Cisco Router Firewall Security (Networking Technology)

Book Description

Harden perimeter routers with Cisco firewall functionality and features to ensure network security

Detect and prevent denial of service (DoS) attacks with TCP Intercept, Context-Based Access Control (CBAC), and rate-limiting techniques
Use Network-Based Application Recognition (NBAR) to detect and filter unwanted and malicious traffic
Use router authentication to prevent spoofing and routing attacks
Activate basic Cisco IOS filtering features like standard, extended, timed, lock-and-key, and reflexive ACLs to block various types of security threats and attacks, such as spoofing, DoS, Trojan horses, and worms
Use black hole routing, policy routing, and Reverse Path Forwarding (RPF) to protect against spoofing attacks
Apply stateful filtering of traffic with CBAC, including dynamic port mapping
Use Authentication Proxy (AP) for user authentication
Perform address translation with NAT, PAT, load distribution, and other methods
Implement stateful NAT (SNAT) for redundancy
Use Intrusion Detection System (IDS) to protect against basic types of attacks
Obtain how-to instructions on basic logging and learn to easily interpret results
Apply IPSec to provide secure connectivity for site-to-site and remote access connections
Read about many, many more features of the IOS firewall for mastery of router security

The Cisco IOS firewall offers you the feature-rich functionality that you've come to expect from best-of-breed firewalls: address translation, authentication, encryption, stateful filtering, failover, URL content filtering, ACLs, NBAR, and many others. Cisco Router Firewall Security teaches you how to use the Cisco IOS firewall to enhance the security of your perimeter routers and, along the way, take advantage of the flexibility and scalability that is part of the Cisco IOS Software package.

Each chapter in Cisco Router Firewall Security addresses an important component of perimeter router security. Author Richard Deal explains the advantages and disadvantages of all key security features to help you understand when they should be used and includes examples from his personal consulting experience to illustrate critical issues and security pitfalls. A detailed case study is included at the end of the book, which illustrates best practices and specific information on how to implement Cisco router security features.

Whether you are looking to learn about firewall security or seeking how-to techniques to enhance security in your Cisco routers, Cisco Router Firewall Security is your complete reference for securing the perimeter of your network.

This book is part of the Networking Technology Series from Cisco Press, which offers networking professionals valuable information for constructing efficient networks, understanding new technologies, and building successful careers.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent reference for securing Cisco Routers.......2006-02-23

The two things I like most about this book are the lack of typos, and the chapter structure, in which each successive chapter builds on the security and lessons preened from previous chapters. A great Cisco router security reference.

Best-of-class book at implementing security on Cisco routers - check it out for the CCIE!.......2006-02-06

CiscoPress's "Cisco Router Firewall Security" by Richard Deal is designed as a book to secure perimeter routers. It is both a practical (and much needed) CiscoPress guide on how to harden a key piece of the network AND an excellent tool for any potential CCIE candidate (either for the Security and R&S lab). On pretty-much every page are either detailed diagrams or complex configurations discussing the topic at hand.

The other reviews of this book all comment from a security perspective, and I cannot hope to add anything new to these reviews (especially Richard Bejtlich's review). I can comment from the perspective as someone studying for the CCIE. In Parts 3 and 4, the book dives into the different types of ACLs that you may encounter on the lab. Reflexive ACLs, CBAC (Content-Based Access Control), and NBAR (Network-Based Application Recognition) are each given their own chapter and fully explained in depth (something not replicated in other CiscoPress books - I own over 50 CiscoPress books). I particularly like the discussion on page 308 on how best to counter a Smurf Attack. Chapter 13 on Lock-and-Key ACLs is also a valuable must-read for any potential CCIE candidates. In chapter 17, on page 679, is a great discussion on how to counter a TCP SYN flood attack.

Overall, I think "Cisco Router Firewall Security" is the best CiscoPress book published that discusses best-practices for securing Cisco routers. Too be honest, I am kind of surprised I do not see more 'noise' on this book (either from reviews here or on the CCIE list at Groupstudy.com). I have to believe it is from the title, as the title almost implies that this is a firewall book. That is too bad, as this is an excellent book for any network admin concerned about security. Weighing in at over 850 pages, this book will take some time to digest, but will be well worth the effort!

I give this book 5 pings out of 5:
!!!!!

An indispensable instructional reference.......2005-10-06

In Cisco Router Firewall Security, computer security expert Richard Deal provides truly indepth, step-by-step coverage on just how to configure a Cisco router to secure access to it. Cisco Router Firewall Security deftly explains how to use IOS routers as a firewall solution for protecting a data network from outsiders, especially hackers. Each part of Cisco Router Firewall Security addresses a specific type of technology or security issue and covers the IOS features both old and new that can be used to implement each security feature. Cisco Router Firewall Security is an indispensable instructional reference.

Just what a technical Cisco book should cover.......2005-05-19

I really enjoyed reading Cisco Router Firewall Security (CRFS) by Richard Deal. This book delivers just what a technical Cisco book should: discussion of concepts, explanation of command syntax, and practical examples. The author offers several ways to solve a security problem and then recommends his preferred choice. He correctly leans towards applying cryptography when available and avoids clear-text authentication methods or control channels. If you avoid the first chapter and keep a few minor caveats in mind, I would consider CRFS to be a five-star book.

CRFS covers all of the major technologies I hoped to see in a book on Cisco security functions. Though published in August 2004, it manages to provide details on the newest Cisco IOS features that contemporary books often ignore. For example, the author emphasizes the benefits of configuring SSH access, and not only SSHv1; he explains that SSHv2 is preferred. I found the book's coverage of access control lists to be very clear, and I appreciated the author's discussions of strengths and weaknesses of different ACL types. Mr. Deal is also very conscious of the load placed on the router whenever higher-end security features or traffic inspection is invoked. His warnings provide operational insights to using IOS security features. Beginning with chapter 3, each section presented just the information I needed to implement various security features.

I gave CRFS four stars, and not five, because I found some of the author's perceptions of security to be confusing or sometimes wrong. He repeats at least five times the oft-quoted but never substantiated myth that "70 percent of network attacks" are internal. This is completely backwards, according to CSI/FBI and Secret Service studies that say around 70 percent of attacks are caused by outsiders. While some of the most devastating incidents are indeed perpetrated by insiders, the majority of attacks continue to be launched from outside the security perimeter. While this point may not seem that significant, it is not a solid footing on which the author can justify certain security recommendations.

While reading CRFS I also sensed that neither the author nor his technical editors were security professionals. I do not mean that they do not or have not handled security incidents. In fact, several of Mr. Deal's stories explicitly and properly address intrusions and other events. Rather, I sensed the author and his team were networking professionals first, with security duties tacked on. For example, p. 8 lists applications, the OS, and network infrastructure as "threats to your company's network." These have vulnerabilities -- they are not threats. On p. 28 Mr. Deal says "SSL can protect only web application traffic," but this is wrong. Pages 31-33 lists "some of the most common" DoS attacks, but the explanations there of chargen and ping of death attacks are wrong. WinNuke, a Windows DoS exploit from 1997, is also listed! Page 94 says "IDS solutions are still in their infancy," although they have been deployed for over 10 years. These and related security misperceptions made me believe a person with a primary security role should have reviewed CRFS.

It is easy to overlook these security faux pas, however. CRFS does a better job describing some security issues than other security-focused books. For example, I found the coverage of the effects of DoS attacks upon a router to be better than books specifically written about DoS! Mr. Deal frequently advocates monitoring as a way to know what is happening on the network, and I found his IDS deployment guidance to be sound.

To the extend I could evaluate Mr. Deal's discussion of Cisco features, I believe they are correct. One notable exception involves using the established keyword with ACLs. On p. 269 and elsewhere, the author claims "the established keyword looks to see if the ACK, FIN, PSH, RST, SYN, or URG TCP control flags are set. If they are, the TCP traffic is allowed in." This is incorrect; established looks for only the ACK or RST flags. This is not a major concern as other filtering options provide better defense anyway.

Overall, I consider CRFS to be an excellent piece of work. I am adding it to my recommended reading lists and I strongly suggest than anyone using Cisco routers in their perimeter read and heed this book. Keep an eye out for Mr. Deal's next book on building VPNs with Cisco gear.

Arm yourself--secure and defend your network!.......2005-04-03

Cisco Router Firewall Security by Richard A. Deal is one firewall security book no networking professional should be without. The book begins with an overview on network security and firewalls, and continues with a showcase of Deal's extensive knowledge and experience configuring the Cisco IOS Firewall. Now, rather than re-inventing the wheel or relying on trial and error practices in configuring your Cisco IOS firewalls, you too can incorporate Deal's extensive Cisco Router Firewall Security expertise into your network security plan, or environment. In each chapter of the book, Deal walks you through best practice Cisco Router Firewall Security configuration as he explains and demonstrates, step-by-step, how to program the Cisco IOS Firewall feature set-from router security management to virtual private networking.

Networking professionals having an intermediate to advanced knowledge of Cisco routers, or at least a Cisco CCNA certification will benefit immensely from reading and applying the Cisco IOS firewall security features discussed in the book. All concepts and examples, such as configuration command files, are clearly explained against the backdrop of example network illustrations and thus easy to follow. Deal reinforces each and every illustration with appropriate, well-executed discussions for you to follow as he pin-points the reasons for implementing, or applying, Cisco IOS firewall security and how best to configure it for maximum advantage.

For networking professionals interested in pursuing a Cisco security certification, Cisco Router Firewall Security provides a wealth of tips, recommendations, considerations and cautions. While there is no CD-ROM included with the book, an abundance of configuration command file listings provide network administrators and engineers the opportunity of a virtual experience in the nuts-and-bolts of configuring Cisco IOS firewalls in a secure manner. Networking professionals will develop an unparalleled depth of understanding in best practice network security-such as properly securing the various modes and methods of accessing Cisco routers as well as the Cisco IOS firewall.

On a scale of 1 - 5, 5 being the highest, and in terms of usefulness and practical application, Cisco Router Firewall Security easily rates a 5. Network engineers and administrators will benefit immensely from this handbook of network security: from the illustrations showing where and why network security should be applied, the index which is strictly focused on cross-referencing network security topics, and the solid network security advice that reaches beyond Cisco-centric networking environments. Future books by Deal, as well as his previous book, PIX Firewalls, will undoubtedly prove to be excellent reading for the networking community at large seeking to increase the security of their networks and to ward off ever-increasing network attacks and intrusions.

If shooting from the hip in dealing with network security issues is your stick, Cisco Router Firewall Security is the book for you. Cisco Router Firewall Security provides a smorgasbord of tried and tested network security process, procedure and application-providing a comprehensive set of tools and case study material that can be either adapted in whole or in part when making your case, or justifying, how you intend to protect or defend your network against attacks.

Without question, you absolutely must add Deal's Cisco Router Firewall Security-a stellar treatise on both applied network security and applied firewall security-to your networking bookshelf. Arm yourself with the necessary knowledge, skills and practical application to secure and defend your network-and in essence your job-or else, you're fired!

Average customer rating:

large, but not well executed

Designing and Building Enterprise DMZs
Hal Flynn
Manufacturer: Syngress
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1597491004

Book Description

This is the only book available on building network DMZs, which are the cornerstone of any good enterprise security configuration. It covers market-leading products from Microsoft, Cisco, and Check Point.

One of the most complicated areas of network technology is designing, planning, implementing, and constantly maintaining a demilitarized zone (DMZ) segment. This book is divided into four logical parts. First the reader will learn the concepts and major design principles of all DMZs. Next the reader will learn how to configure the actual hardware that makes up DMZs for both newly constructed and existing networks. Next, the reader will learn how to securely populate the DMZs with systems and services. The last part of the book deals with troubleshooting, maintaining, testing, and implementing security on the DMZ.

· The only book published on Network DMZs on the components of securing enterprise networks

· This is the only book available on building network DMZs, which are the cornerstone of any good enterprise security configuration. It covers market-leading products from Microsoft, Cisco, and Check Point

· Provides detailed examples for building Enterprise DMZs from the ground up and retro-fitting existing infrastructures

Customer Reviews:

large, but not well executed.......2006-11-01

i used to install firewalls as a consultant, and i spent a lot of time looking at varius configurations. in the intervening years, i've had the chance to keep current and examine a number of firewall devices for new features, configurations, and also look at some of the changes new technologies (ie WiFi) have brought. all in all, i think i was was pretty well prepared to look at "Designing and Building Enterprise Dmzs" from the angle of someone who's a moderate level firewall user.

i think it's fair to say that i'm disappointed in this new volume from Syngress, for numerous reasons. but before i get to the nits and complaints, i'll start with what i did like.

the book is large, nearly 700 pages of text covering a number of major commercial firewall products, such as checkpoint, nokia, microsoft, cisco, juniper netscreen, and sun. i like th fact that the authors were ambitious (more on that later), you do wind up with a lot of information in a single volume. if you've read firewalls books before, like the canon from oreilly, then you know a lot about firewalls, but you've probably understood that things are changing. new technologies require new solutions, and new offerings have hit the market. firewalls are now more abundant, more feature filled, and this book does a good job of tackling these products with, often, a good attempt at key coverage.

what i also like about this book is that it's not only about technologies, it's about management and about network layouts. this book doesn't pretend that there's one network, but instead shows how various approaches for various needs can be applied. the authors try to show you how each product's features can support those requirements, and what technologies can be used to guard access or secure hosts in a DMZ. this isn't just a book about firewalls and products.

ok, on to the complaints. you know a book is bad when you spot errors such as a bad CIDR specification for RFC 1918 address space (table 1.4), lots of port lists, and a brief primer on "servers" an services buried deep in a chapter on security cisco routers (chapter 11, page 540). i suspect the last point is due to the numerous authors in the book and a failure to find a cohesive structure, but that's a major failing of the book. it doesn't find a consistent voice and doesn't provide consistent coverage of the topics.

some chapters spend more time reviewing marketing materials for products (ie the chapter on juniper netscreen devices, chapter 9) than on getting down to a real feature comparison. this is a real failure of this book. the authors have a chance to cover all major commercial firewalls out there in a clear and unified way, taking an approach that can unify solutions across all, and haven't done so. you wind up with inconsistent coverage and have difficulty in finding the same information in any of the chapters. it's very tough to have multiple authors writing a book, but the editors should have budgeted time to provide a cohesive voice or enforced coverage standards. the reader would have benefitted dramatically for that.

as is often the case with syngress books, the screenshots are too often poorly done. again, this seems to be a function of the chapter and, i'm presuming, the author (based on their stated strengths in the intro to the book). the chapters using web-based and UNIX tools are often filled with poor quality, full screen screenshots that are illegible due to the scaling. the chapters on windows-based tools often have only a small window as a screenshot, enabling better legibility. care needs to be taken for these sorts of things.

the quality of the writing is ok, but it could be better overall. again, a function of the authors, i think, and not a strong editing job. often the writing is not very clear or well organized, and overall the book suffers for it. there's some good info in here, but it's buried under unclear and poorly organized text.

you should look over this book carefully if you're thinking about buying it. this will probably target people in large, heterogeneous environments or people studying for exams. i doubt someone will have all of these technologies in their production environment. however, if you want to see a lot of different firewalls compared, this is worth looking at, but be cautious about buying it.

Average customer rating:

Cisco Router Firewall Security
Richard Deal
Manufacturer: CISCO (PEARSON EDUCA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000K2SMGC

Book Description

THE SINGLE MOST COMPREHENSIVE SOURCE OF COMMODITY AND FUTURES MARKET INFORMATION AVAILABLE

Since 1939, professional traders, commercial hedgers, portfolio managers, and speculators have come to regard The CRB Commodity Yearbook as the `bible' of the industry. Here is a wealth of authoritative data, gathered from government reports, private industry, and trade and industry associations, all compiled by the Commodity Research Bureau, the organization of record for the entire commodity industry itself.

Absolutely essential for identifying changing trends in supply and demand and for projecting important price movements, the Yearbook gives the investor:

Worldwide supply/demand and production/consumption data for all the basic commodities and futures markets-from A(luminum) to Z(inc), including all the major markets in interest rates, currencies, energy, and stock index futures
Over 900 tables, graphs, and price charts of historical data, many of which show price history dating back to 1900
Fact filled CD-ROM: As an added bonus to this year's edition, a companion CD-ROM has been included to provide readers with valuable commodity information in an easy-to-use electronic format
Concise introductory articles that describe the salient features of each commodity and help put the quantitative information in perspective
Articles by prominent professionals on key markets and important issues concerning the commodity industry. The 2004 Yearbook features articles by CRB Chief Economist, Richard W. Asplund, including:

"Major Commodity Bull Market Emerges in 2003," "U.S. Economic Surge Drives Global Economic Recovery," "Free-Trade Talks Produce Some Successes but Move from Global to Regional," and "China Breaks Out as a Major Player in Global Commodity and Financial Markets."

For anyone dealing in commodities, The CRB Commodity Yearbook 2004 offers an abundance of valuable information and indispensable guidance for decision-making.

Book Description

Like it or not, money launderers are major players in the world's economy. Their strategies constrain national economic policies and undermine financial institutions. With the advent of secure transfer technologies, and with the help of modern financial theories of derivatives and leverage, money laundering has become a significant structural component in contemporary geopolitics. This penetrating and thorough analysis focuses on control: how the problem is handled by legislation and regulatory and law enforcement agencies (particularly in the US and the EU), what the daunting challenges are that must be faced, what more can be attempted. In the course of developing in-depth consideration of the numerous intertwining issues that arise, the author uncovers a wealth of precise detail about what we know and what we can reasonably surmise about patterns of money laundering activity. Relevant matters covered include: + the internal measuring and monitoring systems used by financial institutions; + methodologies in use or in development to measure the extent of money laundering; + the role of money laundering in the "informal economy"; + the global rise of new criminal organisations; + conflicts of criminal legislation and civil law; + the relation of money laundering to capital flight; + degrees of moral ambiguity and appropriately tailored control strategies; + the role of offshore financial centres (OFCs); + the use of derivatives in the money laundering process; + obstacles to the monitoring of wire transfer activity in real time; and + the "ethical indeterminacy" of white-collar crime. As the first cross-disciplinary analysis of money laundering-fully recognizing the activity's economic, political, and juridical dimensions-Criminal Finance clearly identifies a useful array of appropriate criteria that may be used to develop and implement effective control strategies. The book will be of immeasurable and immediate value to bankers, legislators, regulators, law enforcement authorities, and concerned lawyers and academics everywhere.

Customer Reviews:

Comprehensive overview of criminal finance.......2002-07-25

Dr Hinterseer presents a comprehensive and thorough review of the world of global criminal finance, including the activities of organised crime syndicates, the developing world dictatorships, and the international terrorist networks. As a solicitor, he is able to assess the legislation and matrix of international treaties devised to deal with criminal finance and related financial crises, including the recent reaction to the terrorist events in the US and the New Basle Accord.

A highly recommended book for anyone involved or interested in these areas.

Average customer rating:
Criminal Finance: The Political Economy of Money Laundering in a Comparative Legal Context
Kris Hinterseer
Manufacturer: Aspen Publishers, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MHJEO4

Book Description

The purpose of this book is to provide an overview of research on agricultural systems that is both broad and selective. The focus is broad, by covering approaches used in a number of disciplines, as well as in multidisciplinary studies, and by defining agricultural systems to include cropping systems, farming systems, agricultural household systems, and agricultural systems at higher levels such as the agrarian system. The focus is selective by emphasizing key methods and ongoing debates, rather than attempting a comprehensive review of literature. Most previous reviews of research on agricultural systems have concentrated on a particular approach, e.g., farming systems research (FSR), including comparisons of anglophone and francophone variants of FSR, or on research conducted in specific geographical settings.

Book Description

Addressing global environmental problems, such as global warming is essential to global sustainability. Continued research leads to advancement in standard methods and produces new data. Carbon Dioxide Utilization for Global Sustainability: Proceedings of the 7th ICCDU (International Conference on Carbon Dioxide Utilization) reflects the most recent research results, as well as stimulating scientific discussions with new challenges in advancing the development of carbon dioxide utilization. Drawing on a wealth of information, this well structured book will benefit students, researchers and consultants looking to catch up on current developments in environmental and chemical engineering.

* Provides comprehensive data on CO2 utilisation
* Contains up-to-date information, including recent research trends
* Is written for students, researchers and consultants in environmental and chemical engineering

Book Description

How is light amplified in the doped fiber? How much spontaneous emission noise is generated at the output? Do detectors with optical preamplifiers outperform avalanche photodiodes? What are the current types and architectures of amplifier-based systems? Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifiers Principles and Applications These are just a handful of the essential questions answered in Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifiers-the first book to integrate the most influential current papers on this breakthrough in fiber-optics technology. Written by one of the pioneers in the field, this unique reference provides researchers, engineers, and system designers with detailed, interdisciplinary coverage of the theoretical underpinnings, main characteristics, and primary applications of EDFAs. Packed with information on important system experiments and the best experimental results to date as well as over 1,400 references to the expanding literature, Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifiers illuminates such key areas as:

Modeling light amplification in Er-doped single-mode fibers
Fundamentals of noise in optical fiber amplifiers
Photodetection of optically amplified signals
Spectroscopic properties of erbium glass fibers
Gain, saturation, and noise characteristics of EDFAs
Device and system applications of EDFAs

In so doing, the book sheds light on many new frontiers of knowledge, such as inhomogeneous modeling and nonlinear photon statistics, and demonstrates the many broadening benefits of EDFAs, including their polarization insensitivity, temperature stability, quantum-limited noise figure, and immunity to interchannel crosstalk. With the demand for transoceanic and terrestrial communications growing at a steady rate of 25% a year, the arrival of Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifiers-destined to significantly expand the capabilities of today's hard-pressed lightwave technology-couldn't be more timely.

Customer Reviews:

The best source.......2001-11-02

Yes, there are some easier books, in terms of reading and understanding. Yes, there are books more colorful than this one. Yes, there are some books with less formulas than this one. Yes, there are some errors in this book.

However, if you really need to study and understand EDFA, read it. If somebody publishes a book more complete and more detailed than I will rate Desurvire's book with less stars.

not very useful.......2001-09-17

I had high hopes for this book and tried to work with it for a long while (especially given the high price). However it is much too difficult to understand and does not explain things clearly. It is very confusing to follow and it seems like the author's mind was jumping around a lot in many of the chapters.

Even 8 years later a very valuable book to own!.......2001-04-21

This is a great book! I have used it steadily for the last 3 years. Hardly a week goes by without my consulting it. I have learned many, many ideas concerning rare-earth doped fiber amplifiers from Desurvire's book. I have checked with my own calculations a large number of his equations and numerical results and I have found no significant errors. I have recalculated the curves in more than 10 figures with virtually no discrepancies. In my experience it is rare to find a book that even gives you enough information to check its results. The book comes with a two-page erratum to help you fix the few misprints. The reference list is comprehensive and complete up to the publication date. In the year 2001, there are naturally many topics that are missing from a book that was finished in April of 1993, but this does not decrease the importance of Desurvire's book because it treats so many basic topics at a fundamental level. I believe than any serious designer or researcher in the area of rare-earth-doped fiber lasers and amplifiers should have this book. There are other good books that are very useful for certain design applications, but they are not a substitute for this book.

good news / bad news.......2001-04-14

**good news** would be a useful up to date EDFA book **bad news** (especially for the serious EDFA designer and researcher) Emmanuel Desurvire is attempting to write it. Will some one else please write this book? The above book is two flawed to be twinned on library shelves.

Good news and bad news about EDFAs.......2001-04-12

**Good** news for engineers and physicists : Volume II of "The EDFA book" is in progress, and will be released soon. The first volume, published in 1994, still provides unmatched reference for serious understanding of the complex EDFA physics. However, for causality reasons, it does not cover industrial developments that will appear only years later. Such developments have been sketched by more recent, wide-audience and shorter introductory books, but of limited use to the true specialists. Volume II will bridge such a gap and will provide the first XXIst century update in this field.

**Bad** news for some 'millioneers' in quest of quick-and-dirty EDFA expertise : Volume II will be as involved as volume I on the physics and mathematics side, while it will cover in depth the most recent industrial developments, with detailed contributions from corporate- and internationally-recognized developers. Definitely not to put in any hands or recommend to people who don't need to "know".

Emmanuel Desurvire

Book Description

What if somebody finally wrote to his high school alumni bulletin and told....the truth! Here is an update from hell, and the most brilliant work to date, by the novelist whom Jeffrey Eugenides calls "original, devious, and very funny" and of whose first novel Chuck Palahniuk wrote, "I laughed out loud---and I never laugh out loud." The Eastern Valley High School Alumni newsletter, Catamount Notes, is bursting with tales of success: former students include a bankable politician and a famous baseball star, not to mention a major-label recording artist. Then there is the appalling, yet utterly lovable, Lewis Miner, class of '89---a.k.a Teabag---who did not pan out. This is his confession in all its bitter, lovelorn glory.

Customer Reviews:

Acerbic look at a failed life.......2007-10-06

Sam Lipsyte has taken an anti-hero and made him likable. This is a tall order, but Lipsyte is not fazed.

Lewis Miner aka Teabag is one of the most acerbic and cynical narrators I have seen in literature. His view of the world is entirely jaundiced. There is no secret hope or longing. Everything in his life turns to crap, and he's come to accept it. Rather than being overtly bitter, he accepts this fate and moves on with life. The only chink in his armor is his drug abusing, possibly incestuous, ex-girlfriend, Gwendolyn. Lipsyte makes the "successes" in this book so two faced and unappealing that the reader has no choice but to root for Teabag. But, the characters never become outlandish, save Fontana, Teabag's profane and sexually deviant high school principal.

The narrative is told as a series of letters. Each chapter crackles with the wit of a man who has accepted that he will never amount to anything and thus has no expectations of the world. Through Teabag, Lipsyte rails against the phoniness of people in modern society, fan worship, the battle of the sexes, and the results of one's role models failing. Even though the book itself is hilarious, the issues bubbling beneath the surface make the reader think. I found myself seeing a lot of the so-called "popular kids" from my high school in Teabag's nemeses.

Lipsyte is one of the great new voices of our generation. I will be looking out for his other books.

high-larious.......2007-05-29

Lipsyte is obviously a brilliant writer, and in Home Land we get to see him strut his stuff. Laugh out loud always, at times perhaps a bit showy (thats why 4 instead of 5 stars), this book is HIGHLY recommended.

Funniest book I'll ever read?.......2007-02-03

Uncompromising, original, and without a single cliché to be found, Sam Lypsite has written one of the funniest books I may ever read. Painful, honest, "Homeland" has a sentence- to-sentence brilliance that is incomparable. Buy it, read it, and thank me later.

Don't read this on a bus.......2006-06-20

People will think you're crazy when you start laughing like a maniac. I could relate to many of the situations described here. It reads like some of the better Blogs out there (true diamonds in the rough those are, but they are worth the effort to look for).

I loved this book, truly and honestly. Although my school life was never as bizzare as that of the characters in this future classic, this is definitely the funniest book I've ever read where Home Land was the title.

Okay, it's only the second book I've read with sucha title, the other being Homeland by R.A. Salvatore (Book 1 in The Dark Elf Trilogy) and that one wasn't intended to be funny.

One complaint I do have though. Why no audiobook version? Honestly, if you were to do one and couldn't get the author, Marc Maron or Chasing Amy's Jason Lee would be perfect.

The best funniest loveliest little book .......2006-01-16

I'm hoping J.D. Salinger is up there in his New Hampshire sugar shack laughing his ass off at this book. It's one of the loveliest confections I've encounted in a long time, really invigorating and well composed humor. I hope Mr. Lipsyte can live with the high bar he's set for himself, because it is a marvelous construction that leaves you desiring more. Catcher on the Rye meets National Lampoon meets Barry Hannah meets some bong stained den in northern New Jersey. I hope this book keeps percolating in sales, because it deserves to. Good stuff.

Hard Scrabble: Observations on a Patch of Land

Average customer rating:

The Man and His Land
Back to the land, Texas-style

Hard Scrabble: Observations on a Patch of Land
John Graves
Manufacturer: Southern Methodist University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Authors | Arts & Literature | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0870744720

Customer Reviews:

The Man and His Land.......2005-08-13

Texan John Graves is not a man to shy away from challenges: he invites them. When he bought his little piece of Texas, he clearly knew he was in for a big one, but I am not sure if he was aware of how his accumulated knowledge of this land would shape the man he was becoming. This book takes you through the process of a bumpy courtship and the resulting marriage between a man and his land.
Already armed with a deep appreciation of Nature, he was able to slowly coax renewed vigor into this misused patch of land through his gentle nurturing of it.

The book is full of his personal adventurers such as stone masonry, animal husbandry, carpentry, and all the hazards inherent in farm life. All presented without regret, with humor and modesty. Inevitably he laments the encroachment of more urban activities as they threaten his bucolic existence. Yet he speaks of the duality of his own urban interactions and compares them to the realities of his rural lifestyle.

This book to me was as much about the man John Graves as it is about his subject, "Hard Scrabble". Tough and complex, like his Patch of Land, he personifies the best Texas has to offer.

Back to the land, Texas-style.......2003-12-14

In 1960, at the age of 40 and after many years wondering the globe, Texas-born writer John Graves bought a worn-out patch of land in the hills south of Fort Worth. It began as something of a retreat and became a life-long attachment. This book, published in 1974, is a humorously thoughtful description of how this new landowner becomes equally owned by the land he has settled on.

Not a long book, it reads at a leisurely pace, as Graves traces the history of the land, once fertile and grass-covered. He tells what he knows of the numerous tribes of Native Americans who once lived on it, including the fierce Comanches. Then he characterizes the first settlers, who knew next to nothing about land stewardship and cared less, exhausting it with poor farming techniques, overgrazing, and a single-crop economy--cotton. We learn of the toll taken in depleted soil, diminished flood control, and the spread of cedar and scrub brush across former prairie. And we learn of the descendants of these early settlers, diminished by reduced circumstances, some of them making a living by cutting down cedar brakes into fence posts.

Having established the history of the land, Graves takes us on a tour of his farm, which he calls Hard Scrabble, describing in turn the fields and streams, the plant and animal life, the weather. Then he describes the long, slow process of reclaiming what he can of his 400 acres, clearing the land, building a house, barn, and other outbuildings, learning stone masonry and carpentry as he goes. In connection with this subject, there is a discourse on the industriousness and workmanship of Mexican laborers, all of them illegal, who help him with building, fencing, and fighting back the growth of unwanted brush and cedar. On the subject of animal husbandry, he tells of raising cattle and goats. And in the investment of himself in all of these he ruminates on how they transform him and root this former world-traveler more firmly into a rural frame of mind.

Of the many things I enjoyed in this book, I especially liked his capturing of the way his country neighbors talk. Their points of view and temperaments are captured in quirky turns of phrase and syntax. An episode involving local fox hunters is a joy to read. Graves is in many ways a Texas version of E. B. White, transplanted from city to country and not only seeing this remote environment with fresh eyes but engaging physically with it, befriending the long-time inhabitants, and discovering a way of life only dimly understood by city-dwellers. Although Graves' writing style is more given to verbal flourishes, his wry humor and literary allusions remind one of White's collection of essays on living in Maine, "One Man's Meat."

Book Description

In one of the true classics of American nature writing (first published in 1957), Borland recounts the cycle of a year on his hill-country farm in northwestern Connecticut.

Customer Reviews:

A Must Read.......2007-01-31

I found this book to be another of Hal Borland's masterful descriptions of the nature around us. When Hal describes a brook to fish in, or a hill loaded with color in the fall, an animal's tracks in the snow,a weathered fence line falling down, the sound of geese far overhead on a cold clear night.....You can feel, hear, and see in your mind's eye... exactly what he was describing. You might have even experienced these things, yourself, at some point in your busy life, but never thought any more about it until you opened the pages of this and all others by Hal Borland. This book is not only a MUST read....It's a GREAT read. Enjoy

[...]

Understanding Christa Wolf: Returning Home to a Foreign Land (Understanding Modern European and Latin American Literature)

Average customer rating:

Understanding Christa Wolf: Returning Home to a Foreign Land (Understanding Modern European and Latin American Literature)
Margit Resch
Manufacturer: University of South Carolina Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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