Rating: 
Summary: look for a better book; Cs. didn't even name the authors.
Review: after using this book in the netacademy, it was helpful but I don't look back at it with a good memory. I remember it's faults - the glossary that left terms out. Cisco should have editted the text and cirrculum better before sending it. There are graphics that don't make a point - they sometimes don't put together the same information the text gives. First Yr Guide 2nd edition, pg 180 for instance, fig. 5-19 says to use a straight through cable when both ports are designated with 'x' but the correct caption should say "crossover cable". This is just after the text defining the pinout of the 2 RJ-45 connectors in a crossover cable are different from each other. Lots of other errors and shortfalls make this frustrating and disappointing.
By comparison Wendell Odom is a better writer and his Cisco books are a joy. Maybe the 2004 netacad books are better too.
Rating: 
Summary: Poor quality official CISCO text book
Review: Am I the only one to have noticed that this 2nd edition has not been proof read? How can this book warrant three stars?The much vaunted accompanying CD does not include any of the first year material! Order a new one at the official CISCO site and it takes 3-4 weeks (duplicate requests are deleted). Not much help when you are in the sixth week of a ten week CISCO course. The only thing that CISCO cannot transfer/FTP on a CISCO system apparently is the information missing from a CISCO CD, I know I asked them. As for the proof reading there are repeated ends of paragraphs, incorrect illustrations, but worse than that there are errors of fact, including exam answers. Not very helpfull when you are trying to get to grips with networking. It is possible to see the number of errata on the CISCO website they have also sent me a Word document five pages long, however it still doesn't cover all of the errors. Chapter eleven is a prime example with an important missing illustration, and text that says when sending an ARP Request that the MAC address is set to all binary 1's? And this is the only authorised text book!
Rating: 
Summary: Good study supplement to the Cisco Networking Academy course
Review: As a companion piece to the Cisco Academy curriculum this book will supplement the student's understanding of the classroom material. It provides additional information in a more detailed form than the on-line curriculum and therefore may enhance the student's ability to grasp some of the more complex elements such as subnetting.
Rating: 
Summary: Adentrandose en el mundo del Internetworking.
Review: El título de Vito Amato, "Academia De Networking De Cisco Systems : Guia Del Primer Año", no solo es un libro de aprendizaje, sino tambien de consulta. El nivel pedagojico es muy bueno, dando ejemplos de los temas que se tratan en el libro con elementos cotidianos. El libro se divide en 19 capitulos, donde se ven desde los temas más básicos de electróica, hasta configuración de routers Cisco. El título presenta varias prácticas para laboratorio, cuestionarios de repaso y un CD-ROM con utilitarios y bibliografía. Muy recomendable para quién se inicie en el mundo del internetwork.
Rating:
Summary: Good for reviewing course material, bad CD for Mac
Review: I am a student in Cisco's online academy program. Though this book was not required for my course, I found the online material too hard on the eyes. The book contains nearly identical material to the online course. The main benefit is the review questions at the end of each chapter, which are more extensive and consistent with the chapter testing material than the online quizzes. The book is worth purchasing for these reasons. As for the CD, I am much less satisfied with it. My primary complaint is that it is NOT compatible with Apple computers (so I can't use it at home). Because my course is not as lab intensive as it should be, the CD is vital. I use it at school on a Windows machine, but because I do not have administrative access, cannot view the Movies program. If you have an Apple computer, you may want to purchase some additional software programs that will work on your computer. I hope that Cisco will rectify this issue in upcoming editions.
Rating:
Summary: Good content, but too many mistakes!
Review: I found the book to contain excellent content, especially for the first year of Cisco training. I wouldn't mind if they skipped the chapter on Computer Basics, most people should have covered this in another class. The book does not get very advanced, but of course, it is the first year companion and is not meant to be. One reviewer mentioned that the book contains chapters devoted to Cisco router configuration and Cisco specific chapters, of course it does, the book was published by Cisco Press as a study guide for Cisco routers. The drawbacks to the book are that there are too many typos, incorrect diagrams, text references to listings & diagrams that are mislabeled, etc. The most disappointing part is that the text refers to the movies on the CD to help you understand the concepts, but the movies don't exist. I sent an e-mail to Cisco inquiring about the missing movies from the CD, but never received an answer. Also, the practice labs are pretty slow to start up. Overall, the book was very helpful if you disregard the misprints and get over the missing practice questions and movie clips from the CD. I expected more from Cisco Press and would expect a third edition to be out soon to replace this one.
Rating:
Summary: Very Good. Just not perfect.
Review: I found the content within this book is an excellent aid to the CCNA online courseware (version 2.1). Further, without this book I would be unable to study all the material offline, because courseware (version 2.1) is designed to restrict printing. The book doesn't follow the courseware, chapter to lesson; but the order is still the same, and the contect is mostly word for word. The Flash Card software, found on the CD, tests your knowledge, and when you fail a question the software directs you to the chapter where you need to review. This software can be downloaded for free from Cisco. The courseware movies, also found on the CD, are the same found online. Having them on the CD reduces the time waiting for the download to complete. The Additional content found after the chapters can aid in your training, and is not easily found anywhere within the online courseware. If you want these resources, you'll need this book. Be warned, there is a great difference in courseware between version 1.0 and 2.0 (version 2.1 is a cleaned up and slightly modified revision of 2.0). If you are taking the version 1.0 course, this book will not follow your training as well as you might want.
Rating:
Summary: Very comprehensive presentation
Review: I have not yet gone through this book thoroughly, but did get a chance to review it fairly well. This book provides very good and accurate content, although the slant of interpretations is per Cisco. There are chapters devoted specifically to Cisco router configuration, as may be expected. This book could be used as a good general networking text if the Cisco specific chapters were skipped. I like the format and content, but would have liked a little more information on configuring a network OS such as Windows or UNIX. Seems to be the best book for use in the Cisco Academy program.
Rating:
Summary: Cisco Networking Academy Program : First-Year Companion Guid
Review: I have rated this book as 1 star because I thought that the second edition would have all the 'bugs' sorted out. I have no issue with the content of the book itself, this is excellent. What I do have a problem with is that the book promises wonderful things from the companion CD. It is meant to contain interactive e-Labs(which it does), CCNA practice questions(which it does not!) and movie clips which relate to sections in the book(which it does not)!!!! Not Happy!!!!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: A must have for novice networking students.
Review: I myself am a novice-networking student. Having known little about the details of networking, this book has been instrumental in my high test scores. It is clear and concise, although there are some errors in this book; I highly recommend it for each networking student.
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