>
> When I feel such as yourself I go to a bookstore and peruse the
> Linux/programming section to see what is current and looks
> interesting. Skimming the table of contents is an easy way to get a
> feel of what aspects of a given topic a book covers. Once I ran across
> a book called "Linux+ In Depth" (Eckert & Schitka (c) 2003) that
> looked appealing so I bought it without realizing that the "Linux+"
> part in the title referred to some obscure Linux certification
> program--not that it mattered. The book gave me an excellent overview
> of setting up and administrating Linux and it ended each chapter with
> a few questions to ensure that the information was retained. I still
> use it as a reference from time to time.
>
> Another book that I've been very happy with is "The C Programming
> Language, 2nd Edition" (Kernighan & Ritchie (c) 1988) which some
> consider to be the Bible of C programming. Despite being a few years
> old, the information in this book is still relevant as ever since the
> C language has not changed much since then.
>
> Older books aren't always a safe bet, however. A disadvantage to
> buying hard copies is that the Free Software landscape is in a
> constant state of flux. The past year alone has seen many new
> developments so it is not unusual for some aspect of a book to become
> outdated before it even makes it to the shelf. That said, take into
> account the age of a book when you consider purchasing one.
>
> Have fun!
> -Jonathon
>
>
Jonathan, I wound up taking the first part of your advice here and I
wandered into Books-A-Million and just started reading what they had
there. There were many books that would have been very useful to be
sure, but not having bucks-a-million, I purchased one book to get my
collection of Linuxature started: _ Linux Bible 2005 edition_ by
Christopher Negus. It looks like it touches base on everything I am
interested in accomplishing in the short term, and although it doesn't
go into much depth on any of it, it will give me an idea of where I want
to concentrate my efforts on aquiring more specialized reference
materials. If anyone has any experience or coments on this book (good
or bad), I would love to hear it. If there are any falicies that I will
run into that I should take with a grain of salt, I would be thrilled to
hear about them before I delve in and assimilate. Thanks again to all!
I will probably be building a small library of these things over the
next few months, any ongoing advice is welcome with an open invitation.
--Michael
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