Sybex or Cisco Press???

I am debating the Sybex and the 2nd Ed. Cisco Press books for getting started on my CCNA quest. Any reccomendations?

http://www.amazon.com/CCNA-Certified-Network-Associate-640-801/dp/0782143911/s

http://www.amazon.com/CCNA-Official-Certification-Library-640-801/dp/1587201690/sr

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Comments

mikej412

Both!

Check out the forum CCNA FAQ - the first topic is about books.

The Cisco Press teaches you what you need to learn (and then some). The Sybex is good for Subnetting and review for the exam. The Sybex book is weak in some areas like NAT -- but there is a new chapter that can be downloaded. Check for updates/bug fixes for both the Sybex and Cisco Press books if you get them.

rakem

get both.

Inc

Both

Cisco Press for studying.
Sybex - light reading while on the road.

DirtySouth

I'm not familiar with the Sybex books yet, but I can tell you from experience the CiscoPress books are great. I'm sure both would be a good idea if you can afford them and have the time to read them both.

Slowhand

Sybex or Cisco Press???

Yes.

james_

I would agree with the general consensus and say both. This will provide you with a different learning approach represented by different authors. I have both, and so far have only read a few hundred pages into the Sybex. Its good so far, pretty easy to digest, subnetting was very easy to learn I felt. I will say that the total size of the book is around 600 pages, CISCO Press combined is around 1200 pages.

The thing I like about the CISCO press books, is that they come with both an Intro and ICND dedicated books (2 separate books), and also offer a training route if you are studying for the "All-in-one" exam, ie you would read one chapter from the Intro book, then a more in depth chapter in the ICND book, so if I was only going to choose one, I would probably go with the CISCO Press based on its comprehensiveness and the relatively good feedback on this forum. Hope this helps!

bmauro

If I could only get one of the two (even though Cisco Press is two books) I would go with Cisco Press.

Reason is that Sybex is for both tests (Intro and ICND) but is approximately the size of either one of the Cisco Press books. I don't think the Sybex has any chapters on DSL, Cable modems, and NAT which has already been addressed. Either book is great preparation for the tests, but I feel that the Cisco Press books go beyond what you NEED to know to pass (which can be good or bad depending on the person).

BUT - having both is the best of both worlds. Sybex does cover some material better then Cisco Press. I actually have my Sybex open infront of me now.

One thing to note - I absolutely HATE sybex's DRM on their CD. You have to have the CD in your drive to view the electronic PDFs. Cisco Press asks you to register their CD and thats it. Just a little side note.

Trailerisf

bmauro wrote:

One thing to note - I absolutely HATE sybex's DRM on their CD. You have to have the CD in your drive to view the electronic PDFs. Cisco Press asks you to register their CD and thats it. Just a little side note.

Make an Iso and map a virtual Iso drive :P

agustinchernitsky

Well I mainly based my studies ussing Sybex 5th ed. by Todd. Great book... then for each subject I looked in Cisco web site for more info (speacilly OSPF and Frame-relay)

I got a very high score...

Thanks Todd!

J2tehk

I use both and flip back to back when studying. Read a chapter about ISDN, switch over to Todd's book and read it again.

At first I started with the cisco press books and then realized that I would get bored and skip certain sections when rereading. A second book really does help and keeps you from falling asleep when rereading important topics.

Paul Boz

I like that most of the Cisco books by Sybex are by Lamlee (at least the CCNA/CCDA/CCNP books I have are). The consistency is GREAT. I really enjoy the way he explains things so I'm drawn to his books.

I also took the mindleaders.com courses for the CCNA/CCDA in preparation, but they were paid for by my employer.

ebykm

I'd say both + Matthew Basham's Learning by Doing.