Introduction to Networking: How the Internet Works

This is an excellent resource for a beginner to learn about networking. It is written in clear English, and explains jargon step by step, using easily understood language and applied real world examples of how the internet works. Its structured logically, starting right at the beginning - don't get impatient when it starts with early telephone lines and how they worked. At first, I was slightly impatient and couldn't really see how relevant to the internet this info would be, but it is all tied in and explained, and the author doesn't spend too long on the preliminaries, quickly moving on the point. The background helps give historical perspective and serves to better explain later concepts. Info is recapped nicely at the beginning of each new chapter or section, and tied in well to the next part, so that you can see how it all hangs together. I've not finished it yet, as am going slowly and taking notes, as won't remember all the jargon and terms, if I just read straight through it, although you could well also do that, and give yourself an overview. The book would also be suitable to look up specific terms, if you didn't want to know all the details, but to just understand one aspect, as the recapping at the start of each section gives enough background to be able understand the content, although you'd obviously miss some context. This an "old-school" book, so isn't jazzed up with unnecessary images and diagrammes, those included serve to help explain the content, rather than just add to the file size, as I find with some ebooks. I had no problems with the images not loading (I opened the book in Adobe Reader, Calibre Library and Apple's ibooks, as well as the Kindle Desktop app). Even without any of the images, you would be able to read the book and understand the content very well, the images used are not essential to the learning, just enhance it. Also, there are no spelling and grammar mistakes, as so often found in cheap ebooks, the lay-out works very well for an ebook, too. Overall, am very impressed with this book for the price and would definitely recommend.

This book is a useful Introduction to the basic concepts of IT networking as per it's Title. However, it does not go beyond that to the practicalities of setting up and configuring a network effectively.

I have read a number of books in order to grasp the basics of Networks and seemingly wasted a small fortune. This is the 1st title I have read to present the Open System Interconnection (OSI) model through a different lens - the TCP/IP model. This title explains the various layers of the OSI model using an approach for building network hardware/software. I feel I have a better understanding of the Domain Name System (DNS), IP routing, the Transport Layer and the Application Layer. Various topics are explained using helpful illustrations and drawing parallels with other life examples. Recommended reading for the curious about networks or anyone about to start a networking course for the basics.

For an absolute beginner. Still provide a very good deep understanding of the subject. Useful before reading more complicated books on the topic. Suitable for children - they will easy understand it, but very good for adults too. I started reading TCP/IP for dummies after reading this introductory book, and have to admit, that I would not understand much in TCP/IP to dummies without reading this book Introduction to Networking: How the Internet Works

As someone who knew nothing about this subject, I found this book a great high level introduction. Easy to read and to the point. Shame they didn't check the illustrations before publishing to kindle.

I've always wanted to know more about the Internet and how it worked. This book is perfectly pitched, with clear, accessible explanation. (I really hate the word 'accessible' but it's the right one here; both adults and secondary-school students will like the book.) There are a few diagrams but they too are simple, so the reader needn't worry about this book not working well on Kindle. But I'm wondering why the Preface is at the end. Had some packets arrived through my router out of order and then been mis-assembled? No, having read the book, I now knew that this couldn't possibly have happened.

Explains the basics of networking (TCP/IP) / the Internet in a clear and easy-to-grasp way. The model described is the 4-layer TCP/IP model, not the OSI model by the way. Sadly, it doesn't go much into other aspects of networking, just how the Internet works. The book is not too "American". There are very occasional typos or slips. Nearly all the diagrams/illustrations are essentially worthless. I must confess I still have some questions having read the book, but that is most likely my own failing. A painless, if slightly narrowly focused introduction to networks. 4 stars.

Very informative, clearly written and an enjoyable read. Concepts that I've found confusing in the past were explained clearly. This book is ideal for someone who is completely new to the subject area or has worked with IT, but has never had any formal training.

I guess this is a highly simplified explanation of how the internet works, but so wouldn’t know since this is the only book I’ve read about it so far! What I can say is that the book is very brief in its descriptions of the internets underlying technology, however, it’s also thorough enough to give you a good conceptual grasp on the topics in each chapter. This book is very short. The pages and text are quite large and you could definitely read this in one sitting over 2 or 3 hours if you really wanted to. Personally, I prefer reading in chunks, and I would suggest reading through 10 pages a day so you don’t overwhelm yourself with so much info and so you get a chance to digest what you’re reading. Overall, this book is good. Easy to read, with some grammar and punctuation errors, but I can ignore those. Physical quality of the paperback is low (glassy cover and nonstandard page sizes) but useable. Also, it was written by THE Dr Charles Severance. I say give it a read if you want to understand the basics of how the internet works.

A very good starting point to understanding a complex topic in a very friendly way. Easy to read and well illustrated. I really liked this book.

Redoutablement efficace et concis. Indispensable pour tout étudiant ou professionnel en science de l'informatique. Les concepts sont relativement basiques et généralement déjà compris mais cela a été un excellent ouvrage pour me rafraîchir la mémoire et me refaire une idée solide du modèle TCP/IP et OSI.

Ho imparato come funziona il networking tra i devices, l'ho letto perché consigliato dal mio corso su Coursera, e in effetti ho un'altra visione di come comunicano i PC tra loro, adesso. Consigliato, do più valore all'internet security ora.

A must read book for beginners and professional who would like to brush up their networking basics. I enjoyed the Read.