STOP Buying IT Certification Books - CCNA | CCNP | A+ | Network+
About this video
The creator argues you should stop buying individual IT certification books — they cost around $40 each in his examples, are heavy to carry, and lose resale value when an exam version expires — and instead subscribe to Safari Books Online, which he describes as a Netflix-style library for tech books. He stresses he still believes a good book is essential: his three-part prep formula is a great video course, a hands-on lab (Packet Tracer, GNS3 or physical), and a good certification book. Safari, he says, costs $39 per month (he also cites $400 per year) — roughly one book — for unlimited access to books for CCNA, CCNP, A+, Network+, Security+, CyberOps, Python, Raspberry Pi, Kali Linux and more, including authors he names such as Todd Lammle. He demos searching, opening a book’s table of contents, highlighting and adding notes, notes that some video training is also included, and that the phone app allows offline downloads. He says he had been a paying user for about six months, had not bought a certification book since, and mentions a 7-day free trial and his own NetworkChuck.com/books page.
Key takeaways
- Creator’s prep formula still requires three things: a video course, a lab to practice in, and a good book — the video only changes how you get the book
- His case against physical books: roughly $40 each, heavy to carry between study locations, and hard to resell once the exam version expires
- Safari Books Online is pitched at $39/month as stated in the video for unlimited books across Cisco, CompTIA and broader tech topics, plus some video training
- Practical benefits he demos: instant search across many titles, in-book highlighting and notes, and offline reading via the phone app
- He frames it as a pocket reference library for working admins/engineers too, not just exam candidates, since jobs require looking up unfamiliar topics
Episode details: published April 25, 2018 · 7:57 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are NetworkChuck’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.
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