A.P. Lawrence

Understanding the Linux Kernel

• Daniel P. Bovet and Marco Cesati
• O'Reilly
• ISBN: 0596000022

Order (or just read more about) Understanding the Linux Kernel from Amazon.com

Once again, I'm disappointed by a Linux Kernel book. Are there any good ones at all?

I'm in the minority here: Amazon loves it, all the reviewers sing its praises, so it must be only me who finds it confusing, incomplete, and annoying.

January 2003: There's a new edition of this just out: Understanding the Linux Kernel 2d Edition

Yes, it has value- I agree on that. But there's SO much left out, so much glossed over, left unexplained. I found myself confused, looking for more. I realize there's only so much you can do without writing tens of thousands of pages, but I still think this could be done better. Where's the editor here? Don't they read this, or have O'Reilly editors become either so non-technical that there's no chance of them recognizing incomplete coverage or (maybe worse) so darned techy that they just don't notice when something needs elucidation for us average folks? I'd guess the first.

This book will shortly be out of date anyway. There is an attempt in each chapter that is a few paragraphs labeled "Anticipating Linux 2.4", but I found those paragraphs raised so many questions that it really would have been better to leave them out entirely- they certainly weren't of much use.

Well, I'll keep buying Linux Kernel books- maybe eventually between enough of them I'll get the coverage I want.