A Reading List for the Linux Newbie
By Paul Dunne
0. Introduction
This list has its roots in a short series of articles I wrote a couple of
years ago called "The Essential Linux Bookshelf". Noticing that linux.ie
were looking for a newbie's reading list, I volunteered to adapt this
series to provide such a guide. The rest, as they say, is history (well,
several hours of frenzied typing, at least...).
When I was a lad in Ireland, we used to have to make our own operating
systems out of sods of turf. Then, this Finnish fellow went and
spoiled our good clean Gaelic fun by writing his own Unix-like kernel,
and before we knew where we were, the world and his dog all seemed to be
running Linux. Ye don't know ye're born nowadays! It's all very
fine and grand having this marvellous Linux; but what do you do with it?
The latest user-friendly distributions notwithstanding, Linux, like any
Unix or Unix-like OS, is a damned complicated system. A good book or
two is essential in helping the newcomer get to grips with the system,
and will remain helpful during the long process of slowly learnign all
the ins and outs.
Walk into any big bookshop today, and you'll like as not find a whole
Linux section, a shelf or more of big fat books all about Linux. Quite a
contrast to when I started out with Linux, when there weren't any books
in print about Linux at all! But with choice comes confusion. Even if
our newbie can afford to buy every single book, they certainly don't
have time to read them all! So what books should the Linux newbie be
budgeting for? This article is an attempt to give said newbie a short
list of books which will save them a lot of time and energy and money
in getting up to speed with Linux. Depending on your budget, you may
be wanting to buy all, some or none of the books listed. Therefore,
each listing is accompanied by an indication of how vital it is.
Related: About The ILUG Linux in a Nutshell Recommended Reading
About the author, Paul Dunne.
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