Herstein or Herstein?

I read somewhere that Herstein would prepare me nicely (abstract algebra-wise) for grad studies. I don't remember where I read it and now that I was about to buy the book I found out that there two Hersteins:

and

I wanted to figure out whether one is more advanced than the other or whether one is sequel to the other.

So I looked at both TOCs on Amazon and saw that Topics in Algebra is about 100 pages longer. Then I tried to figure out which one is more advanced by comparing. But it's kind of confusing because for example in just the group theory part, in one book there is a chapter ''Factor groups'' whereas in the other book the chapter is called ''Normal subgroups and Quotient groups''.

Now I don't know much more. So my question is:

Is one of the two Hersteins a sequel to the other, that is, are they meant to be read in a particular order?

And:

Is one of them more advanced than the other?

And:

Is it a good idea to read both?

I cannot tell how much overlap there is.

• Topics in Algebra is the more advanced book. It is the one you will need to master to prepare for graduate work. – N. F. Taussig Jun 11 '16 at 10:31

1. Neither book is meant as a sequel, they are independent texts.
2. The more advanced (and more generally well-accepted) book is Topics in Algebra.
3. It's always a good idea to read more (especially in mathematics), but generally I would advise (a) to read more than one author and (b) to read something other than Herstein's Abstract Algebra.

Topic in Algebra by Herstein was published in $1964$ while Abstract Algebra was published in $1986$. Most widely Topics is considered as a classical book in abstract algebra. Topics is I think best for the subject. I don't know they are sequels or not as Topics is an advanced book. Very well written and exciting. I think everybody should read Topics. I will recommend you to start with Topics if you like to.