Addresses the written aspect of the CISCO Certification process but the reader will need to fill in the practical portion...
An ambitious collection of 2,000 practice questions and answers that attempts to familiarize the reader with the first CISCO networking exam, the CCENT.
Through the device of questions and answers, AL_Taiey encourages students to carefully read about the concepts essential to an understanding of how computer networks function and the process by which they are designed. By formatting the book into sections that map to critical concepts in the CISCO curriculum, AL_Taiey aids the student in concentrating on the areas in which they may feel they need to improve. The questions are direct even if the language is sometimes awkward. On several of AL_Taiey’s “check all that apply” style of questions, all the listed answers are correct, which forces the reader to carefully read all of the foils. This is a valuable skill if one is preparing for any CCNA exam. While the book may prepare someone for the written parts of the exams, tackling the entire book in one week, as suggested by the title, would be a daunting task. AL_Taiey describes the step-by-step processes by which one configures routers and switches, and this provides a good base of technical knowledge, but the lab experiences, simulations and practical knowledge required to pass this particular exam will have to come from somewhere else. For a student who has worked in the field or someone who has had access to the CISCO Academy curriculum, this book would function well as additional study guide/test prep material. But without this foundation, the most likely outcome would be an improved score on the written portion of the test; what is commonly referred to as a “paper certification.”
Addresses the written aspect of the CISCO Certification process but the reader will need to fill in the practical portion from other sources, or better yet from work experience, before attempting the CCENT Exam.Pub Date: July 8, 2010
ISBN: 978-1450237055
Page Count: 824
Publisher: iUniverse
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Essays in intellectual and literary history explain how Venice came to be regarded as a living museum of Western culture. Rather than a guidebook, Pemble (History/Univ. of Bristol, England; The Mediterranean Passion, not reviewed) has written an academic but fairly accessible text for students and scholars who wish to learn more about Western intellectual history. Eschewing such abstractions as ``the decline of liberalism,'' the author instead offers learned anecdotes about Venice and links them to broader changes in Western history. Like many good historians, Pemble is a strong storyteller, and his tales convey much of value about such prominent intellectual and literary figures as John Ruskin, Leopold Ranke, John Addington Symonds, and Henry James. He is even better when profiling the less famous but more colorful men and women of the English-speaking expatriate community. The author chronicles the appeal Venice's mold and watery stagnation exerted for the Romantic imagination; its impact on early-19th-century British architects, who returned from the city to construct massive buildings in the Venetian-Gothic style (St. Pancras Station, etc.); and the way in which its extensive, carefully preserved historical archives became the basis for a newly scientific approach to history. A routine stopping-off point on the steamship route to India, Venice was portrayed in 19th-century literature as a half- oriental city, the site of secret vices and home to mysterious recluses. By the 20th century, it was hailed as a monument to Western culture, and Pemble ends with an account of the international conservation effort mounted by scholars, travelers, and expatriates to preserve the city, a campaign which continues today. Not always easy reading, but a nicely anecdotal introduction to Western cultural history as encapsulated in a single, magical city. (Illustrations, not seen)
Pub Date: March 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-19-820501-5
Page Count: 230
Publisher: Oxford Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1995
Pulling no punches and dodging no controversy, Proctor dives into the politics of cancer research. Given the disease's high media profile and the money lavished on battling it, why has its death rate continued to climb? Proctor (History of Science/Pennsylvania State Univ.; Racial Hygiene: Medicine Under the Nazis, 1988, etc.) focuses on the ways in which special interests ranging from the Tobacco Institute to Dupont Chemicals have influenced cancer research. The notion that cancer is ``a disease of civilization''—implying that it is an inescapable cost of progress—goes back to the 19th century, when it was learned that pollutants such as chimney soot from coal fires could cause cancer. More recently, the link between cancer and the byproducts of industry has been forged by researchers like Wilhelm Heuper, who fought a long battle to establish the case against occupational cancer hazards, and writers like Rachel Carson, whose own life was cut short by the disease. As with many others who pointed the finger of blame at large industries, they were vilified as crackpots, Luddites, and enemies of progress. Proctor discusses in detail the campaigns waged by PR firms to discredit evidence that tobacco or asbestos might be serious carcinogens: He dissects such familiar arguments as the unreliability of animal tests, or the balancing of ``unproven'' health risks against the economic costs of reform. Proctor estimates that as many as 600,000 cancer deaths may be attributable to foot-dragging by the Reagan and Bush administrations on regulation of industrial hazards. But the book offers little comfort to those who would demonize only Republicans. Not even Jimmy Carter escapes criticism for his firing of an HEW secretary who was too quick to blame the tobacco industry for marketing a carcinogen. Essential reading for anyone concerned with the debate on issues of public health and medical research.
Pub Date: March 29, 1995
ISBN: 0-465-02756-3
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Basic Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1995
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