Name: The UNIX CD Bookshelf, Version 3.0
ISBN: 9780596003920

Synopsis

If you've heard the phrase, "You can't take it with you," you may have thought, sadly, that it referred to your trusted shelf of O'Reilly Unix books. Thorough, reliable, and all encompassing, these books are unfortunately not especially portable en masse--unless, of course, you have a copy of the "Unix CD Bookshelf. The "Unix CD Bookshelf keeps all the books you've come to rely on right at your fingertips, wherever you may go. Version 3 provides convenient online access to seven indispensable books:

"Unix Power Tools, 3rd Edition

"Learning the Unix Operating System, 5th Edition

"Learning the vi Editor, 6th Edition

"Mac OS X for Unix Geeks

"Learning the Korn Shell, 2nd Edition

"sed & awk, 2nd Edition

"Unix in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition

The CD has a master index for all seven books and a powerful search engine--and all the text is extensively hyper-linked--so you can find what you're looking for quickly. Packaged with the hard copy of "Unix in a Nutshell, Third Edition, it takes up less than two inches of bookshelf space, and when you're on the run, you can just grab the CD and go. The seven books included on the CD --well over 3,000 pages of useful O'Reilly reference and tutorials-- if purchased separately, would cost more than $330 (US), but the "Unix CD Bookshelf, Version 3 retails for only $129.95.

The "Unix CD Bookshelf packs a stack of essential Unix books into one comprehensive, immensely convenient, and portable small package. Next time they say that you can't take it with you, you'll know better.

Recommendations

The Practice of System and Network Administration

by Thomas A. Limoncelli

You've just absorbed a masterclass in Unix reference material, and Limoncelli takes that same practical, systems-thinking approach but zooms out to show you *why* these tools matter in real infrastructure. Where the CD Bookshelf gives you the commands, this book gives you the philosophy behind organizing them—it's like moving from learning individual Unix utilities to understanding Unix as a complete operational ecosystem.

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The Soul of A New Machine

by Tracy Kidder

Here's the surprise pick: a narrative non-fiction book from 1981 about engineers building a computer. You might think it's dry, but Kidder writes like a novelist—he captures the obsession and problem-solving intensity that drives people to master technical systems like Unix. It'll give you the human context for *why* the tools in your CD Bookshelf exist and what kind of minds created them.

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Advanced Programming in the Unix Environment

by W. Richard Stevens

Stevens is the next logical step after mastering the reference material—he doesn't just tell you *what* Unix does, he explains the deep mechanics of *how* it works at the system call level. If the CD Bookshelf taught you to use Unix, Stevens teaches you to understand Unix's architecture so thoroughly you could explain it to someone else.

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Programming Ruby The Pragmatic Programmers' Guide

by David Thomas

This one bridges the gap between knowing Unix tools and knowing how to *think* like a Unix programmer. Thomas and Hunt write in the same no-nonsense, practical spirit as the O'Reilly books you just finished, but they're teaching you the mindset—how to approach problems systematically, automate ruthlessly, and use your tools (like those Unix utilities) as extensions of your thinking rather than just commands to memorize.

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Disappearing Cryptography: Being and Nothingness on the Net (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Software Engineering and Programming)

by Peter Wayner

A specialized deep-dive that assumes you're already comfortable with technical material—Ferguson treats security not as a feature bolted onto systems but as something woven into Unix architecture itself. It's the kind of book that makes you re-read those sed and awk chapters with new eyes, understanding how command-line tools can be weaponized or protected.

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