Quick Take
- Narration: Phil Martin self-narrates, and the author’s direct ownership of the material comes through, he knows exactly which points need emphasis and where the official study guide goes wrong.
- Themes: CISSP certification, cybersecurity domain knowledge, accessible security education
- Mood: Methodical and demystifying, with a genuine teacher’s warmth beneath the technical content
- Verdict: The best argument for author-narration in certification prep, Martin’s firsthand familiarity with the material’s difficulty produces a 17-hour listen that simplifies without dumbing down.
I was talking with a friend who works in enterprise cybersecurity about what distinguishes good certification prep from bad, and her answer was specific: the good prep materials explain why concepts matter, not just what they are. The official CISSP study guide, she said, is notorious for giving you the what without the why, dense, jargon-heavy, built for completeness over comprehension. Phil Martin’s Essential CISSP Exam Guide was born explicitly as a response to that problem, and in audio form, the author’s frustration with the official material is a productive engine throughout.
At seventeen hours, this is a substantial listen. Martin covers all eight CISSP domains, Security and Risk Management, Asset Security, Security Architecture and Engineering, Communication and Network Security, Identity and Access Management, Security Assessment and Testing, Security Operations, and Software Development Security, across seventy-five chapters. The chapter count sounds intimidating until you realize that many chapters are short, focused treatments of specific concepts rather than the sprawling domain surveys you find in the official guide. This structural choice is intelligent: it makes the material more navigable and the audiobook easier to use for targeted study.
Author Narration as Pedagogical Advantage
Martin narrating his own work is not just a nice-to-have here. He wrote this book because he found the official material inaccessible, which means he has a deeply personal investment in making the concepts land. When he works through an example to illustrate a security principle, you hear the emphasis in exactly the right places. He knows which parts of the CISSP material confuse candidates most, and his voice carries the awareness of someone who has been on the other side of that confusion.
One reviewer specifically highlighted passing on their first try, crediting both the print and audio editions. That pass-rate claim aligns with what the format does well: the audio keeps domain concepts circulating in working memory during commutes, making the repetition feel natural rather than rote. The self-narration maintains a conversational register that the official ISC2 material cannot match, which reduces the cognitive friction of sustained study.
The 2018 Body of Knowledge Caveat
This edition was updated for the 2018 CISSP Body of Knowledge, which the subtitle makes explicit. The CISSP exam outline was updated again in 2021, with domain reorganization and emphasis shifts, and there may be additional updates since. Candidates preparing for a current exam should verify which body of knowledge their exam is based on before committing to this as their primary preparation resource. The conceptual foundations of the eight domains remain largely stable, but specific emphasis weightings and terminology can shift between exam versions.
For candidates whose exam aligns with the 2018 body of knowledge, this guide is current and well-calibrated. For others, it should be treated as a conceptual foundation to supplement with current domain weighting information from ISC2.
The Chapter Navigation Note
Martin includes a candid note in the synopsis that chapters may not display descriptive names on mobile devices, a platform limitation of the publishing environment, but that each chapter opens with the title read aloud. In practice, this means navigating the audiobook by chapter number rather than title when jumping between sections. For targeted study sessions, this is mildly inconvenient but workable. Listeners who plan to use the audiobook for full domain review in sequence will not encounter this problem at all.
How to Use This Audiobook Well
The combination strategy one reviewer described, print edition plus audiobook, is genuinely the optimal approach for this material. Use the audiobook during passive listening opportunities to build domain familiarity and reinforce concepts you have already worked through in the print edition. Use the print edition for active study sessions where you can cross-reference, annotate, and work through practice questions. The two formats are genuinely complementary rather than duplicative.
Listeners who are entirely new to cybersecurity and approaching the CISSP as an aspirational target rather than an imminent exam should be aware that the CISSP requires five years of professional experience in at least two of the eight domains. Martin’s simplification is genuinely good, but the underlying concepts assume professional familiarity with security environments. This is a study guide, not an introduction to cybersecurity.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this audiobook aligned with the current 2021+ CISSP exam outline, or only the 2018 body of knowledge?
The subtitle explicitly states it is updated for the 2018 CISSP Body of Knowledge. The exam outline was revised again in 2021. Candidates should verify their target exam version with ISC2 and check whether the domain structure and weightings in this guide match their exam before using it as their primary study resource.
How does Phil Martin’s narration handle the mathematical or formula-heavy content in the risk management domain?
Martin self-narrates and his approach throughout is to use plain language and examples rather than heavy mathematical formalism. The risk management domain content is handled conceptually rather than computationally, which is appropriate for CISSP preparation, the exam tests risk reasoning and prioritization more than quantitative calculation. Listeners who need deep quantitative risk modeling will need additional resources.
The chapter navigation issue mentioned in the synopsis, how much does it actually affect the listening experience?
For sequential full-book listening, the navigation issue is irrelevant. For targeted review sessions where you want to jump to a specific concept, you will need to use chapter numbers rather than titles on mobile devices. Martin notes that each chapter opens with its title read aloud, so scanning by ear is possible but slower than a properly labeled chapter list.
Are there practice questions included in the audiobook edition?
Practice questions are not a core feature of this audiobook based on the available information. The book is primarily a conceptual simplification of the official study guide material. Candidates who need extensive practice question exposure should supplement with dedicated CISSP question banks such as those from Boson, Wiley, or the official ISC2 practice question resources.
