Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach (4th Edition)

I studied graduate level networking with Prof. Kurose at UMass Amherst roughly 2 years ago, he's the man and his book is amazing! Buy a copy if you have ANY interest at all in networking, I promise you wont regret it!

This book is the best computer networking book ever. If you are a student trying to understand Networking concepts, please DO NOT read Andrew Tanenbaum Intro to Computing. That is the worst book ever. Computer Networking:A Top Down Approach by J Kurose & Ross explains all the layers of networking with the internet in mind and hence makes it easier to understand complex algorithms and concepts. You can read this book as many times and every time you will learn something new or understand a concept better.

This book has 8 chapters for a total of 700 pages.
It is one of the best books I have read. The language is simple, authors covers complex topics in highly understandable way. The language is informal, still highly informative.
This book follow the OSI model from a top down approach, starting from the application layer. I think this is a good approach. Generally people reading this kind of books already has a general concept of how computer programs over a network works. So starting from the application layer simplify a lot the understanding of the material presented here.There is not much math involved here. All concepts are explained "verbally" as much as it can be.
The material is well organized. You'll never feel lost. All you need to know is here. Reading this book is a pleasure.
The only penalty I can assign is the price: too high for a book of this category. If I can say three adjectives to describe this book, well, I choose "complete, clear, accurate".
If you are searching a book about computer networks, this is the book for you. Buy it without doubts.

Probably my biggest problem with this book is in the fact that it doesn't accurately describe the OSI Model. There are 7 layers to the OSI. The fundamentals of networking have not changed in nearly thrity years. This book totally ignores the Session and Presentation layers of the OSI. For a student that read this textbook with no previous knowledge of networks, then they are led to the conclusion that there are only 5 layrers in networking. I do not agree with this book trying to simplify the OSI model.

Also this is a textbook, the author and publisher need to understand that textbooks get resold. As a student I don't always have lots of extra money to spend, and therefore I buy used as much as possible. This book provides a code to access a website. The problem is that it's only good for the first student that uses it. After that, they expect you to fork over more money to get access to the content on the website. ridiculous.

Furthermore, like I said earlier, the fundamentals of networking have not changed in 30 years. Although there are advances being made in gigabit ethernet and wireless networking, the fundamentals remain the same. Releasing new editions every few years is a gimmick intended to plunder students and rob us of what little money we have. I've just finished a BS degree in Computer Science, over 90% of what I learned was theoretical. Very little of what I learned is current, cutting edge technology. I seriously doubt the "new" third edition will have any additional information that would justify a new edition.

I never read a book that was more clear then this one. Also while the book is rather theoretical, it contains so much real case studies and interesting facts that the reader keeps his motivation from the start to the end of the book. Here is a comparison with Tannenbaum 's famous book on computer networking.

-Both books go deep and give fairly rigorous explantion without too much mathematics. Only some basic math and basic probablility is required like binomial distributions etc ...(remark however these books do not delve into the details of mathematical queueing models etc ...)
-This book is very up-to-date with the latest internet technologies like point-to-point file sharing, streaming and multimedia. Tannnenbaum does not contain the latest developments in these fields.
-The physical layer is explained in more details in Tannenbaum.
Other layers are explained with the same level of details in both books.
-This book reads better then Tannenbaum without sacrifying rigour. It contains also much more real-life case-studies.
-The concepts in this book are explained in a much clearer way then Tannenbaum. I perceived Tannenbaum as sometimes confusing. The authors of this book have so good didactic skills that they could explain complex networking topics to chimpansees....

Conclusion : this is the only book I know in computer networks that goes deep enough and explains the concepts in a clear way...If you are looking for the best book on computer networking, stop looking : here it is !!!.