Business Data Networks and Telecommunications (7th Edition) (ISBN 0136153402)

High Quality Material:
I recently purchased this book to learn about networking, various protocols, OSI layers etc. Mr Panko does a very nice job of explaining difficult concepts in a way that makes them easy to understand. Every author who writes a book on a popular topic, choses to emphasize some areas and deemphasize others. For this reason, I usually buy at least 2 books on a given subject in order to get greater coverage of the subject. Sometimes I buy 3. For a more technical discussion of some of the areas covered in this book, I purchased "Data and Computer Communications" by Stallings, 5 Ed. This book appears to be written more for EE's and CS people. It is also a very well written book. I would recommend Mr. Panko's book for a first reading of the subject and perhaps one of Stallings, or Tannenbaum for more detail in certain topics.

Misinformation:
Beginners may find this book easy to understand, however the content isn't there. Just glancing through this book I found several examples of incorrect information. Furthormore the author tends to create his own acronyms rather then using the industry standard terms and definitions.

Great for Beginners and Intermediates...:
I actually had to buy this book for a college class however the class didn't require a thorough reading of the book. Well, after the class, months after, I went back to the book and re-read it and I must say, it's a great book. It goes over networking hardware, the OSI layer and has several diagrams. I really found this book to be helpful.

Flexible Framework Helps Understand Network Protection Needs:
Best impact for this purpose if used with: Microsoft Windows Nt 4.0 Security, Audit, and Control (Microsoft Technical Reference) by James G. Jumes (Editor), Coopers and Lybrand, Neil F. Cooper, Todd M. Feinman (ISBN 1-57231-818-X)

Awsome book for the Price:
This book does not even look like it was used, it is in very good condition.