Which Book - Shon harris, or the nov 2006 offical guide?

oldbamboo

Hey all,
I had a quick scan for this topic but couldnt find anything, but apologies if this has been covered in another thread.
I have 11 years IT exp, 7 in infosec. I already have the CISA qualification. The market here in London seems a little slow at the moment and I have some time to try and get the CISSP exam under my belt finally. The question is, which book is going to be the safest bet for:

a. conveying all the relevant info in a readable manner while;
b. being up to date wrt to the exam syllabus.

AFAIK. There does not appear to have been much change to the exam content over the last few years, and so I am leaning towards getting the (now rather dated) Shon harris book, which was very well recieved on Amazon. However, having seen that the new offical ISC guide came out in the last few months, I was hoping someone out there may be able to give provide their thoughts on which of the two would be the most suitable choice as a main study aid. It would be particularly great to hear from people who have just passed the exam, using one or the other tome as their only reference! (outside of their experience in infosec of course!)
Thanks in advance

OB.

JDMurray

The third edition of the Harris book was released only 18 months ago. I'd hardly call that "rather dated" if you believe that there hasn't been much change to the CISSP exam content over the last few years.

And I haven't taken the CISSP exam, but from what I've read, you will need to read both the Harris and (ISC)2 books, a bunch of other books and Web pages, look into possibly using computer-based training materials from CBT Nuggets or PrepLogic, and spend a lot of time with the practice quizzes on www.cccure.org as well.

oldbamboo

Yep, just noticed that it was updated 18 months ago, some of the reviews on Amazon go back three years. Also, there is the question on to what degree the syllabus is has changed recently?
I'll be doing the webnuggets, practice quizzes as well. Thanks. Still the question remains, I honestly dont see that investing in both books is necessary? It would be nice, but I just dont want to lay out all that cash on two books covering the same topic. My understanding is that CISSP should not be that big a hurdle for me at this stage in my career.

drakhan2002

I didn't use the Shon Harris book to study, but many people I know who are preparing for the April 2007 exam in my area are still using it as their primary aid. Although there is a bunch of chatter in the "official" CISSP-only forum (from ISC2) about the changes to the new exam, I surmize that you'd be OK with Shon's latest CISSP AIO.

oldbamboo

Thanks for that. Just ordered it off Amazon!
If the test exams indicate some semantic or topical differences I'll pick up the official guide before the exam.

keatron

jdmurray wrote:

The third edition of the Harris book was released only 18 months ago. I'd hardly call that "rather dated" if you believe that there hasn't been much change to the CISSP exam content over the last few years.

And I haven't taken the CISSP exam, but from what I've read, you will need to read both the Harris and (ISC)2 books, a bunch of other books and Web pages, look into possibly using computer-based training materials from CBT Nuggets or PrepLogic, and spend a lot of time with the practice quizzes on www.cccure.org as well.

Definitely get both. And as JD has already correctly stated, be prepared to read other documentation and articles as well. I challenge everyone I have in any security class to make "passing the test" secondary to truely understanding the content and how to apply it. If you read a chapter and you're confident you remember everything you read, and are able to recite it on a test, BUT don't feel like you understand it fully, read it again, then seek other resources. Once you're done reading both those books, write down all the topics you feel "queasy" about. Then come back and post here. We'll do two things for ya; We'll try and help you understand, and we'll recommend some additional reading that might clear it up a bit.

Keatron.

oldbamboo

Thanks Mate, good to get some feedback on what to expect.