Telecom/1996-04-telecom-walnutcreek.iso/book.reviews/whole.inet.user.guide

Amigaguide Document | 1995-01-05 | 7KB

Date: Fri, 29 Jul 1994 13:08:32 MDT
From: Rob Slade <[e-mail]>
Subject: Book Review: "The Whole Internet User's Guide and Catalog"
BKKROL.RVW   940506
O'Reilly and Associates
103 Morris St., Suite A
Sebastopol, CA   95472-9902
800-338-6887  fax: [phone]
[e-mail]
"The Whole Internet User's Guide and Catalog", Krol, 1994, 1-56592-063-5,
U$24.95
[e-mail]
For those of us who have used the Internet for some time, the
enthusiasm of "newbies" can sometimes be tiring.  You get used to
seeing articles, and hearing presentations, by those who are
breathless with excitement over the fact that they have received email
from someone in another country.  Thus, when I first heard of this
book with the rather "california" title, I assumed I would be plowing
through old material and trying to be kind in the review.
The day I received the book, I had a use for an "Internet guide".  I
had forgotten the site that allows posting from mail to the Usenet
newsgroups.  So, I decided to put it to the test.  I didn't find the
answer, but what I did find was a fascinating and useful resource,
well worth the time (and book price) invested by novice and devotee
alike.  In an environment where everyone and his dog seems to be
writing an Internet book, Krol has held a largely deserved place in
the pantheon, and is likely the most widely sold of the "resource"
level guides.
About three quarters of the book is devoted to the user's guide.  It
is likely impossible to give a "non-user" a true feeling for the
"living" Internet in a "static" book, but this definitely comes close.
The "catalog" is rather small, but not to be skipped, taking up about
half of the remaining pages, with the rest assigned to four
appendices, a glossary and the index.  All parts of the book seems to
have grown by about half again as much material as was included in the
first edition.
The user's guide contains fifteen chapters, implicitly divided into
four sections.  Although there are no explicit divisions, the preface
suggests different "sets" of chapters for different types of users.
The first four chapters deal with background material; the book, the
Internet, what, who and how; while chapter fifteen covers problems
that may arise.  The next four chapters describe the functions of the
basic tools of the Internet; telnet (using a "remote" computer), ftp
(copying files from a remote computer to your local computer system
and vice versa), electronic mail (including electronic "periodicals")
and the Usenet "news" discussion groups; to which chapter fourteen
adds "other applications".  Chapters nine through thirteen are
concerned with "finding" different types of information; files
(archie), people (finger and whois), menus (gopher), related
information (the Web) and anything (WAIS).
Krol, in the introduction, suggests that this book is for anyone who
wants access to the resources of the Internet.  This is definitely
valid.  The vocabulary and style are accessible to any intelligent
reader, even without any background or familiarity with computers.
The examples are clear and well chosen.  The range of material covered
is "sufficiently" complete: the Internet is still "under
construction", and probably will never be "finished", but the range of
topics covered is enough for all but the most specialized interest.
Indeed, the book is not only for the Internet novice.  I practically
"live" on the Internet, and freely admit that much of the content even
in the original version was a new (and welcome) surprise.
I hesitate to say that I have any "complaints" about the book.  Those
items that I might raise tend to fall into the misty areas of personal
opinion.  Speaking personally, then, I would like to see some
"reordering" of sections of the book.  Within the "section" composed
of chapters four to eight, I would suggest that mail and news are of
more interest to more people (especially newcomers) than telnet and
ftp.  Also, although Krol explains his choice of UNIX as an "operating
system of choice" for examples of various systems, it is my opinion
that this is taken too far in certain areas.  It tends to demonstrate
a "workstation" bias which may be hard to understand for those, likely
a majority, who have access to the Internet only through terminal
connections or personal computer "dial-in" situations.  This is echoed
in the emphasis on WAIS and the Web.  Although I would hardly
recommend eliminating the references to them, the amount of space
dedicated to these topics is likely lost on the majority of users who
do not have either dedicated or "SLIP" access, and therefore do not
have access to gopher, WAIS or Web clients (or Xwindows servers).
I have, perhaps, been unjust with my opening illustration: the
information about how to post to Usenet newsgroups from email *does*
appear in the book.  However, I expected to find it in either the
chapter on mail (which does cover "distribution lists", the electronic
periodicals of the Internet) or in the Usenet news chapter.  It
appears in neither, nor is it referenced in the index.  It *used to*
appear in the "catalog", but I seem to have lost it in theis current
version.  In the same way I was surprised to find that chapter seven,
in covering mail and the distribution lists, did not mention the "list
of lists", which gives information about how to access specific lists.
Again, this is not mentioned in the index, either, although it does
appear in the catalog -- and I am happy to see that information on how
to get it now uses ftp rather than WAIS.  (In the first version the
dependence upon WAIS may have limited the usefulness of the catalog.
In "Computing" WAIS was used to access nine items: ftp, telnet, gopher
and email combined only give you sixteen.  In "Network Information"
the imbalance was even more pronounced; WAIS is used ten times, the
others, combined, only four.  The current catalog is much more
balanced, although I note a new preponderance of World Wide Web
items.)
The catalog can't really be considered a serious resource.  How could
it?  Fifty pages is only enough space for an unformatted printout of
the "list of lists" *or* a listing of the "backbone" Usenet
newsgroups.  This would not leave space for explanation or any other
resources.  Therefore the catalog should best be considered as,
perhaps, a pointer to a general topic.  After you start making
contacts, you can take it from there.  The catalog is, however, a lot
of fun to browse, and does, as mentioned earlier, contain some very
valuable information.
These comments do not, however, take away from the overriding
importance and usefulness of the book.  The quote from "Communications
Week", used as a cover blurb, that it "... has become the Internet
user's bible" may be overstating the case with the raft of other
resources out there.  It does, though, still hold a pre-eminent
position, and this new edition will help it hold that rank.