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Title: Cisco UnAuthorized by Jeffrey S. Young ISBN: 0-7615-2775-3 Publisher: Prima Lifestyles Pub. Date: 26 January, 2001 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $27.50 |
Average Customer Rating: 2.88 (8 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: Clueless writer on the hoof
Comment: I don't know if Jeffrey Young understands the *business* of networking, but he sure doesn't have much of a grasp on the technical details. That'd be okay, except that he seems to feel compelled to try to explain the technical details.
The cherry on top of the sundae of misinformation: "Moving data around in a network or through the Internet [...] is inherently better with one standard. In networking today, that standard is IP, or Internet Protocol based on Cisco's software: IOS." IOS is just one implementation of IP, and certainly wasn't the first. If Young doesn't understand that the Internet doesn't run wholely on Cisco software, it seems to me that the rest of the book is going to be pretty suspect.
This is hardly the only poorly-stated, unresearched remark that Young throws out. His explanation of the Internet was perhaps the worst I've ever read. I'm giving the book two stars instead of one because I enjoyed some of the insight into John Chambers and the rest of Cisco. Alas, given Young's technical gaffes, I really don't know if I can trust these parts of the book, either.
Rating: 1
Summary: Book is unabashed (and dated) cash-in on New Economy bubble
Comment: I spotted this book at a retailer and bought it with tremendous anticipation, both because it is a genre I enjoy (business "biography") and because it is about one of the most successful companies started in the last decade of the 20th Century. Regrettably, I was profoundly disappointed when I read it. Admittedly, I was expecting more of a historical accounting than a technology vision paper, so perhaps my disappointment was my own fault. Nevertheless, the book struck me as unabashedly written for marketability and to cash in on readers still interested in how companies benefited during the New Economy bubble rather than for information or entertainment value.
I had no beef with the fact that in the New Economy timeline, a book copyrighted in 2001 was probably out of date in 2002. What did surprise me was that I had to wait until page 165 to start learning about the actual history of Cisco, a problem in a book that is only 296 pages without the acknowledgements and the index. Also surprising was the storyboard built on anecdotal observations rather than detailed interviewing, the retelling of lightly edited stories, and solid research. Strangely, there are occaisional gems included on companies and individuals NOT associated with Cisco, but it obviously could't save the book.
A better execution of this type of book was writted by T. Boyle on GE and Jack Welch (At Any Cost). For reporting on the history of technology companies, one obviously has to mention T. Kidder's Soul of a New Machine on Digital's rise in the market. And finally, for a timeless approach to entertaining company biographies, I would be remiss not to mention C. Hilton's Be My Guest.
Used copies of this book are available for less than it will cost to ship it to you. My advice, take a pass on this one.
Rating: 4
Summary: One Author's Look at a Giant
Comment: This book takes a look at the huge corporate monolith (also called "the Borg" by a few friends of mine who work there) called Cisco Systems. It starts off by giving a short story of the company's current status. And since this book is almost a year old now, of course it's a bit dated. This book came out before the economy took a nosedive, taking Cisco along with every other company. I'd be intrigued to see what the author would have to say about Cisco now. Even so, Cisco appears to have weathered the storm well.
It takes a long hard look at John Chambers, the "country boy" turned Cisco CEO and his quest to do "whatever it takes" to keep Cisco on top. Pointing out along the way that Cisco seems to have stayed on top due to the competitors' failures as well as acquiring at breakneck speed any "start-up" with the latest and greatest technologies that Cisco can capitalize on.
The book also details the stories of the competititors, like Lucent, Nortel, Juniper, and Redback and how they may yet cut into some of Cisco's sales. While I found this book to be very informative not only about Cisco and its history, as well as some background on its competitors, I got the sense the author is silently waiting to see Cisco fall. Whether or not this actually happens of course is another story, one that may take years to unfold.
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Title: Making the Cisco Connection : The Story Behind the Real Internet Superpower by David Bunnell ISBN: 0471357111 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 18 February, 2000 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: John Chambers and the Cisco Way: Navigating Through Volatility by John K. Waters ISBN: 0471008338 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 22 February, 2002 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: Inside Cisco: The Real Story of Sustained M&A Growth by Ed Paulson ISBN: 0471414255 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 14 September, 2001 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? Inside IBM's Historic Turnaround by Louis V. Gerstner Jr. ISBN: 0060523794 Publisher: HarperBusiness Pub. Date: 12 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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