Uyless Black is a poor writer, and you get the impression that you're reading his own study notes at times rather than the words of a master... but if nothing else, reading this series is faster than reading tens of thousands of pages of white papers. These books are rich in low level technical details, but the choice of which details to include and which to leave out frequently seems arbitrary and rarely contributes to easy reading.I'd recommend these books as a desk reference for the networking professional who isn't content to download .pdf standards and white papers from the ITU-T & the ATM Forum. Reading the series from start to finish is an unpleasant experience, but not unbearable.For the reader looking for an eloquent introduction to ATM, how it works, and what it can do, this is NOT the place to start. Keep looking.