Although the book is a bit dated it definitely is a must have. I went from a complete network beginner to having a strong confidence in the basics of networking after spending two days reading this book. It is very similar in style as that of K&R in that it is short, to the point, and easy to read. This book covers all the basic networking models for clients and servers, and even at the end goes into more detail on how the packets are actually sent and how the sockets work at a more fundamental level. Even with the need to look up some of the new functions used that are compatible with IPv6, I still feel that buying this book was the best option I could have chosen.