I was misled by the many glowing reviews into buying this book. This book is n't really about how linux works. Its more like a reference or manual - with very barebones descriptions followed by instruction. It doesn't go into depth at all about the 'how' or the 'why' as the title claims. In fact its just a regurgitation of the standard linux docs and HOWTOs (some of which were written by this author), the only advantage being that here you have them collected here between a spine. But their are websites that do this for you and do it for free to boot. The intermediate and advanced lessons at Linux.org/lessons cover everything in this book and much more in a better organized fashion. I would go there instead of buying this book.

As a Linux user, How Linux Works is, I think, a "nice to have" technical book but certainly not an essential one.

I began using Ubuntu Linux just less than one year ago as my primary operating system. In addition to myriad online resources, I have about nine different Linux books stacked up near my desk.

However, only some of those books remain at or near the top of the pile. That is to say that one year later, a few of the books I've bought remain useful but most of them don't.

How Linux Works went to the bottom of the pile very quickly after I bought it and has remained there pretty much continuously since then. In fact, I only recently pulled it out of the stack to see if, now that I know a bit more about Linux, there might be anything interesting or useful to me. There wasn't.

So my take is that How Linux Works isn't a bad book, but it's one of the demonstrably least useful books I've ever owned...

The book had lots of useful information but it was hard to read and boring. I felt like I was in school.

This book was perfect for me. I use GNU/Linux at home and work, and I wanted to learn more about a wide range of topics (bootup, networking, kernel, etc.). For each section, "How Linux Works" gives a concise explanation of how things work, and covers a few commands and command-line options.

Brian Ward does a great job of choosing what to exclude, to keep the book technically useful but still readable. It's a very efficient way to move from beginner toward intermediate-level understanding.

I will use this book as a starting point for experimenting and learning more about GNU/Linux. I can get much more from man pages now that I know more commands, for example.

The title is a bit misleading. It covers much more than the Linux kernel, and would more aptly be named "How GNU/Linux Works." I also disagree that it's "what every superuser should know" - the discussion is aimed at intermediate-level users.

This would be a great learning tool for those who have had experience which some flavor of Unix and for those who have never seen Unix. I have experience with a proprietary Unix but wanted more specific details about Linux architecture and administration. It is a great review of basic unix concepts, processes, & commands with the added information that is Linux specific. The book uses a very organized approach with each chapter building on top of the previous one. Plus each topic is structured like a tutorial - so it is covered in a way that those who do not know unix - learn it. I am only half way through the book and have found it very beneficial. And my college age son who has only dealt with the Windows environment - is going to read it to get the basics about Unix and the details he needs for Linux usage.