Let's face it, being a geek is hard work (yes, I mean you; don't even try to pretend... you're reading a review on a Linux book, after all). Whether at work, at home, or at play on the croquet field (with your bright and dapper-green knickers on), there is always a better-than-most chance of being asked for advice from a friend or colleague experiencing technical difficulties. And you're obligated to know the answers because you are the resident computer geek. But you can't just get by remembering a few things, you have to know lots and yards worth of information. Computers are a demanding mistress, and her house is usually a mess.
So because of this, answers should be easy to come by, and preferably with good binding. If you are a Linux guru/geek (a "greek"?) then your hardcopy life support system had better be authoritative and all-inclusive, because as good as man pages are, they don't do you much good when you can't get to them to begin with. Plus, if you're like me, there's just something indispensible about having a good reference book handy. I'm too much of a neat freak to want to hop around a messy onscreen desktop littered with program windows. I want a book. I want to take that book with me places my computer may not go. I want an index. And I want a picture of a horse on the cover (don't ask me why, I just do).
Linux In A Nutshell seeks to deliver all these things. It is a book, with a horse, and in index, that is authoritative, and will give you more street-cred than an overclocked processor and cooling tube ever could. There are two main groups of people who might be interested in such a book. One is the professional developer or sysadmin, and the other is the adventurous hobbyist. The book excels by including necessary elements for both. Whether you've forgotten the proper syntax of a particular command, or you never even knew there were commands for some things, this book seeks to cover your hide in case of emergency.
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