[1311] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
Book review
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Dan Lester)
Thu Sep 24 13:18:03 1992
Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1992 11:30:53 CDT
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L%UHUPVM1.BITNET@mitvma.mit.edu>
From: Dan Lester <ALILESTE%IDBSU.BITNET@mitvma.mit.edu>
To: Multiple recipients of list PACS-L <PACS-L%UHUPVM1.BITNET@mitvma.mit.edu>
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
A number of guides to the Internet have been published recently, and others
have been announced for the near future. As of this writing there is
a new, undisputed champion that is available at a reasonable price.
Yesterday FedEx delivered our copy of Ed Krol's _The Whole Internet
User's Guide & Catalog_ direct from the publisher, O'Reilly & Associates,
Inc. This latest publication in their renowned Nutshell Handbook series
is worth every penny of the $24.95 list price. The ISBN is 1-56592-025-2.
O'Reilly can be reached at 103 Morris St, Ste. A, Sebastopol, CA 95472,
or 800-998-9938.
Many are familiar with the Nutshell Handbooks that O'Reilly has published,
mostly for the Unix and X Window environments. This book is a high
quality paperback of 376 pages that is printed on acid-free paper (not that
it will need to last that long, considering the rate of change of the
Internet). Those not familiar with O'Reilly's publications will be
familiar with Krol's RFC 1118, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Internet,"
which this new book updates and obsoletes.
To indicate how comprehensive and current the book is, I'll take the
liberty of listing the chapter titles:
1. What is this book about?
2. What is the Internet?
3. How the Internet works.
4. What's allowed on the Internet?
5. Remote login.
6. Moving files: FTP
7. Electronic mail
8. Network News
9. Finding software [all about Archie]
10. Finding someone
11. Tunneling through the Internet: Gopher
12. Searching Indexed databases: WAIS
13. Hypertext spanning the Internet: WWW
14. Other applications [fax, chatting, games, etc.]
15. Dealing with problems [error msgs, dealing with operations folks, etc.]
There are also appendices covering resources on the nets, how to get
connected, international connectivity, acceptable use, and other matters.
The glossary is adequate, but does not try to compare to the _The New
Hacker's Dictionary_. The index is very good.
In conclusion, I recommend this very highly. Although there are many
other competing works out there, this one covers almost everything anyone
could want to know, is well written for both the novice and the experienced
user, and is available now at a very reasonable price. All who are
reading this review should have a copy on their desk, and a copy in
their public, academic, or special library for reference by other potential
users.
Obligatory disclaimer: I do not know the author and have no business or
other connections with the author or publisher. I'm just a very happy
consumer.
dan
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* Dan Lester Bitnet: alileste@idbsu *
* Associate University Librarian Internet: alileste@idbsu.idbsu.edu *
* Boise State University *
* Boise, Idaho 83725 BSU and I have a deal: I don't speak *
* 208-385-1234 for them and they don't speak for me. *
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