There's another book from no starch press titled How Cybersecurity Really Works that's a very readable introduction to how cybersecurity works (shocker, right?) and how people will try to get around it. It wont give you too much info on pentesting, but it gives you some info you'd need to know to move in the right direction. I have a copy of How Linux Works but honestly have learned a lot more practical things from tutorials or articles online. This book and the tutorials here are my favorite to recommend. It covers the basics very well, and its free lol https://linuxcommand.org/tlcl.php More on reddit.com

No Starch has excellent beginner books. Good editing, good writing, very few issues, and their pdfs are actual searchable, indexed, TOC, text, not images or scans. The few Packt titles I've seen are poorly edited with screenshots on Windows 95 computers. My opinion of O'Rielly fell quite a bit when they started selling Packt titles. More on reddit.com

A lot of rebundling from the umpty previous No Starch Linux and general programming bundles, as is to be expected. But a decent amount of new and updated stuff, plus a repeat not previously in a Linux bundle. Newly-bundled books (all published late 2021-2022): Practical Linux Forensics (starting in 20 item 2nd tier) Devops for the Desperate The Book of Kubernetes Programming with OpenSCAD (starting 16 item 3rd tier) Updated books: How Linux Works 3rd edition (2nd previously bundled) The Book of Inkscape 2nd edition (3rd tier) Notable repeats: The Linux Programming Interface (the expensive single extra book at the top tier) Racket Programming the Fun Way (recent-ish book that first showed up in the March 2022 The Joy of Coding by No Starch Press bundle, not in any previous Linux/BSD-themed ones) Previous Linux/BSD bundles and discussion on this sub: Nov 2019 Linux and BSD Bookshelf Jul 2018 Linux Geek More on reddit.com

After sveral tons of slop from all the shitty publishers around the world, we have finally something readable. But for 60 USD. Bundle is good, but better question is "Worth it?". Here are some my opinion, I have personal intereset in several book from this bundle, so I will this time spend more time with my own opinions rather then Amazon review analysis, but some Amazon data insights will be there as well. There is mix of old but good books with new flagship books. No starch budnles typicaly have most books pretty old, but this time 8 of 17 books were released 2025 or 2026. These books make bundle expensive I guess. Two books (one in 3 USD tier and second in 36 USD tier) are actually marked Early Access. Not sure how it works in case of No Starch. As far as I know, it is first time No Starch present EAP book. In case of Manning I got access to their subscription platform and can access final books afterwards, but as far I know, No Starch bundles were always based aroudn downloading PDFs, epubs, mobi, etc and no subscription access system. It would be weird if buyers do not get final book after it release. Bundle contains several of their flagship books. You can identify them by white cover with some nature things. The Linux memory manager is in 36 USD tier, remaining two are in 60 USD tier. All three are for very advanced developers/administrator who need to understand various linux parts realy deeply. These books are not intended for beginers. All three are over 1000 pages long. It is 3800 pages writen by reputable industry legends. Memory manager is Early Access. No reviews yet, obviously. System Programming release half year ago, there are 7x 5-star rating. 2 written reviews are fully positive. Programming Interface is oldest from these. It is from 2010. It is over 1500 pages long and on Amazon it has average rating 4,83 based on 729 reviews. 1, 2, and most 3 star reviews are all about bad print and book broken on delviery except one review from some beginer who expect more simple tutorial to open files handles in Linux. First relevant negative 3-star review says that book is too broad and do not go to detail. To be honest, I have no idea how 1500 pages book can be broad and lack details, but this is simply what one amazon reviewer said. 4-star reviews are positive with some minor, but objective notes. I think the most important note is that book is from 2010. Linux evolved a lot since then, but majority of book is still valid I guess. Building a Debugger is book of my interest. I actually bought it in print, but did not read yet. Should be guided tutorial to write custom debugger and implemented all it's importnat parts on at least basic level. I actually implemented several apps behaving like debugger, but all on Windows, so I bought this to dive into how are things implemented on Linux. Along the way, it should explain some cmake. Book author is active in C++ community and used to work in Microsoft for some time. Many other books are repeats: "The Linux Command Line" was 4 times on humble since ~2024, but this time 3rd edition is offered (previously 2nd). "Linux Basics for Hackers" was offered back in december 2024. "How Linux Works", "The Book of Kubernetes", "Practical Linux Forensics", and "Linux Firewalls" were all 4 offered back in May 2024 bundle. "Black Hat Bash", "Practical Forensic Imaging" was offered in december 2025 bundle. "Wicked Cool Shell Scripts" was already offered two times in 2024. Before summing it up, let's look at tiering 3 USD tier offers one scripting, one networking and one security book. Wizardry is new (Early Access). Scripting is from 2016. Firewalls is oldest in the bundle, from 2007. For 1 USD it likely would worth it. For 3 USD, I am not sure. 10 USD tier adds 2 hacking/security books. I think it do not worth it. Books are only moderately long (~300 pgs), ratings are not impressive and it is steep price increase. 18 USD tier adds kubernetes, forensics and your "Your Linux Toolbox" which looks like some collection of magazines for children. If tier worth it most probably depends on your interest. 36 USD tier adds some new books: debugger, wireless cookbook, more modern book about shell scripting and one flagship book (Memory Management) + few oldies as a gift. I think it worth it. 60 USD tier adds two flagships: System Programming and Programming Interface. For beginers, it do not worth it. For proffesionals, it depends on your interest. Check books table of contents and sample chapters before buying. Finally, here are RAW data from amazon.de. The Linux Memory Manager is EAP and has no Amazon page. Data in this row come from No Starch site, page count is only eastimation since it is Early Access and no ratings are obviously present. TIER ISBN13 PGS YEAR CNT STARS NAME 60 978-1718503564 1032 2025 7 ***** System Programming in Linux 60 978-1593272203 1552 2010 729 ★★★★★ The Linux Programming Interface 36 978-1718504523 504 2026 5 ***** The Linux Command Line, 3rd Edition 36 978-1718503540 248 2025 199 ★★★★★ Linux Basics for Hackers, 2nd Edition 36 978-1718500402 390 2021 727 ★★★★★ How Linux Works, 3rd Edition 36 978-1718504462 1300 2026 0 The Linux Memory Manager (EAP) 36 978-1718504141 448 2025 8 ***** Effective Shell 36 978-1718504080 744 2025 12 ★★★★★ Building a Debugger 36 978-1718504363 432 2026 0 The Wireless Cookbook 18 978-1718502642 304 2022 55 ★★★★☆ The Book of Kubernetes 18 978-1718501966 400 2021 66 ★★★★★ Practical Linux Forensics 18 978-1593279776 1 2019 75 ★★★★★ Your Linux Toolbox 10 978-1718503748 336 2024 58 ★★★★☆ Black Hat Bash 10 978-1593277932 320 2016 52 ★★★★★ Practical Forensic Imaging 3 978-1593276027 392 2016 211 ★★★★☆ Wicked Cool Shell Scripts, 2nd Edition 3 978-1593271411 336 2007 28 ★★★★☆ Linux Firewalls 3 978-1718504424 304 2026 0 Heavy Wizardry 101 (EAP) NOTE: Star rating in the listing above follows my own rules: For books withg less than 10 ratings different characters (* and °) are used 5 star book is book with average rating between 4.7 (incl) and 5.0 (incl) 4 star book is book with average rating between 3.7 (incl) and 4.7 (excl) 3 star book is book with average rating between 2.7 (incl) and 3.7 (excl) 2 star book is book with average rating between 1.7 (incl) and 2.7 (excl) 1 star book is book with average rating between 1.0 (incl) and 1.7 (excl) EDIT 2026-03-31: I originally picked wrong "Linux Firewalls" book, so I updated data, and also updated 3 USD tier point including change in outcome in that point More on reddit.com