This book is an incredibly tedious read. The author mentions an issue in very superficial detail in passing (but that would be a page worth) about 5 times. Each time, giving a little more info, and revealing that some things in the previous mention were actually wrong.
What makes this book so hard to read is the writing style. It's like being bombarded by trivialites of the subject. Maybe the author could have make this book 1/3rd as long, and cover the same material.
One thing I'd like to mention, is that this book, although published in 2001, does NOT cover NIS+ for some mysterous and unexplained reason. That means this book will not tell you anything about NIS encryption, hierarchies, or any of the other advanced features NIS doesn't have.
As another indication of the verbosity of the book, the first 50+ pages are dedicated to NIS, which is perhaps the most simple network protocol in use. Learing VI takes longer.
What bothers me the most, is that this is a subject I am seriously interested in. I really want to learn more about NFS, but no ammount of interest would keep your mind from wondering while trying to read this book. This review may seem harsh, but I can assure you, it is completely deserved. I've read numerous technical books before, but this is the first that I really cannot convince myself to continue reading, despite my interest.
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