Issues with official (ISC)2 CBK guides

E Double U

I wonder if anyone else noticed less than optimal quality with (ISC)2 books. I was just reading reviews on Amazon for ISSAP and a number of them are poor. One mentions typos and grammar mistakes which I also experienced with their guide while preparing for CISSP five years ago. Luckily I had Shon Harris and Eric Conrad material as well. I did not notice any issues while preparing for CCSP, but I used the Sybex book as my primary resource.

This is not meant to be a thread for bashing (ISC)2. Just curious to hear the experience of others.

JDMurray

HA! You can read many discussion threads from ten-plus years ago on this very site about the same complaints when the (ISC)2 Press published with Auerbach. However, this really doesn't matter, as the official CBK books are not the single authoritative source for the contents of any (ISC)2 exam item pool. The subject reference material used to create (ISC)2 exam items are (suppose to be) all of the publications in the reference lists found on this page. Study well!

stryder144

Dang! That is a long, long list just for CISSP. I try to get copies of each of those documents/books and my wife will have a fit!

E Double U

@stryder144 - With five different sets of SANS books alone which my wife has made me stuff in a closet, there is no way I can get all of the (ISC)2 recommendations for one cert lol. Luckily my Azure studies don’t come with physical literature 😁

JDMurray

The (ISC)2 doesn't expect each candidate to buy all of those books. Several of those references are academic books that are $100+ each. It's more of an academic paper reference list to show where the information comes from. Let the people writing 3rd-party CISSP study guides sift through that list for you.

stryder144

JDMurray said:

The (ISC)2 doesn't expect each candidate to buy all of those books. Several of those references are academic books that are $100+ each. It's more of an academic paper reference list to show where the information comes from. Let the people writing 3rd-party CISSP study guides sift through that list for you.

@JDMurray ...I knew that and I completely agree. Let someone else pay for and distill the info. Admittedly, I am a source person, I prefer to go to the source whenever possible, so having the list to point to is a good thing in my mind.

E Double U

JDMurray 
However, this really doesn't matter, as the official CBK books are not the single authoritative source for the contents of any (ISC)2 exam item pool. 

They don’t have to be the single authoritative source to publish good content ;-)