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Rating: 
Summary: Waste of Money
Review: I am a patent attorney, and I read this book just as I was leaving a medical device company to work for a networking start-up company. This book is clear and concise, and it gave me an instant introduction into switching and networking. I liked it so much I recommended it to my husband, an engineer. He read this book as he changed from the computer industry into the telecommunications industry. This book allowed both of us to begin our new careers with a basic understanding of networking, and we have often referred back to it for clarification. We both strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in understanding networking. In fact, this book is also listed by many telecommunications companies as suggested reading for their employees.
Rating:
Summary: buzzwords only
Review: I found this book useless. The author obviously knows all the buzzwords but very little technical detail.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Rapid Technical Exposure
Review: Some people have dogged this book for being "buzzword compliant" and lacking in in-depth details. This book is NOT a cover-all book. It is 300 pages long. If it were filled with intimate details on every topic it covers, it'd easily be four to five times as large and would be out of date by now.
Part of this book's brilliance IS the fact that it is relatively short. It is a quick and to-the-point read. The author doesn't want to waste your time. The book provides exposure to many concepts and technologies and how they relate to each other. It, in essence, lets you know what you don't know so that you can do further research on what applies and/or is interesting to you.
As well, because it doesn't get into the specific nitty-gritty details of everything, it is more resilient to aging. In 2005, it is just as applicable as it was in 1999. As well, because concepts aren't vendor specifc, you'll find that the informationn covered in this book is applicable in many cases.
This book provides a solid foundation of knowledge upon which additional specific skills can be developed. I recommend this book for anyone who wants or needs to get a fast, functional understanding of networking, switches and protocols.
I award this book 4 stars instead of 5 because I feel the price is too high.
Rating: 
Summary: Building Switched Networks
Review: The author presents a decent overview in this book. The depth I was expecting was not present and so it was let down but to somebody who wants a overview this could be a good book. Hence 3 stars
Rating:
Summary: Waste of Money
Review: This book attempts to give an overview of Building Switched Networks. It might succeed in doing just that if it were not so poorly written. Sentence structure seem to be lost on this author and his editors. If only I could get back the time I've wasted muddling though this book, I'd be a very happy person. As to the technical competency of the book, the author is definitely buzzword 2.6 compliant. However, the meat just isn't there to back up the statements. Perhaps I've missed it. Perhaps the meat is cleverly disguised in the poor grammar and writing style.
Rating: 
Summary: Good broad survey
Review: This book is a good broad survey of current directions in networking products. It is a practical guide to options available to today's network administrators. The length and content are good. The order of chapters and sections is good. The book is very up-to-date with the latest industry developments presented clearly.
Rating:
Summary: Well written and easily understood
Review: This book provides an excellent overview of the current network technologies. I find it useful from the standpoint of being able to quickly get a good understanding of specific technologies that I am interested in. A good addition to any technical library.
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