11/10   I need a good unix system administration book. I was about to get
        "Essential System Administration" (Oreilly) but then I started hearing
        about this "purple bible", called "Unix system Administration Handbook),
        ISBN 0130206016. Any recommendations?
        \_ The "Essential System Administration" is a good beginning. It covers
           lot of system administration topics, the kind of things that
           sysadmins deal with on a daily basis. Keep in mind that this book
           (like most technical books) is somewhat out of date. Also, the
                 bad in either. He does have a bad attitude, which is lame.
           coverage of unix networking in this book is very poor (just the basic
           concepts). You might want to also read the "TCP/IP Network
           Administration" from the same publisher to cover the gaps in
           networking.
        \_ rule #1, sysadmins use 80 columns
        \_ rule #2, the good sysadmins are usually fat and ugly
           \_ you calling tom holub fat and ugly or a bad sysadmin?
              \_ both.
              \_ He's neither good looking nor a good sysadmin. But he's not
                 bad in bed either. He does have a bad attitude, which is lame.
                 \_ Quick!  Censor this!
                 \_ Did he ever graduate?
                    \_ why dont you ask him?
                       \_ I think he did...
                 \_ Just a bad attitude against those who are lame.
                        \_ Yes, Tom was there when they came up with the word
                           "cool".  I always think of Tom when I think "cool".
                           \_ don't you have anything better to do?  -tom
                              \_ Yes but it only takes about 30 seconds every
                                 week and you're so asking for it.
        \_ O'Reilly is more conceptual -- the bus book (which I believe
           is the one you've mentioned -- it has a cartoon picture of
           a bus on the cover) by Evi Nemeth is more application-oriented.
           Those are the 2 most popular UNIX SA books out there.  They
           complement each other nicely.
           \_ conceptual?  not terribly..  but the O'reilly is indeed quite
              good.  helped me survive AIX administration.
              \_ No offence, but while reading the AIX parts of that book (the
                 book often covers the specifics of Solaris, SunOS, Digital
                 UNIX, AIX, Linux, SCO, etc) I was often thinking "WTF were
                 they thinking when designing it [AIX]"
        \_ The purple bible you're referring to is the "UNIX System
           Administration Handbook" by Nemeth et al.  It doesn't really have a
           bus on the cover, it's more of a cartoon SUV.  The purple one is
           the 3rd edition.  It used to be called the red book because the
           2nd edition was red.  It's a much better book than Essential System
           Administration; it's more enjoyable to read, and, in general, it's
           easier to get the information you need quickly with it.