Rating: 
Summary: Unclear at best, confusing at worst.
Review: There's a reason why this book is 200,000th place on Amazon's sales rank while other Network+ books, like the ones by David Groth, and the Coriolis book are at 1000th and 7000th places respectively: This book has major problems.Problem #1 - The CD As other reviewers have commented, the CD is horrendous. In most certification books the CD and the practice tests on it are an invaluable help in both reviewing the information and boosting your confidence before the test. In this book however the CD is a nightmare filled with irrelevant information, it's just plain bad. Problem #2 - The Diagrams Diagrams should help elucidate what the words are describing. However too often in this book the diagrams confuse you more than help you. For example on page 13 there is a diagram of a simple bus topology network (a rectangle with computers connected at various point), and page 14 there is a diagram of a simple ring topology network (a circle with computers connected at various points), the problem is according to the diagrams these two networks are LOGICALLY EXACTLY THE SAME. It doesn't matter if you lay your cable in a square or a circle its still the same thing.. now maybe the rectangle is supposed to be solid and represent one wire (that's not how it looks though), but if your at the point where your trying to decipher what the diagram really means, the diagram has already failed its purpose. This is just one example out of many. Problem #3 - The Writing I'm sure Mr. Feldman is an excellent network technician but unfortunately his gifts do not extend so far into the domain of writing. The key to any certification book is CLARITY. But the style of this book is just muddled and meandering. I'm A+ Certified (I used the Coriolis books) and I had no problem understanding any of the information as it was presented there. But too many times this book made me reread passages trying to figure out what he was really trying to say. Does he mean this, or does he mean this? I'm not sure because the information is not presented in a clear definitive way. If you read the other "positive" reviews you'll see pretty much everyone has something negative to say "needs a few touch ups" "found some technical errors." My suggestion is this: If you just want to pass the exam, by Groth's book. If you want to be a network technician by the Coriolis Book. If you want to waste your money buy this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Book, Bad CD!
Review: This book was a great test prep. I am A+ certified and now Network+ certified. I have had minimal networking experience. It was organized very well and covered the important things that were on the exam. The CD, however, is horrible. In fact I would recommend burning the CD or using it as a xmas tree ornament. I almost had a heart attack when I began to use the CD the day before the test. The CD asks questions about stuff that is never covered in the book or on the test for that matter. Obviously the CD was created seperately from the book. I recommend using the Exam Cram Practice Tests book in conjunction with this book b/c the questions in there are more like the ones on the exam.
Rating: 
Summary: Exellent!
Review: This will give you all you really need to know to pass the Network+, and includes a small, paper back booklet to review the nit-gritty detail after you have the concepts down. I used this book and one other, and pass Network+ easily. You will need to understand computers in general to get much use out of it (duh!), but if you don't you don't need to be taking Network+ anyway.
| 
