Linux in a Nutshell, Fourth Edition

Linux in a Nutshell, Fourth Edition
A Desktop Quick Reference
By Ellen Siever, Stephen Figgins, Aaron Weber
Fourth Edition June 2003
Series: In a Nutshell
ISBN: 0-596-00482-6
944 pages, $39.95 US, $61.95 CA, £28.50 UK
Published by: O’Reilly

When I decided to get serious about actually learning Linux (and it’s an ongoing process), I read a stack of books (literally) of varying levels of difficulty. Linux for Dummies (Dee-Ann LeBlanc), Tuning and Customizing a Linux System (Daniel L. Morrill), and Peter Norton’s Complete Guide to Linux, to name a few. They were all useful to some degree, but all were ultimately returned to the library. Except one, anyway.

Linux in a Nutshell (by Ellen Siever, Stephen Figgins, & Aaron Weber; published by O’Reilly) is on perpetual loan from my local library. Whenever it’s due for return, I renew it, and if someone else has the audacity to request it from me, I request to have it next after them. Given enough time, I’m optimistic that the library will eventually see the futility of listing this book as ‘available’ in their catalog and either order additional copies, or just give me this one.

The primary appeal of this book for me is as a command reference. Over half the book is dedicated to an alphabetical listing of commands, along with descriptions of usage, options available, and descriptions of the options as well. Not being a fan of manpages, I find it enormously handy to have a hard copy of commands I am unfamiliar with, or have forgotten the options for. Some of the more important commands even rate dedicated chapters, including apt and rpm (package mangers), bash and tcsh (shells), and sed, vi, and emacs (editors; although emacs is much, much more). With these added sections, the command portion of the book swells to over 80%, making it as much the “Encyclopedia of Linux Commands” as “Linux in a Nutshell”.

The rest of the book, while still useful, may not elicit the reading and re-reading that the command sections do, and for some average users the remainder of the book may be beyond their scope. For example, non-programmers may see fit to skip the chapters on gawk, RCS and CVS completely. Newbies may find the chapters on KDE, Gnome and fvwm2 interesting, but everyday users of a GUI may find them extraneous, given the intuitive operation of current versions of the software. I will say that the inclusion of LILO and GRUB are essential, though you may be more inclined to read up on them during an emergency, rather than in preparation of one. Read them before.

While the publication of this review runs the risk of creating additional competition over my beloved book, it certainly deserves a positive review, as has earned the competition to read it. It’s 944 pages that you will certainly dog-ear over years of use and enjoyment. Save yourself (and me) the trouble and just buy your own copy.

Buy ‘Linux in a Nutshell’ (O’Reilly)