Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects. The animal featured on the cover of Learning the Korn Shell is the hawksbill turtle. The name "hawksbill" refers to its prominent hooked beak. This marine reptile is one of the smaller sea turtles, having a carapace (upper shell) length of about two feet and weighing about one hundred pounds. Among pelagic turtles, the hawksbill alone has the tendency to feed and breed in the same area, preferring the tropical shoals and reefs of the world's oceans.

Primarily carnivorous, the hawksbill feeds on crabs, fish, sponges, and jellyfish. The turtle's flesh can be poisonous; in some places fishermen test for poison by throwing the turtle's liver to the crows. If the birds reject the liver, the hawksbill is toxic.

The hawksbill turtle is the sole source of authentic "tortoiseshell" which comes from the scutes, or outer layer of the carapace. Tortoiseshell has been harvested through the years--from ancient Egypt to the present--and is highly valued for its beauty and plasticity. As a result, the hawksbill is endangered. Illegal trade continues to threaten this species' existence. UNIX and its attendant programs can be unruly beasts. Nutshell Handbooks(R) help you tame them.

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Edie Freedman designed this cover and the entire UNIX bestiary that appears on other Nutshell Handbooks. The beasts themselves are adapted from 19th-century engravings from the Dover Pictorial Archive. The cover layout was produced with QuarkXPress 3.1 using the ITC Garamond font.

The inside layout was formatted in sqtroff by Lenny Muellner using ITC Garamond Light and ITC Garamond Book fonts, and was designed by Edie Freedman. The figures were created in Aldus Freehand 3.1 by Chris Reilley. The colophon was written by Michael Kalantarian.