What books did you find the most productive...?

I have now read 2 books on getting certification one by Paul Browning and one by Chris Bryant and have not found them to be productive learning tools, I have recently started reading one of Wendell Odom's book and it seems to be a little easier and more in depth in a manner that is easy to understand, what books have you found to be productive in your studies?

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VinnyCisco

I used the Lammle CCNA study guide when I was going for CCNA. He did have some mistakes in it, but it was still very good.

Now using Odom's book for CCNP Route.

I also found that the lab book put out from Certificationkits.com was a good reference for building labs if you have equipment. Works good for GNS3 and Packet Tracer as well.

And of course the Internet is a great source of reading.

shyguyIT

I used Odom's books as my main source of study and Lammle's book for review. Was able to pass both ICND1 and ICND2 on my first try using these books.

cpartin

Only book I used was Odom. Supplemented with the free INE CCNA videos and labbing on GNS3 + real switches.

subsooner711

Used a combination of both Lammle and Odom. I prefer Lammle's book

Jon_Cisco

This is a great question simply because it is a question we all have to deal with at some point.
I always like two sources of information so I usually try to pick up two books on the same subject.

Unfortunately I have not been able to keep up on my reading so I can't give great feedback on which authors were better for me. I read Odem's ICND1 as review and it did a good job. I am not sure how I would feel if it was my first exposure to the material. Labbing is what really ties the information together for me but at some point you need to read a book to get exposure to all of the concepts.

I have Odem's ICND2 book but I have decided I don't have time to read it this summer. I am going to attempt the exam next week having used Netacademy classes and watched CBT Nuggets videos. If this proves to be a $150 mistake I will change my schedule and make time for reading.

I really chimed in here because after reading ICND1 I felt like I would have struggled to pass the exam if that was my only exposure to the material.

NetEsoon

I read Odom's book as a first source, it is pretty good and it goes in detail, now I'm watching CBT nuggets, and I'm also following Paul Browning's book (CCNA in 60 days), I gotta say, the layout of the book is good, however there are many many mistakes within the labs and even grammatical errors, that sometimes makes me doubt about it, I also got Boson Netsim as well as the practice test, so far the labs are good, I like the way they are presented as they force you to try to make them from memory instead of telling you exactly what to do, I haven't done the practice test yet, but I have heard that it is very good.

jvrlopez

Lammle's Sybex books (the CCNA composite study guide and CCNA commands) were great. The labs were easy to follow and configure and I liked his writing style.