The Waite Group's Unix System V Primer

Rating:
Summary: A very useful, well written book
Review: Although I have been using UNIX for years, and have half a shelf of O'Reilly UNIX books on various subjects, I still keep coming back to the Waite Group's UNIX V Primer. The reason being that although it is not a deep treatment of any UNIX subject, it gives you the information you need to know to actually *do* something. Typically I will use it to remind me how to do something in Sed for example. Something that I don't use that often, and just need to see how to do one simple thing. Instead of hunting around in a more complete technical book, I can go to the primer and get quick no-brainer instructions on how to do it. The examples are clear and well illustrated and the writing is excellent. Highly recommended for novices and anyone who bumps into UNIX a fair bit but isn't an avatar.

Rating:
Summary: Great College Text
Review: I use this book in my classroom for the intermediate-level CS college student. It covers detail in a conversational way, giving the Unix novice a chance at absorbing such a complex operating system. While it has it's weaknesses (not much on shell scripting), it is certainly the "bible" of Unix books.