Re: Penetration testing books

[krymson () gmail com]

You'll likely get the same old list of books given whenever anyone asks for a list of books on an overly broad subject:

Hacking Exposed series
Security Engineering
Hacker's Handbook series
crappy compilations from Syngress...

I'd suggest heading to Bookpool.com and doing a search on what sort of box/application you need to learn about. For 
instance, "Linux security" or "web application security" or "subject security."

Then cross-reference that with Amazon ratings just to weed out some of the crap.

This might not work, in which case you might want to tackle reading the online copies of various testing methodologies. 
For each bullet point, tackle researching and learning how to test for each one. XKCD illustrates the value in this 
approach: http://www.xkcd.com/519/

This is a great start: http://www.vulnerabilityassessment.co.uk/Penetration%20Test.html