Customer Reviews:
 Very poor June 4, 2007
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Awful style of writing, content is all over the place and uses too much formal notation and set theory. If you are looking to learn new things here, then this book isn't for you. I have had the displeasure of sitting an exam based on the material from this book.
The authors seem to use as much complicated language as possible, making seemingly simple concepts sound a lot harder to understand. They will introduce new ideas in an ad hoq manor, mid sentence making revision painful indeed.
Unless like me you have an exam on the topics specific to this book, I'd recommend the Tanenbaum book, who has a better grasp of writing.
 Ideal book for cramming on the night before the exam! August 26, 2002
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
The ideas and concepts of distributed systems are explained so clearly and simply that you spend little time trying to understand the concepts - you understand them as soon as you read them.This book gives quite an in depth explanation of the concepts, which can give too much detail which beyond the course's syllabus - this is where the summary section comes into its own. If you are a student and this is the main book for your course - take the course! Even if the lectures are boring, the book wont be.
Distributed Systems? The Definitive Text. October 4, 2001
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
This book is simply the standard by which all other Distributed Systems texts are measured. If you are coming to this book with a basic understanding of Computer Architecture, Operating Systems, Networks and TCP/IP, you will leave this text with a thorough understanding of the essential principles of the discipline. Fantastic.
 If distributed systems are for you, so is this book!! January 16, 2001
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
After using the 2nd edition of this book, I was really pleased at the new material in this revision - there is enough to warrant the purchase of the new 3rd edition as numerous sections of the book have been reworked and brought up to date, notably in Java implementation sections. Overall, and without going in to too much detail about the book - there's too much to go in to really - I can't recommend this book enough for both experienced programmers and newcomers to the concept of distributed and real-time systems.
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