "What" is enough for doing daily admin, "how" is enough to improve network performance, and "why" is needed to build better networks. If you need all three levels, give Mr. Keshav's book a try!
Rating:
Summary: Serious text for developers of networking devices
Review: I am a senior engineer for network security operations who enjoys learning about networking technologies. I read this book because it compares and contrasts telephone, Internet, and ATM networks. I also have a general interest in learning how networks operate. I concentrate on security, but I realize knowing more about networks in general helps my intrusion detection work. I strongly recommend reading this book if you develop or research networking products. Less focused readers will quickly become overwhelmed, as I was! Mr. Keshav states "the bulk of this book is written at a level suitable for first-year graduate students in computer science or electrical engineering." He is not kidding! While Mr. Keshav does an excellent job discussing technical material, the extreme level to which he takes explanations demands a very dedicated reader. I was happy enough to learn of the many trade-offs required for sound network device design. Once Mr. Keshav began illuminating exactly how some technologies work (with theorems, equations, and statistics), I began skimming. My favorite sections included chapters 1 through 4, the "basic" material introducing telephone, Internet, and ATM networks. Chapters 5 (Protocol Layering), 6 (System Design) and 7 (Multiple Access) were also good. Beyond chapter 7 (with some exceptions), I found the material deeper than the interest level I have as a security professional. Some may wonder about the relevance of a book written in 1996 to current networking practice. I believe the bulk of the text remains useful, since it uses technological examples to frame underlying design approaches. Furthermore, Mr. Keshav provides a way to think about networks by defining crucial terms and concepts in clear terms. These definitions are reinforced by excellent summaries, tables, and glossaries. "An Engineering Approach" provides an incredible number of answers to the "why" questions of telephone, Internet, and ATM networking. Other books will give mainly the "what" or sometimes "how." "What" is enough for doing daily admin, "how" is enough to improve network performance, and "why" is needed to build better networks. If you need all three levels, give Mr. Keshav's book a try!
Rating: 
Summary: Poor layout and full of typos
Review: I can see that this book has gotten many good reviews, but i think it is THE WORST textbook I've ever had.
Layout is extremely unprofessional. (often insufficient whitespace, inline numbers, symbols, parens and italics, very often flipping back and forth because text and exercise questions reference (poorly drawn) diagrams on other pages) like this is an example of bad layout. heh.
Exercise questions are poorly worded. (like Ex 11.5, 14.3)
General errors in main text, figures and solutions. (like pg320 last paragraph, Example 13.2 on pg 402, Fig 11.4 on pg 299, solution for Ex 13.6 on pg 641)
Rating:
Summary: excellent reference for researchers & developers alike
Review: I don't have anything other than superlatives for this book. I would probably compare this with, say, "The C Programming Language" by Kernighan & Ritchie, which is an accepted C programming bible. The book is NOT painfully huge yet it makes the reader get the right intuition very easily on almost every topic in networking. Every concept either has either a) rigourous analysis b) references to where rigourous analysis could be found c) or both I particularly liked the "scheduling" chapter coz I had to read a couple of research papers on the topic, yet my basic intuition wasn't strong. In the next edition (if there is one planned), I would like to see concepts on GPRS, 3rd Generation Wireless Systems and even 4th generation IP-core cellular systems (ICEBERG research project at UC berkeley) considering that there are > 500 million cellphones worldwide and increasing at a much faster rate than Internet. Dr. Keshav, if you do read this, I would like to thank you for doing such a wonderful turn to the networking community by writing this terrific book.
Rating:
Summary: excellent reference for researchers & developers alike
Review: I don't have anything other than superlatives for this book. I would probably compare this with, say, "The C Programming Language" by Kernighan & Ritchie, which is an accepted C programming bible. The book is NOT painfully huge yet it makes the reader get the right intuition very easily on almost every topic in networking. Every concept either has either a) rigourous analysis b) references to where rigourous analysis could be found c) or both I particularly liked the "scheduling" chapter coz I had to read a couple of research papers on the topic, yet my basic intuition wasn't strong. In the next edition (if there is one planned), I would like to see concepts on GPRS, 3rd Generation Wireless Systems and even 4th generation IP-core cellular systems (ICEBERG research project at UC berkeley) considering that there are > 500 million cellphones worldwide and increasing at a much faster rate than Internet. Dr. Keshav, if you do read this, I would like to thank you for doing such a wonderful turn to the networking community by writing this terrific book.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: Keshav has produced an excellent book. You find yourself understanding the working of netwrok protocols like it's no big deal. A very good choice of examples too. It is a typical text book --it's dry. But that's the fault of the topic rahter than the author.
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