Book Review: Linux(R) Quick Fix Notebook (Bruce Perens Open Source) by Peter Harrison


I'm a big fan of the cookbook approach to tech books. I usually don't have time to read a book to get a broad and general understanding of a topic. I'm usually after what this book promises: a quick fix. I want answers to discrete problems. That's what _Linux(R) Quick Fix Notebook_ delivers. When I did have time to read an entire chapter, I learned a lot. When I flipped to random pages, there was a good chance I learned something. It's full of gold nuggets and neat tricks.

I work in IT, and I often show someone something that, to me, is pretty basic. But it saves them a lot of time. This book addresses those gaps in my own knowledge: the basic stuff I never happened to pick up. Sometimes it's so basic nobody bothers to write about it. Until this book.

Unfortunately, I couldn't hold on to the review copy long enough to finish it. But I'm buying a copy for myself. That should tell you something! Especially when I have about a dozen books on linux and unix system administration already. This approach works for me, and this book implements that approach really well.