I have two books on Ubuntu . . .

a) The Official Ubuntu Book (1st edition, 1st printing, Aug. 2006)
I'm sure the latest edition, especially the one that should come out
later this year will have updates and many corrections but can an
investment of $23, Amazon, on Ubuntu/Linux be more wisely spent? Then
again, if that was more or less the only Ubuntu/Linux book I needed
and it was updated every year to keep up to date with the software
development, $2 a month, $24 a year would be a good investment.

b) Linux phrasebook by Scott Grannerman
I tried to create a 'USB startup disk' my computer refused to boot on
it. Trying to erase all the data put on it was a problem. The 'phrase
book' with the smorgasbord.net sight below gave me the info needed to
do that. However, the phrasebook said that

chmod 777 (x.x) would give me all permissions. Wrong.
chmod a=rw (x.x) did. Why didn't the 777 work when a=rw did? Is it
something to do with Ubuntu?

That makes me think I need a book that speaks Linux but with a Ubuntu
accent. That is, it tells me how to do it in standard Linux and also
give the changed needed to work with Ubuntu.

I have been trying to install a second hard drive on my Ubuntu
computer. The answer did not come from any of the above but

www.smorgasbord.net/.../

There are many places on the net that talk about doing it but showing
me how to do it they fell short. You get what you pay for. While not
spending a lot of money I'm paying a lot of my time. In year go by you
could go to a book store and they had all kinds of books on all kinds
of computer subjects. Now a days almost everything is geared to
Windows. Not being able to go to a store and look over the Ubuntu
books, seeing if they have answers to my questions I turning to you.

What books do you consider to be the most authoritative books on
Ubuntu/Linux?