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Rating: 
Summary: Does what it's supposed to... Make you pass!
Review: Bottom line, folks. I passed with 885.The text was very well written. It treated some topic (like VLSM) with a few pages, but I got everything I needed to pass the test. I would have given it 5 stars, but there were some glaring typos and errors that made studying a bit more challenging. Overall, I think that's the best book on the topic right now.
Rating: 
Summary: Where have all the proofreaders gone??!!
Review: Holy lack of proofreading Batman!! I've used dozens of other books to complete the MCSE, CCNA, and a few Solaris certifications. This one is definitely a contender for the most confusing and erroneous. A novice like me should not catch 100+(still on page 268) errors in a book written by a CCIE. This book might well have been proofread by an intelligent monkey. Imagine trying to learn complex topics while coping with misinformation, obvious contradictions, mislabeled diagrams, diagrams that don't pertain to the referring text, incorrect commands, incorrect syntax, etc, etc !! I don't even know what I think I learned is true! It's too bad nobody took the time to read it over before it went to the press. They often do a good job distilling key concepts. I, too, plan to ask for a refund and for part-time job proofreading future works. The errors I've found after only 10 hours of reading easily cost them a few stars. I think the positive reviews here are from folks already fairly knowledgeable with Cisco routing. True, computer and networking books tend to be fraught with errors, due to the greed of publishers trying to be first to press. This one though is definitely a standout.
Rating: 
Summary: Great study aid to use with official BSCN course material!!
Review: I bought this book three weeks before I took the course, and it helped me a lot in understanding the complex topics of the BSCN exam (multi-area OSPF, BGP). I feel these actually should belong to their own specific course as the instructor kind of rushed over them in 2,5 day. This book was really helpful in getting the grasp of the essentials and the concepts are explained in a very clear matter. I find the Cisco manual to be really over-worded (page filling!) and therefore dig the down-to-earth approach of this book. It's true that there are typo's but that's clearly the reviewers responsibility (or lack of it..) and flaming the authors here seems inappropriate to me. I downloaded the errata from ccprep.com and added them to the text. What's left are some minor errors, but nothing that keeps me from sleeping well!! :-) Good work -> 5 starts from me! Diane. (ps: exam scheduled in december :-o )
Rating:
Summary: Doesn't make you an expert, but more than enough to pass.
Review: I found the book extremely helpful in terms of clearly explaining the overview of the concepts to be studied. But it was lacking in down & dirty detail and as many people have pointed out was filled with typos and other errors. Using it together with the Cisco Press book really worked for me. If the typos are fixed, great, but I still wouldn't count on it as the only book to study from.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't use this as the SOLE book you study from!
Review: I found the book extremely helpful in terms of clearly explaining the overview of the concepts to be studied. But it was lacking in down & dirty detail and as many people have pointed out was filled with typos and other errors. Using it together with the Cisco Press book really worked for me. If the typos are fixed, great, but I still wouldn't count on it as the only book to study from.
Rating:
Summary: Doesn't make you an expert, but more than enough to pass.
Review: I only gave this book 4 stars because of the numerous typos. Bottom line is, it's an easy read--a much easier read than the Sybex book or the Cisco Press. If your goal is to pass the BSCN, and if you want a book that's straight forward, with the authors not trying to impress you with unnecessary technical mumbo jumbo, then this is your book. With this book, and the study questions from cheet-sheets.com, you're sure to pass. I passed with an 816 only reading this book once, reading two chapters a week. Just remember, you only need 690 to pass. Good luck.
Rating: 
Summary: What happened?
Review: This book was written by a CCIE? Please Please Please tell me he is hiding under a table right now! I cannot believe the problems with this book. I read the book and was given the class last week. After reading the book I thought I knew BGP so I could teach a class on it. Haaa...NOT! Most of what I learned in the book was false. The commands I learned won't work. And the output on the true output on the routers contradicts the book. All in all, I can't believe a publisher would put out a book of such POOR quality. Has McMillan ever heard of the word "Technical Editor"?
Rating:
Summary: Most error prone book I've seen!
Review: This is the most error ridden of all the many books I've used to achieve MCSE,CCNA,CCDA and CCNP certs. I'm upgrading my CCNP to 2.0 and so have already completed the former ACRC test. But, if I had no prior knowledge of this material, I would still know it was flawed because of the contradictions in this tome. BIG mistake buying this book!
Rating:
Summary: Awful...
Review: Thomas M. Thomas and his co-authors did a very poor job this time. When I studied for the BCMSN exam, I was glad to have a copy of the McGraw-Hill book, but this one seems to be nothing but a quick shot, published before the others do. Very rarely, I read a book containing such a huge amount of errors. Fortunately, many of them are such obvious that you have to notice them at once; and not all of them can be presumed to be errata (or at least, they shouldn't be). For example, a multicast address of 2214.0.0.10 (!) was stated, and you will be presented a chaotic mixing of hyphenated and non-hyphenated commands which you will surely be asked to keep apart in the exam. Some chapters as those covering (I'd better say: not covering) EIGRP or BGP are much too short because many topics - as route maps - are almost completely omitted. After all, I would recommend to read the Ciscopress book instead to be sure you get all the information needed.
Rating:
Summary: 2nd Printing
Review: Well it is obvious that I have the newest printing (purchased December 00) Mt. Thomas has obviously taken reader comments to heart and fixed every problem in their errata so the printing I have is excellent. I think that this book is excellent and I look forward to passing my test next month.
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