Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. TCP/IP Illustrated is the name of a series of 3 books written by W. Richard Stevens. Unlike traditional books which explain the RFC specifications, Stevens goes into great detail using actual network traces to describe the protocol, hence its 'Illustrated' title. The first book in the series, "Volume 1: The Protocols", is cited by hundreds of technical papers in ACM journals. William Richard (Rich) Stevens (February 5, 1951 Luanshya, Northern Rhodesia –- September 1, 1999) was one of the most famous and widely acclaimed authors of UNIX and TCP/IP books.