This book has ok for anyone that has the time and patience to read over 1,600 pages of text. I too agree with an earlier review that the book does contain too much "fluff" and does not get to the point of the pertinent material in a concise mannor. The small text is very hard to read and the glare from the glossy paper used to print this book make the book hard to read for more than an hour at a time.

If you have already read the Mastering Windows Server 2000 by Manasi, don't waste your money on this book. About 90% of this book is just a reprint of the material in the previous book. Manasi would have done better in writing a book that was geared toward just the material that was new to Windows Server 2003 and saving about 1,000 pages in the process.

My recommendation would be to find one of the other book that are available for Windows Server 2003 that are more "to-the-point" and specific to the subject matter of Microsoft's new Server 2003 release.

Once again, I am extremely pleased with this book. This is an in-the-trenches type book that will help you get your job done. It is not meant to be a general overview of Windows 2003. It is not meant to only uncover the changes that have been made in 2003. What the heck kind of book would it be if it only had all of the new features that 2003 offered. Minasi could put that in a stinkin magazine article if he wanted to. For all you people out there that want a read that just outlines the new features of 2003, then download a blasted white paper from Microsoft. I don't agree one single bit with any of you folks who cry about seeing the same matierial in the 2003 book as in the 2000 books. If the feature is implemented and managed the same way in both 2000 and 2003, what in the heck does the wording need to be changed for. The book is called Mastering Windows Server 2003 not Mastering What's New In Server 2003. The book has to cover the full spectrum people! And it does just that, magnificently. You folks that gave this books such a low mark (1 star) and wrote the most unprofessional and incorrect comments are probably the very ones that live at his web the he provides us for !!!FREE!!!,by the way, trying to fix your Active Directories that you let the "Wizard" create for you, or pulling your hair out trying to come up with a solution for all the infighting and political turmoil that exists in your organization because this group of admins does'nt want that group of admins to get the Enterprise Admin privelages. The answers to these and many, many more issues are brilliantly covered in this book. In a nutshell, you will be a better Windows administrator after reading this book..period. You will read about things that you will not find anywhere else...promise! Minasi crosses bridges in this book that most people don't. Everything that he writes about is thoroughly tested by him or his co-authors before they even think about putting it to paper. I truly beleive, that the "Mastering" series of books have done more to make me a better administrator/designer ( and I am really good!), than any other book or class that i have ever read or taken, hands down!! And if you don't have the 2003 book in your arsenal, you are going to spend a lot of time searching white papers, forums, and many other books for information that you could have found right here in this book. I'd rather spend my time being productive instead of searching all over the place for answers to something. It's your choice!

This book is just amazing! As someone who is fairly new to administering Windows 2003 (um, and Windows 2000 and Active Directory), it has proved to be a GODSEND! This is THE book that I grab everytime I need to learn how to set something up. Mark has this incredible ability to feel like he is right in the room with me, looking over my shoulder. His explanations are great. And, I for one, am glad that I get LOTS of pages for my money. I didn't know the first thing about DNS, Active Directory or Windows 2000/2003 Server when I picked up this book and now my test domains are simply humming along. I picked this book up in a bookstore after reading bits and pieces at the bookshelf. I came out to the Amazon site to get the ISBN number for a colleague when I read some of the reviews. You guys are crazy. I've read a ton of technical books and none of them come close to this one, in terms of what you get for the money. And why on earth would you think that you should be able to print from the CD? What's the copyright good for, if I could print a copy out for all of my friends. I'm sure it took a lot of effort to write this book and I, for one, am willing to pay for it. I'm sold. Thanks Mark. You made my life much easier.

This is le Carre's first novel. It has the merit of brevity, and this brevity is coupled with a plot just complicated enough for the length.

It is an important book, but not for its contents. It introduces George Smiley, Peter Guillam, Mendel of Special Branch, and Mundt of East German intelligence. The latter was to play a pivotal role in The Spy WHo came in from the Cold; Mendel in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy; Guillam in The Karla Trilogy; and Smiley? Well, Smiley is the key figure in le Carre's fiction - probably the most famous figure in all spy fiction. And it is for Smiley's introduction that the novel is important. Here, we find some of the history of his marriage to Lady Ann, we find some of his background, his work during the war, his time as an interrogator; and - a curiosity - Smiley as protagonist, a man of (occasional) action, rather than the deskbound thinker so familiar from later books.

The plot can be summarised simply. Smiley has interviewed an individual about allegations of spying. After the interview they die, apparently at their own hand, leaving a note which suggests that Smiley's interview led to the death. Smiley investigates whether this was suicide or murder? Was the deceased a spy? He is led to a confrontation with individuals from East German intelligence.

The writing style is workmanlike, although there is some foreshadowing of later le Carre obsessions. There are musings on the nature of betrayal (personal betrayal in a relationship, and public betrayal of a country); there is the conflict which rests at the heart of Smiley, a moral man acting in a way which may be immoral to achieve a greater objective.

Characterisation is perfunctory, only Smiley being adequately realised. But throughout this book and the later A Murder of Quality the characters seem ancillary to plot, and Smiley himself seems distant, cold. This reviewer did not care about the characters.

The novel is entertaining enough, but contrasted with the high standards set by le Carre's later fiction is disappointing.

This is one for le Carre completists. If you've not read le Carre before do not start here. The Spy who came in from the cold; and the Karla trilogy are as good as any post-war English fiction.

Although the author has said that this book is a disappointment, and that George Smiley did not develop fully until he wrote The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, this book is a fine first effort. This is a must read book for anyone who wants to learn about Smiley's relationship with Anne, the origins of his career, and his physical characteristics.

This book is far superior to the follow-on murder mystery, A Death of Quality.

It is unfortunate that this great little book has fallen out of print, like so many of Le Carre's books. I can't help but wonder why. It marks not only Le Carre's entrance into fiction, but George Smiley's first step into our world. Here we have our introduction to The Circus, Smiley's odd relationship with Ann and the history thereof. Such small things that are in fact so important. Not to mention that is a great little murder mystery, which is how Le Carre began his literary career. Both this and the follow-up, "A Murder of Quality", find George Smiley involved in that greatest of literary traditions: the murder mystery. It was not until Le Carre's third novel, the classic "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold", that he broke George Smiley free from his confines and dropped him into the world in which he is now such a familiar fixture.

This little book (not even two hundred pages) forms the perfect introduction to Smiley, and though it is not an essential piece of the Le Carre library, it is not to be missed if you're a George Smiley fan. I encourage everyone interested to seek out a copy (which you can in fact order from Amazon's sister site: Amazon.co.uk, but be prepared to spend the extra few dollars for importing).