Official (ISC)2 Guide to the CISSP CBK ((Isc)2 Press Series),   ISBN:9780849382314

Customer Rating: 

First off, this is a CBK and not a study guide. It can easily serve as a desk reference manual since it explains all the domains in great detail. A little dry in some areas ;> but definitely complete. I recommend this for anyone who wants to know more than "just the answer" for the CISSP exam. Oh yeah, I have degrees in both IS & IA and this book serves as my SME.

Customer Rating: 

As a candidate for the CISSP exam (two weeks, wish me luck!), I have to say this is the WORST book on the subject on the planet. Probably in the galaxy.

It manages to combine meaningless buzzwords, incoherent dense prose, self-contradiction, and total unreadability to the point that your time will not only be completely wasted, you will wind up knowing less about any given subject than when you started. It is impossible to express how useless and counter-productive this book is without resorting to language not in keeping with reasonable Amazon guidelines. As useful preparation, you would be much better off reading PJ O'Rourke's political satire.

If you are studying for CISSP, look at the "for Dummies" book, Shon Harris' most recent revision, or the new Stewart/Tittle/Chapple Study Guide, all of which are useful and reasonably well-written. Avoid this book like the plague. I have given it one star only because zero is not an option.

Customer Rating: 

Remember that ISC2 rewrote the exam in 2007/2008 - I'm not sure that this book is the most up-to-date version of their exam guide. Do your homework, which I can see you've already started by reading these reviews.

New changes to the test are also forthcoming - do a google search or check out the Shon Harris blog on Amazon.

Best of luck in achieving your certification!

Customer Rating: 

I bought this book on the recommendation of current certified CISSP that I work with. As an aid they also recommended Shon Harris book too. I will update this review when I pass the exam.

Customer Rating: 

After reading the ISC2 book Official (ISC)2 Guide to the CISSP Exam I decided to read this book Official (ISC)2 Guide to the CISSP CBK ((Isc)2 Press Series).

As a professional instructor and courseware developer in the IT industry with a focus on security and advanced communications, I was not impressed with the editors work on the 1st edition.

The different chapters were written by different writers which caused a stark contrast to how the book read as I moved from chapter to chapter. Overall there was good information that helped me pass the CISSP exam. If I had not gone through the first book Official (ISC)2 Guide to the CISSP Examand a training boot camp before this book, I would not have noticed the lack of information in some chapters and occasional errors. There is a chapter or two that had very little value-add content and could have been left out if it wasn't for the fact that they needed to be there to complete the 10 domains of the CISSP.

Another interesting thing I noticed was that the book is longer (in number of pages) than the guide to the CISSP Exam, but the glossary at the end is huge! This actually reduces the amount of content that you would read, unless you like reading glossaries.

Pros:
A book to round out your studies of the CISSP or review literature and an already certified CISSP.
The chapters take a different angle to the CISSP profession than the EXAM guide published by ISC2.

Cons:
The editing was not terribly good.
Additional SME reviews would have been a huge plus before this was published.

I would like to see a polished 2nd edition.