Rating: 
Summary: A solidly written book
Review: It is while reading chapter 1 "warm-up issue spotting scenario" that I suspect I will never have the time nor the intellectual capacity to become a CCIE. This book alternate between the roadmap, down-to-earth, but often joyless style of writing/teaching ( I suspect reading dictionary must have felt like that - which prompt me to put a similar feeling title to this review ), to the thought provoking, brilliant "spot the issue" at the end of most chapters ( Give me similar feeling when I read those past questions in Mathematica Olympic book ). It is not for beginner and every chapter will send you scrambling for other sources of supplementary reading materials to understand the fine point. This books is a must have for CCIE candidate, but I suspect you will have more joy reading Terry Slattery or Chris Lewis books. I personally would like to see this book expand into a series of probably 5 books - and take a candidate from beginner all the way to CCIE. So far, only this author appears to have the capability to do such impossible deed.
Rating: 
Summary: Too Old
Review: This book is too too old. It's a waste of money...
Rating: 
Summary: That was then, this is now...
Review: I started my CCIE lab studies with this book in 2000, it was an easy read and I really liked this book, specifically the Frame Relay section which still applies to today's lab. But, I had to put a hold on studies for a while.
I started my CCIE studies again in 2002 and passed the lab in 2003. During that time I glanced at this book for a total of 20 minutes. There are simply so many other books by CiscoPress that are better than this one, although, again, the Frame Relay section very well done. But certain sections, such as switching, token ring, and quite a few others simply don't apply anymore. Also, the Lab exam is so different now, with 3550's, QoS, Multicast galore, that this book falls of the required reading list.
I do think the author did a great job on this book initially, but it needs a facelift of major proportions.
Rating: 
Summary: Aged, but still a classic.
Review: Caslow and Pavlichenko have written quite possibly the definitive CCIE preparation book. Unlike most books in the field they focus not just on the relevant technologies, but also strategies for getting straight to the heart of the problems you will face both in the written and practical exams.The second edition is dated now. The written exam has changed as of August '02, with the practical test due to change in November '02, but this does not render the book completely out of date. No CCIE study guide pretends that it can cover the subject completely without other references, and this is no exception. If you keep an eye on the Cisco CCIE blueprint and supplement your reading with more specific tomes on the recent additions to the exam you will find the methodologies in this book become the core of your exam strategy. The 3rd edition of this book is currently being prepared and should be available by the end of 2002.
Rating:
Summary: Makes you think about *WHY* you're doing XYZ tasks
Review: This book certainly will not teach you the routing protocols in depth. It's not meant as a comprehensive book on different topics. Where it will help you is "WHY AM I configuring it with XYZ instead of ABC??" type of questions. It does have a great chapter on FR in general. When you should use 'frame map..' commands and what the implications are of using (relying on) inverse arp, for example. The "Can you spot the issues" are great tools to make you think about what you're doing.
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