Click for: Non-Technical Books <<==new reviews as of: 2 November_2000
Technical / Computer / Network books for learning about new & existing technology (updated 22_April_2002):
Y2k Risk Management [Contingency Planning, Business Continuity, and Avoiding Litigation] (by: Goldberg, Davis, Pegalis; ISBN: 0-471-33352-2; published by: Wiley) This book caught my eye because we're in that mode of Contingency Planning- and it has several chapters devoted to this task - I have captured much of what it talks about in my "issues_list" which you can find by clicking the link that says "issues_list" under my "Year2000 Status" page at: ../MiscDocs/y2kstats.html Again, though, the whole concept of Contingency Planning is based on the Disaster Recovery Planning process, and this book also delves into the intricacies of that. However, there is a large part of the book that deals with financial & other issues which are not particularly relvant to our environment. BUT they do prove to help one understand Year2000 Risk Management in a much larger context - which is interesting & refreshing to get that "Big Picture" viewpoint after focusing almost solely on the Systems, Networks, Telecomms & sometimes facilities issues for so long. - a good read -
Web-Based Network Management (by: Harler; ISBN: 0471-32739-5; published by Wiley) This book has a couple of short - introductory chapters about what "web-based-Network Managment means (getting a High-Level (abstract) view means - and how many of the tools available today allow you to not only "monitor" (as in collect data, massage it & generate both statistics & reports/graphs, BUT these tools allow you to "manage" - change, modify, update, enable, disable, etc. remotely the many systems, devices, switches, routers, etc. in your network. The second part of the book is a brief outline of about 15-20 different products available in the market-place that will help you with different aspects of your Network Monitoring & Management tasks - and a review of each with strengths & weaknesses thrown in...
XML: Extensible Markup Language (by: Harold; ISBN: 0-7645-3199-9; published by: IDG Books (has a CD-ROM)) I've been doing "SGML" since way back about the time that FrameMaker was introduced (and I got a free copy of FrameMaker 2.1 on my first NeXTstation (monochrome(when FrameMaker was only Black & White)), and that was about 1992 or so - if I remember correctly. Now that we have HTML (a subset of SGML) but things on the net are growing VERY RAPIDLY, we need more ability to manipulate both the content as well as the format. HTML tags are only formatting tags, and the struggle to deal with the content (tables & database fields, etc. etc.) has been kluged together, with JavaScript, and other such things. XML is our deliverance as it is somewhere between SGML and HTML in terms of functionality. It's more complex, no doubt, but it will also give us much freedom in the realms of being able to control & manipulate content. - Check this book out if you wan to learn more, try examples, and move your knowledge base forward...:wq
Cisco ROuter OSPF - (by: WIlliam R. Parkhurst; ISBN: 0-070048626-3) This book is specifically about OSPF - our main routing protocol, but in order to cuss & discuss OSPF - they outline & explain RIP, IGRP, EIGRP, and their reationship(s) to OSPF, and how to use all these, simultaneously - as well as independently. There are a number of explanations about other aspects of routing such as poisoning, flapping, and other such things which are always a problem in networks where some routers are well configured and behaved, but some are not. Some discussions of "generally accepted (good) routing practices" are also mentioned. Cisco IP Routing Primer - (by: whoever; ISBN: x-abcde-abc-a) This book really covers the basics of IP routing. It is excellent if you have some "basis" in this subject, but are looking to expand your understanding. Additionally, it covers Netware & Appletalk, to some degree, and talks about the "value" that IP has versus these other protocols. WHY the internet has embraced / been built-on tcp/ip. Cisco Designing Campus Networks - (by: Terri Quinn-Andry & Kitty Haller; ISBN: 1-57870-030-2) This book definately does not cover protocols & hardware - but is more a 'philosophy' of design book. It makes little use of examples of router configurations, but makes a lot of use of examples of things such as traffic analysis (and how it is the basis for any design). It is also insistent about the fact that all networks should be designed with the "future in mind" - (that is strategically planned & implemented with "scaling" in mind). This is something that some older networks in many Motorola locations have NOT been designed with, and consequently we are now in a position where we have to invest a lot of time & money to undo some poorly made decisions of long-ago. One will also recognize a lot of Mr. Bill's "four-point-design goals" of in every network we build. These watchwords that I have preached for years are brought-out in this book.Security Productivity Economy Scalability IF you are VERY INTERESTED in pursuing Cisco's "CCIE" certification program - then go to their web-site and read more about it - it's hard, it's lengthy, it's a vast body of knowledge to study & pass the tests / lab on, but it's worth it: http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/625/ccie/.
Novels - fiction & non-fiction: -------------------------------------------------
IMF and the Asian Financial Crisis (by " Peter G. Zhang" Published by "World Scientific" - http://www.worldscientific.com - ISBN: 981 02 3629-8) --- Ever Wondered about the "IMF" (International Monetary Fund) - been getting a LOT of press lately - especially in conneciton with the Asian Financial Crisis & several economic 'bail-outs' in the region - well - there's a couple of things you might do to learn more. Obviously, they, like everyone else has a web-site: http://www.imf.org . However this book is extremely good at explaining not only what it is, what it's aims & goals are, how it has changed over the past 10-20-30 years and how it hopes to grow with the changing world economies & continue to make them perform better. It will probably dispel many of the mis-perceptions you have about the IMF, it definately did for me. It also compares the IMF to the "World Bank" and points out both the similarities as well as the differences. Anyway - an EXCELLENT READ if you're at all interested in IMF & such.
Release 2.1 - (by: Esther Dyson; ISBN: 0-7679-0012-x) Esther Dyson is one of today's computing elite and a visionary and intellectual with incredible foresight about where the industry has come from and where it is going to. I have met and spent time with Esther, and listening to her visions is truly an experience. In this book she has outlined some of the concepts of a "future as a citizen in the digital world" that you will enjoy. Also check out Ether's EDventure Holdings web-site: http://www.edventure.com Deadline Y2k (by Mark Joseph - St. Martin's Press - ISBN: 0-312-20202-4) - a novel about the possible effects of a Year2000 Failure (or failure(s)) and how it might disable major portions of the US infrastructure - haven't finished it yet - but it appears to be a good read.
Virtual Girl - VERY good (can't remember author - but will update when I find it)
NetForce - (by: Tom Clancy(author of "Red Storm Rising"); ISBN: ???) - this novel fails to motivate (at least me) it seems to be more about people using Virtual Reality systems and meeting in virtual reality space and finding & fixing the bad-guys in virtual reality than anything, realistically, to do with networks or network management or finding / sleuthing out the bad-guys in reality using networks, or good network detective work, or whatever...