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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Lightweight textbook; lab material is dated, November 4, 2006
My instructor uses this as one of two textbooks for the Network Security course, primarily because there is an answer key for the chapter review questions. The book isn't bad, although I find it lightweight in comparison to the other text, Designing Network Security 2nd ed., by Merike Kaeo.
My biggest issue is that the lab material presented is woefully out of date, since this book was published in 2004. The principles of network security do not change radically in two years' time, but software certainly does!
I attend Illinois Institute of Technology, which is unique in that some programs mix graduate students and undergrad students in classes, with the expectation that graduate students perform at a higher level than the undergrads. IIT is also known for the [...], or Interprofessional Projects Program, which brings together students from engineering, science, humanities, business, architecture, psychology, law and design to solve many unique and useful problems.
As you can see, IIT encourages diversity and teamwork. My project team consists of myself (grad student with a good deal of experience) and three undergrads with varying levels of experience.
If one does not have a certain level of PC experience, doing some of the labs in this book without current instructions can be tedious, if not impossible for some people.
The official website has only two downloads for the book. One is a list of errata, dated July 2006. The other maps the textbook content to the LabSim content, which I suspect would be useful only if you purchased that option. My suggestion to the author is that he publish a quarterly update on the website with revisions to the labs in the textbook.
Regardless, I would not advise paying full price for this book, especially since the Security+ exam is going to be revised soon, from what I have been reading.
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Much better than the 1st edition, December 23, 2004
The 2nd edition of this book is a dramatic improvement over the 1st edition. This edition is written by a new author who appears to have much more experience in the field and has a better grasp of the certification objectives. It includes many important topics that are on the Security+ exam, but not covered in the 1st edition. His explanations are much better, his examples and analogies are well thought out. This is a good book for the classroom, and an OK book for the security novice who just wants to learn on his/her own. Some of the diagrams need improvement- they may confuse the reader and could be simplified. I think it could be organized a little better, but that may just be my personal taste. I was pleased to find very few errors, unlike the first edition, which I lost confidence in after the first couple of chapters.
The lab manual that goes with this book is still disappointing. There are only about 3-4 labs in the lab manual that are useful, the rest is just busywork. Not worth the money. This would be a much better series if the few useful lab exercises were added to the textbook, and the separate lab manual was dropped.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
If you buy this, you probably deserve to be slapped., November 26, 2007
Let me first say I own this book, and have read it cover to cover. It is garbage. A few "key concepts" in the Sec+ exam are barely even covered. In its defense, it is not as dry as many other technical books, but I'd take a dry book with some substance over a interesting book that teaches me nothing. Don't take my word for it though... look at the preceding reviews!
- "Incorrect "facts" and poor organization"
- "Lightweight textbook"(Is that really a plus? So is an empty notebook!)
- "...shouldn't be relied on as the only resource"
- "...only reason I bought this book is because it was for a class, otherwise I would have chosen a different book ...)
- "Not worth the money"
and the list goes on... Find a different book, not too many out there that won't beat this one!
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