Your The Ultimate Guide, Second Edition, presents Unix as it is actually practiced in the real world. Ideally suited for self study or for use in the classroom, it features Notes, Tips, Caution boxes, plenty of self-test questions, and exercises of varying complexity. The book's many pedagogical features are complimented by a presentation that shows how Unix provides a complete environment for the programmer. The reader who covers the whole book will come away understanding not only how to use Unix, but also how to write programs that implement standard Unix features.
Simply one of the best books you can find on this topic. -- I had borrowed & studied this particular 2nd edition at my university's library. Almost 2 years later, I got a more recent 3rd edition of this book and added it to my bookshelf as a good Unix/Linux reference. I definitely recommend it.
I picked this book up for free from when my Computer Science Department moved to another building and they decided to clear out any unused books they didn't want. At the time I had barely scratched the surface of C/UNIX Systems and was just learning how to use Linux.
This book is perfect for any beginners starting out with UNIX, how the systems work, basic usage, and common commands. However, note that this book is quite dated but the commands and usage topics are still pretty nice to have in your toolkit when working with UNIX Systems. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more on one's own. Note that having as Terminal nearby is a must whether is be a VM or a Native UNIX system.
Because of my university I read this book. I was able to understand but most of the class bored because of theoretical parts. A thick book with so many theoretical information but so less practical exercise. Also last edition (3) is named as "Ultimate Unix/Linux Guide" but lacks at modern features. It does not cover a certified and popular Unix distro, OSX. It teaches VI and Perl which can be replaced with modern elements such as SciTE and Python. I liked the book but I'm the only one who liked that book in class.