Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I picked this book up a number of years ago when I got interested in understanding exploits. I've got experience writing code, and even some basic knowledge of networking. However it was difficult to get past the first 3 chapters. I stopped, and started elsewhere. This book will cover everything you need to know, and while that sounds great it's not for beginners or people looking to start quickly. I recommend seeking introductory knowledge elsewhere, C, OSI, TCP/IP, operating systems etc. Penetration Testing a Hands on Guide by Georgia Weidmam is a good way to get started with just getting hands on practice. Once I went back and got a grip on these concepts and had some practice the book was easier to understand and I came to appreciate it much more. Its not an easy read, and you need to have some solid understanding of the machine as a whole. After I played with buffer overflows in a VM I went back and appreciated chapter 0x200s coverage of registers and what they do. Buy this book only if you have a solid understanding of the computer as a whole, or will develop it alongside. The book will not get you started. It will definitely help you develop the understanding of why a buffer overflow script written in Python works, and how. If you want to get up and running quickly look elsewhere. But that doesn't mean it's a bad text, it's well done, insightful, and will help you understand the why of exploiting software.