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LINUX Book Reviews

The Linux Kernel Primer
I've been less than happy with other kernel books I've read. Admittedly, it's a difficult subject: there's a lot to cover, and you really need quite a bit of programming and general Unix knowledge before you could even consider jumping into this area.
Thursday, 13th October 2005

Linux Cookbook Second Edition
When this book fell out of its shipping envelope, it made quite a thunk as it hit my desk. No wonder: at almost 800 pages, this is quite a chunk of reading material.
Wednesday, 3rd August 2005



Moving to Linux (Second Edition)
The first edition of this had some less than stellar reviews at Amazon, but must have sold well enough to deserve a second edition. It may be that some people just don't like Marcel's chatty style; his "Cooking with Linux" column at Linux Journal has attracted some complaints also.
Wednesday, 3rd August 2005

Performance Tuning for Linux Servers
I'm trying hard to like this more than I do. It's not that there isn't good stuff in here; there is. But I just can't get excited about it. Maybe it's the fact that there are so many different contributors. The editors have done a more than reasonable job of tying it all together to try to make it more monolithic, but..
Wednesday, 3rd August 2005

Peter van derLindens Guide to Linux
This is a smooth and easy to read guide to a somewhat controversial Linux distribution. Oh, sure, much of it would be valuable for any Linux, but its focus is Linspire (nëe Lindows), the distro that sometimes attracts sneers and strong censure from more sophisticated Linux users.
Wednesday, 3rd August 2005

Point and Click Linux!
I groaned when I first looked at this book. First, there's that exclamation point in the title. Bitter experience has taught me that an exclamation point usually means something I am not interested in. Second, there are "Easy to follow videos on DVD" included with the book.
Wednesday, 3rd August 2005

Linux Application Development
If I had to pick one word for this book, I'd choose "thorough". Give me the luxury of a few more and I'd add "sumptuous", "enthralling" and maybe even "riveting".
Wednesday, 3rd August 2005

Understanding Open Source and Free Software Licensing
I honestly didn't think I'd find this as interesting as I did. As important as licenses are, an annotated listing of them didn't sound like anything I wanted to flop back on the couch with. However, the author has managed to make this both interesting and educational.
Wednesday, 3rd August 2005

Linux Server Hacks
wasn't as enamored of this as were some other reviewers. I wasn't completely unhappy, I don't have any real dislike or serious complaints, but I wouldn't give it the near 5 star rating that Amazon has for it.
Wednesday, 3rd August 2005

Optimizing Linux Performance
I found a lot to like here, but I do need to complain about a few things. We'll do the good stuff first: there's excellent attention to detail often overlooked in performance books, the explanations are clear and illuminating, and the case studies are well done and quite interesting.
Tuesday, 2nd August 2005