Customer Reviews

Computer Networking First-Step

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Computer Networking first-step (ISBN 1-58720-101-1)
by: Wendall Odom

This book is very deceiving by the title. Computer Networking first-steps. At first glance you think this book is for people that have never been involved with this topic. However reading this book quickly dissolves your negative thoughts. I was really quite surprised at the detail presented in this book at a very easy to understand level. It can be used as a new learner book or an expert review book on the topic. The books author Wendell Odom is a very knowledgeable person with a gift of being able to present complicated material in layman terms and the author of a few other great titles. I'm impressed with his writing style and methods, I used his CCNA book a few years ago for my CCNA test, I recently read his DQOS book for another test I took, which is one of the reasons I chose this book to use as a review guide

Why should you read this book? I have a few reasons. First I let my computer illiterate Sr. VP of Operations read this book. His response was "thank you, now I finally understand some of what my engineers are talking about, and I can hold conversations and speak reasonably intelligently on the subject. The next reason is the book uses dinosaurs, cartoon characters and everyday examples that allow the reader to rapidly, learn easily and retain the material presented. This saves time in having to re-read the material multiple times to truly understand what the author is trying to say. I personally think this first-step series is a very smart idea to allow people new to any subject area to learn quickly in an entertaining environment.

My favorite things about this book are it is a medium sized book. The author presents things in order that builds on the previous chapter in order to help the reader follow along easier. The material is presented with enough material to help the reader gain knowledge and feel confident on what they just read. The last reason I like it is that it has everything form basic network concepts to more advanced topics, giving the reader a step up on a wide range of topics.

I plan on buying all the first-step series books to either quickly learn a new subject or to review long forgotten or seldom used information If only they had the CCIE first-step series, I would have passed my lab the first time.

If you need a fun, and proven way of learning anything in the IT field, I would highly recommend looking for it in the first-step series. The first-step series continues the awesome Cisco Press tradition of providing of getting knowledgeable authors to write outstanding books, which help people learn.



BW
Senior Network Engineer

In addition to my regular network engineering job, I am also a networking instructor at a local university branch campus. As such, I am always on the lookout for good analogies I can use in the networking courses I teach. When you explain networking to beginners, you really have to step back to the first principles ever so often, in order to make sure you have the basic in your head, as well as the complex. For this reason, I decided to check out Computer Networking First-Step (ISBN 1-58720-101-1) from Cisco Press. The first thing I noticed when I picked up the book was the author. I first discovered Wendell Odom a few years ago when I was recertifying my CCNA certification. I like how he uses examples and humor to explain concepts and has an easy, conversational style to his writing which makes it easy to read. With a lot of technical authors, reading their books can seem like a job, but not with Odom. I recommend everything he's written.

The book itself is substantial, at over 400 pages, and is priced quite reasonably, at just $24.95. It's broken down into 18 chapters which can each be read in a short sitting. Since each chapter encapsulates a single topic, you reach a feeling of accomplishment and completion at the end of each one. This is good for people new to computer networking. If you make the chapters too long, they can easily feel overwhelmed. These chapters are just right. In the intro, the book says that it is divided up into bite sized pieces for easy digestion. I thoroughly agree with that assessment.

The chapters are grouped together into sections covering networking basics, LANs, protocols, routing, WANs, and security. As you can see, the book covers a lot of ground. The thing that impressed me most was that at no point does it get overly technical. Odom picks an analogy (networks = roads) and sticks with it throughout the entire book. In the early chapters, it works perfectly. In some of the later chapters, it's a stretch, but he makes it work. I will be using the analogies from this book in teaching my beginning networking courses and would recommend it as a textbook, or at least as suggested reading for a freshman level networking course. I am also recommending this book to spouses of computer geeks (my wife, in particular). She's never really tried to understand what I do, saying that it's far too technical. I think the easy-to-read style and the bite-sized information may make this the book that gets my wife into networking. My son, who's an exceptional 2nd grader, has begun picking up this book during his reading time at night (the scary part is that he understands the material). While I don't recommend this book to the average 2nd grader, I do think that it could be used to help teach networking to middle and high school students. The review questions at the end of each chapter provide a good way for students to check their learning and the answers at the back of the book provide good explanations.

On my 5 ping rating scale, I give this book a rating of 5 pings.
!!!!!

You are ready for this book. If you are just beginning your career in the networking arena or are just thinking about networking this is the book to start off with. This is a very good first read book for an introduction to these networking topics. Wendell Odom gives you the basics. Wendell Odom takes the mystery out many things like terminology and gives you an easy to understand analogy to go along with the meaning. How many times have you wondered what one of those acronyms mean? Read this book and find out what some of those terms that you hear people throwing around mean. Reading through this book was fun and easy. Getting the knowledge that came with it is incredible. Have you ever asked yourself what is all of this networking stuff all about? Wendell Odom goes through the step by step process and shows you the start to the finish line. Connectivity and security are the end results that you want to have. This is a good introduction to those topics. You will want to learn more once you are finished with this book. Many of the industry concepts are in this book. He takes you from the point that you can connect to the network through the things that help keep your network safe and running. How things move through the and get from place to place. If you are looking for an easy to read book that gives you the information that you want. Here it is. Let this be the beginning of your advancement to greater heights. This is a good foundation to get you going and keeps your focus throughout the book. The novice will enjoy this book and the simple to understand terms and pictures. The review questions help solidify the topics that you just finished reading about. Everyone can use the knowledge in this book, even if you are not in the industry. It is a good collection of topics for the power user or someone who wants to know more about networking. Do yourself a favor and get this book and read it.

Just a brief comment. As a small business owner, I was needing to set-up a small LAN network within my office between three computers. While this is an excellent book for networking concepts...its not what I hoped.

I had hopes that it would also address common software applications, such as Microsoft Windows XP, as many of us out thre are using that software for small business networking. Well.....not a word.

So, while I gained conceptual knowledge in the book, I gained very little practical application. I returned the book. I hope, should you purchase it, that you are pursuing only the basic network design, and not software application help.

I originally bought the book because it had fairly good reviews, and I had a poor understanding of networking and how it actually works (although I've networked computers in my home and such). I'm a CS major so I find this stuff interesting, and needed a good place to start on networking since it is not my area of expertise.

I've been inspired to write a review of my experience with the book, partially in response to a long review stating that the book was rather verbose.

To start, this is an excellent book aimed at those interested in networking. Not 'how to set up a home network' or 'how to configure windows XP to network', but on the specifics of what networking actually is, how it came about, and how it works. It's a perfect first step, but also a big step in that you come out knowing more about how networks work than many people in computer fields (perhaps not IT professionals who network for a living).

The book is definitely taught using analogies and language that anyone familiar with computers will understand, yet vocabulary terms actually used are also defined and you learn them throughout the text.

The book is verbose, yes. Nevertheless, I think the way the book is written is very, very good. The truth is I read through the whole book in a week because I couldn't put it down. I would read 2-3 chapters a day. It's simply interesting, and the author makes the read enjoyable. If you shorten it and say 'there are networking standards that are a good thing', you not only are slightly limited in the fact that you do not truly consider how beneficial standards are, but you also would be very bored reading through a book that was written in such a manner. Instead, the author can be enjoyable, funny, and allows you to sit back and learn the material without forcing yourself to. You will find that you want to keep reading.

In contrast, I am interested in databases and database design. I have a book that is full of high quality concepts and material. It definitely covers everything I need to know. The problem is I am having the hardest time getting through the book. I have to force myself to read 10 pages. It's boring, even though the topic is interesting.

So while this book has some text that you do not need to read, there is a high chance you come out with more knowledge simply because you actually do get through the learning part of the material - you simply don't realize it until you're done with the book and realize how much more you actually understand.

The first few chapters are fairly basic. They discuss the internet and simple networking concepts that many people interested in this book will already know. Do not let this stop you, however, as a few chapters into the book you truly begin to hit the core of networking and understanding how it works - all of it. From the physical wiring, to the different methods of connecting, transfering, routing, sending, receiving, data...it's all there.

Therefore I truly recommend this book to anyone interested in the whole concepts of networking. If you are looking for a specific application of networking (windows xp configuration, only tcp/ip, etc), then get a different book. If you want to understand what networking really is - all of networking - then get this book. It's good, and chances are high you will actually finish the entire book unlike most other textbooks people purchase where you only finish a few chapters before you retire the book for 'reference' purposes only. The knowledge gained will put you exactly where you need to be to move onto more complex topics relating to specific areas of networking, and you will know what you want to look more into and already have a good foundation for the topic before you even begin.

In my opinion, there are way too many non-computer analogies. Odom seems to be writing for readers who are either young children or have never used a computer.

One Example from page 146: "Tale of Two Trunking Protocols: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times... whoops, wrong tale! Once upon a time, no VLAN trunking existed. So, Cisco created..." This should have been written: "Brief Trunking Protocol History: In the mid 1980s there was no VLAN trunking. So, Cisco created..."

Another typical example from page 38: "Now imagine that you brought a new lamp. You plug it in, and the light bulb instantly 'pops,' indicating that the light bulb is broken. You put in a new bulb and it doesn't light up. You decide that the lamp must be broken, so you bring it back to the store and replace it with an identical lamp. When you get it home, the same things happens to this lamp. Finally, you call customer service and explain your problem. Now imagine this response: `Oh, you bought our special `We light up your life' model of lamp. It uses the same kind of power cord you are used to using, but it requires less electrical voltage, saving you money. If you read your instructions for the lamp, you will see that it directs you to get an electrician out to your house to rewire and change the voltage coming out of the sockets you want to use for the lamp. Also, note the disclaimer in the instructions: `If you plug this lamp into a normal wall socket, the extra voltage will fry the lamp, and it will no longer light up your life.' So, go get a new lamp at the store and get your wall socket changed!' If you're like me, you would return to the store to get your money back and buy a lamp made by some other company." Odom actually spent the two prior paragraphs, this one, and the following paragraph to make a simple point, which is simply `There are networking standards'. A full page & a half to say absolutely nothing more than `There are networking standards'.

Odem uses roads, the post office, flintstones characters, etc. analogies at the start of each subject, and co-mingled within the important material. This finally got to me on page 146. Unfortunately I still have another 300+ pages of these distractions left to the end of the book. I will skim the rest of this book because I really want & need a good basic understanding of networking. I just don't need Odom's attempted humor and entertainment. It is distracting and a waste of my limited time.

Odom could seriously cut out half or three fourths of this book and still cover the subject just as well. Or he could put these non-computer analogies it in sidebar boxes (so everyone over the age of 10 can skip it). He should rewrite the whole book. This is exactly the material I wanted to read about, but Odom has made it twice as hard to get at it.

The perspective of this review is: I am an intermediate to advance computer user with a little programming background, but almost no network experience or knowledge. If I was a complete newbie to computers, then I might have given a slightly higher rating. So my main point is that if the material is easy enough for a prior reviewer's (Rich Hill) 2nd grade son (probably age 7 or 8) to understand, then it is probably too easy to be time efficient for an adult with any computer background at all. Therefore the same material could have been covered with a lot fewer pages, in less time, and be more efficient for an intelligent adult.

To be fair, the drawings are well done & mostly helpful, and there is a lot of good material here, so I gave it 2 stars. I honestly believe anyone who has managed to graduate from highschool and ever used a computer is too advanced for this book. If you want to know about computer networking and value your time at all, then Don't Buy This Book. This book will waste your valuable time.

Computer Networking first-step (Cisco Press, 2004, isbn 1-58720-101-1, $24.95) by Wendell Odom fills a long standing void for a truly introductory book which can be read and understood by anyone in less than a month. There are other excellent publications in Computer Networking (e.g. classics by Kurose and Ross, Stevens, Tannenbaum, Comer, and Cisco Press CCNA and CCNP companions, etc) but they all embody different degrees of complexities and typically need at least one college semester to go over. What about those who do not have the time or inclination to spend a semester in a computer science class? Odom's book might be the answer.
When I am sitting in front of a computer in San Francisco and exchanging email with a friend in New Delhi, or we are chatting using MSN or Yahoo! Messenger program, there is a mind-boggling array of transformation of data between the sender and the receiver. All our analog data (speech, type face, etc) is transformed to digital data (binary digits of 0 and 1.) We are analog creatures but the infrastructure for computer communication on which we are so hopelessly dependent is strictly digital. This infrastructure is responsible for various layers of encapsulation/decapsulations, encoding/decoding, etc to move the data through a "cloud" of intermediary hubs, switches, and routers (the "cloud" is a black box to us) and establish communication between the end users. The rules (or protocols) at different layers are complex enough, and to make matters worse, the rules inside a Telco network through which our data travels can be very different from the rules in our LAN data network (the Telco network is usually a black box to the data communication folks.) Breaking this highly complex phenomenon to smaller, simpler constituent parts is what this book is about.
This book is 515 pages long and is divided into 18 chapters. Odom starts by defining a network in terms of its constituent elements, and goes on to explain how three blind guys - the Server Guy, the Cabling Guy, and the Network Guy - perceive the Network "Elephant". The authors and the editors have tried hard to explain abstract concepts with real life examples; for example, they tell us how to how to eat a dinosaur (OSI 7-layer model) versus how to eat an elephant (tcp/ip 4 layer model.) The whole narration takes place in terms of the human experience of fictitious characters named Fred, Wilma, Barney, Betty, Keith, Conner, Larry, Archie, Bob, and Hannah, etc who internalize the electronic data communication protocols into their own behavioral model. This tactic makes for easy reading by helping us understand the unfamiliar in terms of the familiar. Many newcomers to networking get discouraged by the learning curves for OSI and tcp/ip, and quit before getting to LAN and WAN. The author addresses this concern by strictly focusing on the concepts and leaving the details out for another day.
Odom's description of LAN as roadway and sharing of the local roadway through hub to find destinations is easy to follow. The rules to follow on the roadway cover wrecks, and also how to recover from the wrecks. His description of WAN as leasing hundreds of miles of network cable drives home the basic concepts. Hosts file is explained as a phone book, and AAA as a means to allow the right people and keep out the wrong people. Under the veneer of lightheartedness Odom manages to sneak in the concepts ranging from 4-wire WAN circuit to 802.1Q trunking, VLAN to VPN.
This book introduces many contemporary networking concepts, and would have been more complete with a chapter on wireless networking and VOIP. The diagrams are uncluttered and easy to follow for reinforcing the concepts. The index is manageably short but to the point. The best thing going for the book is its relaxed, you-can-do-it tone. However, this is not for everyone, certainly not enough for anyone seeking IT certifications. If you are looking for a conceptual understanding of computer networking to untangle the underlying mystery, read this book. I think this is a great text for high school students, home computer users, and even computer professionals who do not deal with networking in their daily work. If you are looking for details about networking standards (necessary for any certification test), find a more advanced text.

Disclosure: As an instructor at a Community College I get educational books from various publishers for review.

Simply put, this book is well-written for learning the basics of networking. This books clearly breaks down everything you would need to know and uses real life examples for clarification. I was enrolled in an introductory networking course and learned nothing compared to what I've learned since reading this book. Now that I've completed this book, I've moved on to the TCP/IP first-step book.

Computer Networking first-step (ISBN 1-58720-101-1)
by: Wendall Odom

This is by far the best beginners book on networking Ive read. Anyone interested in starting or just beginning a career in the networking field should read this book. The chapters are broken down into easily digestible sections that are easy to understand even for the novice. I liked the way that Wendall used common comparisons throughout the chapters to describe how networking functions, such as comparing ip functionality and networking in general to the postal service and how they do shipping. The ip routing and subnetting chapters are not as confusing as other books Ive read, even though all of the details of subnetting and routing arent covered in detail, there is more than enough information for even a beginner to grasp the concept of subnetting and routing quite easily.

I liked the way that Wendall takes the reader from the very basics of networking, such as how hubs and switches works to routing, wan connectivity and even touching on security.
The appendixes has a very good dictionary of terms that can be very useful for someone new to the field. The question and answer sections for each chapter were also very useful in that they helped me to remember the material I had just read.

Overall this book would be a perfect addition to any networking library, the only thing I would have added, would have been a CD containing a larger question answer section.

I have been in desktop support for 8 years and knew bits and pieces of the network. At least enough to be able to do my job efficiently. It is an older book but it did really help fill in alot of gaps in knowledge that I had. As far as actually telling you how to configure a router or switch, it will not. But should help with understanding the concepts so that you can start learning practical applications. I now feel ready to get deeper into the general topics that this book covered.