Rathumos writes "The network security world has been waiting patiently for a definitive study of internet worms and defenses against them. Defense and Detection Strategies against Internet Worms by Dr. Jose Nazario has arrived to fill that space with a clear and concise analysis of the current state of worm defense." Read on for the rest of Rathumos' review.

Matt Will writes "The Official Samba 3 How-To and Reference Guide was written by John H. Terpstra and Jelmer Rinze Vernooij in collaboration with the core developers of the Samba-Team (www.samba.org) and expert end users. The book is written with special focus towards administrators of Microsoft Windows systems, giving them a first insight into the capabilities of Samba and a well guided step-by-step guide for migrating systems from a Microsoft solution to Samba." Read on for the rest of Will's review.

Like any large enterprise, Microsoft is an aggregate, not a monolith. This is true not only of the company as a massive business entity made up of various committees, departments and divisions operating out of multiple campuses around the world, but also as a company in the original sense, a group of people working for a common purpose. Countless analysts have dissected Microsoft's corporate culture to figure out Microsoft's financial success. Karin Carter, an ex-Microsoftie herself, decided instead to write about how mid-level Microsoft employees view the place; there are programmers, middle managers, and handful of others here -- just 19 Microsoft employees (some, like Carter, former employees) with a range of academic and social backgrounds who ended up working for Gates and Ballmer's software company in "that drippy upper-left corner of the map." The result is Microsoft in the Mirror; read on for my review.

Dan Clough writes "Mastering Red Hat Linux 9 is a huge, very complete guide to Red Hat Linux 9. It's over 900 pages, and includes the "Publisher's Edition" of RH9 on 2 CDs. It is written in a style which should accommodate Linux newcomers and more experienced users alike. There are a lot of examples, code snippets, and screenshots throughout the book. In fact, sometimes the abundance of these tend to make the material a little long to wade through. Experts should have no trouble skipping over the sections they don't need, though." Read on for the rest of Dan's review.

danny writes "The Visual Display of Quantitative Information is a recognised classic on statistical graphics; to the 1983 original, this 2001 edition adds some additional graphics, extra colour, and corrections. It is a broad-ranging work, covering history, theory and practice and, despite the formal title and scholarly references, not at all narrowly academic. It assumes only a very basic understanding of statistics." Read on for the rest of Danny's review.

Simon P. Chappell and Eric Kaun contributed reviews of Jess in Action, Ernest Friedman-Hill's introduction to Jess, a pure Java rule-based system developed at Sandia National Laboratories. Kaun writes "Jess in Action presents the Jess rule-based framework, and explores it through four meaty and well-chosen examples: a console tax forms advisor, a console PC repair assistant, a Swing HVAC controller, and a servlet-based purchasing agent. The examples vary greatly in their designs and styles of interaction between Jess and Java, and expose patterns in a concrete context. It's especially nice the way each example builds on the functionality of the one before, such as a text-based question/interview module that is extended into a Swing GUI." Chappell points out that the book's author is also Jess' creator, so he speaks from authority. Read on for both reviews.

danny writes "Having problems with your sex life? Read on for my review of Dr Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation -- it may not get you laid, but you can have some fun learning about the evolutionary biology and natural history of sex." With that disclaimer in mind, read on for the rest.

Joel Eidsath writes "Imagine that you found yourself in a position to write a resume for the whole human species. It is a metaphor that Charles Murray uses several times in his book, Human Accomplishment: The Pursuit of Excellence in the Arts and Sciences, 800 B.C. to 1950." Murray not only collects such examples in this book, but attempts to explain why and how they emerge. Murray obviously courts controversy with this book; expect reactions similar to the ones drawn by The Bell Curve, which he co-authored. (Do 97% of the world's significant scientists come from the West? Can personal eminence be objectively measured? Is "accomplishment" really amenable to description by charts and graphs?) Read on for Eidsath's review.

For a sysadmin, putting "MIT Network Operations" on a resume must feel pretty satisfying. James Kretchmar got the job, and now has written the book. ALecs writes with his review of Kretchmar'sOpen Source Network Administration, below.

Michael Yuan writes "Enterprise JavaBean (EJB) is one of the most widely used technologies in enterprise Java. It is designed to be a scalable and flexible distributed framework. In EJB, almost everything can be done in several different ways and it offers the developer the maximum flexibility to choose the right approach for the project in hand." Yuan provides a review, below, of Bitter EJB, to guide programmers interested in large-scale Java development. Update: 10/27 18:27 GMT by T : Peter Wayner provides a somewhat deeper look at the book as well, also below.

Logic Bomb writes "Everyone's favorite way to begin a post on Slashdot is 'IANAL, but...' Having said that a few times myself, when I saw this book I figured it might be nice to get at least a little formal information on what the heck I was writing about. Literary Law Guide for Authors was not quite what I was looking for, but it was extremely informative." Read on for Logic Bomb's review.

Mark Burroughs writes "Leave it to a SubGenius preacher to take normally mundane subjects, like software maintenance, and expose the unholy conspiracy behind them. I think the following quote from the introduction sums up the tone of the book nicely: 'Rather than shield your eyes from the sordid realities of the software industry, I am going to dust off my old 8mm films and let you take a good look at the uncensored truth for yourself. You may want to keep a paper bag handy in case you get sick.'" You know you want to read on for the rest of Burrough's review.

TechGuy949 writes ".NET Remoting is a technology that is often overlooked due to Microsoft's intense focus on promoting XML Web Services technology. In actual fact, .NET remoting is often a more appropriate solution than Web Services, and it certainly performs better and scales better when used properly. Ingo Rammer has written a technically sound, very informative book on .NET remoting technology, which is a good thing, given that there are still far too few titles available on this important technology." Read on for the rest of TechGuy949's review of Advanced .NET Remoting. Update: 10/23 17:28 GMT by T : Please note: the reviewer writes for Apress (publisher of this book); book reviewers are encouraged to read the book review guidelines linked below, and to disclose any such relationship. I regret not knowing this before the review ran.

hanksdc writes "With the proliferation of wireless networking over the past year, it has become easier and easier for even the most budget-minded geeks to afford wireless gear for their homes, offices, and neighborhoods. Rob Flickenger's latest, Wireless Hacks expands upon his previous book on the topic, Building Wireless Community Networks , and takes its reader by the hand on a fast-paced run through a large assortment of hacks related to wireless networking." Read on for the rest of hanksdc's review.

Peter Wayner writes: "One of the greatest mysteries of today is whether a pirate is good or bad. On one hand, Disney campaigns against digital piracy while making a movie ( "Pirates of the Caribbean") pushing a theme park ride that celebrates life under the Jolly Roger. On one hand, we celebrate Talk Like a Pirate Day, while on the other hand this fine, upstanding investment company was fined $19.7m for copyright infringement and no one used the word 'Pirate.' This is the world that greets the paperback edition of Pirate Hunter, Richard Zacks's excellent history of the late so-called pirate, Captain William Kidd." Read on for the rest of Peter's review.

Cory R writes "Although many of us may hate to admit it, aesthetics matter even to hard-headed techies. Our software is skinnable, our email is filled with HTML, and our cases glow with colorful lights. Graphic design is pervasive and expected. Programming style is debated endlessly and many of us lust after Apple hardware which can command a premium price in part because of its styling. The age of aesthetics is here and in The Substance of Style: How the Rise of Aesthetic Value Is Remaking Commerce, Culture, and Consciousness, Virginia Postrel explains where it came from and what it means." Read on for the rest of Cory's review.

Jason Scott writes "TiVo: You love it or you haven't met it. For those who have it (or are thinking of getting one), a new book is out about all the different ways to modify, increase capacity, or even program TiVos. Whether you want to just add a little capacity to your TiVo's drives or turn it into a full-blown home entertainment center hooked into your home LAN, Jeff Keegan has written a massive and all-encompassing book on this rewarding art." Read on for the rest of Jason's review.

doom writes "For those of you who haven't been paying attention, when the The Perl Cookbook by Tom Christiansen & Nathan Torkington came out in 1999 it immediately became one of the primary references in the perl world. It's one of the first places you should check before making a move with perl, right up there with search.cpan.org, itself. Now we've got the second edition. What's the diff? The diff is 58 new recipes and program examples (list provided below), plus two new chapters on mod_perl and XML (which provide an additional 27)." Read on for doom's complete review.

celloguy writes: "HackNotes Linux and Unix Security Portable Reference is a great security reference for IT professionals. It presents information in a clear, concise, easy-to-digest manner and sticks to facts and practical approaches to security." Read on for the rest of celloguy's review. (And maybe some grumpy readers can elaborate more on this book's flaws, since celloguy didn't find many.)

honestpuck writes "Even Grues Get Full is the fourth and latest collection of cartoons from User Friendly. I got this collection because a friend said the third collection was brilliant 'from cover to cover.' I have to say that this collection did have some exceptionally good moments, but 'from cover to cover,' I think not." Honestpuck's review continues, below.