Many people come to Linux from a Windows background so a book directly moving from one to the other might seem like a good idea. In the introduction, the author clearly states that the book is not for Microsoft haters, and the first three chapters go further into this. The rest of the book contains the 12-step program.

The first two chapters give an informed account of what Linux is, why its free, what Red Hat is, the differences between it and Windows and so on. The author presents his case distinctly and tells his personal story well. These chapters make for fairly entertaining and relatively unbiased reading. The third chapter starts to introduce the Linux OS. It covers concepts, definitions for processes, commands and tools.

The rest of the book gets down to the nitty-gritty. How to install and configure Linux, how to connect to a network and manage users, how to run a Web server and deal with email, along with plenty of direction for more resources and Web sites (including its own).

For many years, open sourced Linux has been the domain of code geeks, and to a certain degree, this book reflects that fact. The book looks like wants to appeal to the open market - with its cute A 12-Step Program for Habitual Windows Users on the front. But the skill level needed to implement the books instructions are a step or two above the for Dummies series. This is reflected in the book by the fact that it quickly moves to Administrator functions such as managing users and running Web servers, while areas such as downloading, installing and running Linux software is shunted to the back of the book.

For those at the administrator level, the level of explanation is great. The book has to cover many different concepts and does so quickly and well. For those with lower skill levels, much is simply glossed over, and the lack of illustrations does nothing to help matters.

Jacinta Thomler