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The Book MannWhat's on the Web?By: Richard O. Mann |
Drop by any local bookstore and check out the computer books. Once you’ve worked your way through the Java books, you’ll find shelves jam-packed with Internet and Web guides and directories. You’ll see obscenely thick Yellow Pages titles and a variety of Directories, Guides, and This-and-That-on-the-Web books. They sell by the millions, appear in updated editions regularly, and have spawned at least one entire imprint—Lycos Press, a brand-named line of Net directories. These books are unrelentingly popular. Why?
When I mentioned this column’s topic to another ComputerCredible staff writer (who happens to be a relative), he was incredulous. Who in his right mind, he asked, would actually BUY a book containing stuff that’s readily available online without cost? Good question. Not only is online information free, it’s current. Web books are bound to be woefully out of date before they can emerge from the months-long publishing process. Perhaps these books only sell to folks as dim-witted as Dilbert’s boss. I don’t think so. (After all, I buy them.)
Why Buy a Book?
Offhand, I can think of six excellent reasons to buy what’s
available free online. Try these ideas on for size:
Let Your
Fingers Do the Walking
Harley
Hahn’s Internet & Web Yellow Pages (Osborne/McGraw-Hill, $30), one
of the first of the comprehensive directories, remains one of the
best. Harley Hahn’s books on the Internet are authoritative,
original, light-hearted yet accurate, and best of all,
interesting. Here you’ll find descriptions of Web sites and
Usenet newsgroups on every subject imaginable. Hahn includes a
smattering of funny, weird, or otherwise interesting Usenet
postings in boxes called "Look What I Found on the
Net..." to illustrate what goes on in newsgroups. You get
the entire book on CD-ROM with clickable hot-links for those too
weak to actually type all those URLs. For comprehensive
information presented entertainingly, you can’t beat Harley
Hahn.
New Riders’ Official World Wide Web Yellow Pages, Fifth Edition (New Riders, $35) is less personal but more inclusive and also has its text on CD-ROM. (Get the Fifth Edition—it’s newer than the "1997 Edition.") This one’s topic and subtopic organization makes it hard to find things. For example, page headers are site names rather than topics—there’s no way to tell which topic you’re in as you flip pages. The massive index helps, but often merely mirrors the order of the listings. I found the book’s organizational scheme hard to understand, too—in the "Books and Authors" section, for example, some individual author listings are under "Authors," while another batch are under "Publishers, Publishing Houses, and Presses". To find anything reliably, use the CD-ROM’s search capabilities (which diminishes its value as a book). The first 80 pages, however, are a series of excellent informative articles on connecting to and using the Web.
Que’s Mega Web Directory, Second Edition by Rositano, Rositano and Lee (Que, $40) offers brief descriptions of its 18,000 listings. With an easy to follow organization and obligatory CD-ROM version, this book is for those wanting maximum raw information with minimal commentary.
What’s on the Internet: the Definitive Guide to the Internet’s Usenet Newsgroups, Third Edition by Eric Gagnon (Peachpit, $20) lovingly covers the Net’s thousands of newsgroups, those no-holds-barred world-wide discussions on virtually every topic known to man. Presented with zany pictures and a frenetic layout, this book probably appeals primarily to modern short-attention-span readers. Nevertheless, it’s informative, accurate, and up-to-date. It has no CD-ROM; instead, there’s a Web site that carries all the reviews and connects you through five-digit "jump codes" listed in the book (www.jumpcity.com). If you have any inclination toward newsgroup participation, this is the directory for you.
The Series
Approach—One Book per Topic
Rather than try to shoehorn everything into a single massive
tome, several publishers break things up into series of
guidebooks covering single topics. Two of the best currently in
print follow.
Songline Guides by O’Reilly & Associates. They have organized this outstanding series by profession. In these attractive books, working professionals describe the detailed ins and outs of smart Net use in their fields. Each includes real-life experiences of successful Net-savvy users. All but the last come with CD-ROMs.
Michael Shapiro’s NetTravel: How Travelers Use the Internet ($25) walks you through planning and booking your own travel experiences with solid, practical advice. Scott Kersnar’s NetSuccess: How Real Estate Agents Use the Internet ($35) covers real estate while Paul Jacobsen provides legal know-how in Net Law: How Lawyers Use the Internet ($30).
Teachers are doubly blessed with Ferdi Serim and Melissa Koch’s NetLearning: Why Teachers Use the Internet ($25) and Laura Parker Roerden’s Net Lessons: Web-Based Projects for Your Classroom ($25). Roerden not only teaches the principles of Web-based project design, but provides over a hundred lesson plans. Citizens with an activist bent will find Ed Schwartz’ NetActivism: How Citizens Use the Internet ($25) to be a gold mine of techniques, information, and experiences. All these titles are enriched by the first of the series, Daniel J. Barrett’s NetResearch: Finding Information Online ($25), which teaches in admirably clear, common-sense language not where to look for information, but how to find it. Anyone would benefit from reading this masterpiece.
Lycos Press
inSites Series.
The most impressive directory publisher, however, is Lycos Press,
which can’t be matched for depth or width of coverage.
Lycos, one of the primary Web search services, has teamed up with
Macmillan, the largest computer book publisher, to establish
Lycos Press, expressly to publish guidebooks. The Lycos search
records lend the advantage of knowing what’s popular (and
thus, presumably, useful) and what’s not. Combine that with
authors selected for specialized knowledge in each book’s
topic area, and you get top-flight guides. Each book has the
expected CD-ROM with the full book text and, usually, a number of
relevant extras.
Internet Games Directory ($30) by Marc Saltzman and Sean McFadden expands any gamer’s horizons. It covers sites devoted to many popular computer games, explains online gaming, lists download sites and game-related resources such as newsgroups and zines, and finally gives strategy and game play advice for a few mega-hit games.
Waltz and Schultz’ Internet International Directory ($40) is for those who want to go beyond the normal directory’s U.S.-centered lists, putting the "world" back in "World Wide Web." Ray Davis’ Web Design Resources Directory: Tools and Techniques for Creating Your Home Page ($30) leads you to everything needed to design Web pages while explaining the page design process. Don’t venture into Web page creation without it—there is so much to learn, and it’s all available on the Web—if you know where to look.
Small Business Resource Guide to the Web 1997 by Peal, McNamara, Cross, and Mims ($40) uses four specialists to present a primer not on how to run a Web business, but how to run any small business—with Web sites as resources for additional help.
Investor’s Web Guide: Tools and Strategies for Building Your Portfolio by Douglas Gerlach ($40) is similar—it not only covers Web resources available to investors, but teaches investment management principles. Earl Jackson, Jr.’s College Connections Web Directory 1997 ($30) helps you use the Web to find and apply to colleges and graduate schools, find financial aid, and even design Web pages. Several Web-based college courses are also included. (He lists only three of Utah’s universities in the main listing, but includes several graduate programs at schools not in the basic listing. This makes no sense to me.)
The heaviest book of all, however, is Lycos’ blockbuster Most Popular Web Sites: the Best of the Net from A2Z edited by Katherine English ($40). This book was created by counting all the links on all the pages in the massive Lycos catalog, then listing out the most popular. The real challenge was to organize those thousands of sites in a meaningful, searchable way—and then write brief descriptions of each. What a job that must have been. The results are interesting, useful, and enlightening. I have a number of favorite writers’ sites, for instance—why aren’t they included when other, rather lame writers’ sites make the list? Because the lame sites have more links and are thus "more popular." For sheer quantity of frequently-visited sites, this is the definitive source.
Other Guides
for Wired or Weary Web Wanderers
MIS:Press offers religious guidance through Thomas C. Fox’s Catholicism on the Web ($17) and Irving Green’s Judaism on the Web ($17). Each offers insight into
these religions and cultures, along with hundreds of fascinating
Web sites covering everything from kosher recipes to home pages
of individual believers to a roster of the College of Cardinals.
These are wonderful resources for members of those religious
communities and those who want to know more about them. There are
no CD-ROMs, but all the links are at the books’ individual
home pages.
For an unbelievably handy little book (less than three inches wide), try Jennifer Watson’s AOL Keywords: The Smart User’s Guide to America Online (MIS:Press, $9). AOL members know they can go directly to any AOL site by knowing its keyword. This slim volume lists keywords in alphabetical order as well as in category groupings. You’ll find things you never knew were on AOL. (Fans of Orson Scott Card’s Alvin Maker series: Did you know that AOL Keyword "Hatrack" takes you to a virtual Hatrack River community where Scott sometimes posts his works in progress?)
For information on the federal government or to access its vast information archives, get The Great American Web Book: A Citizen’s Guide to the Treasures of the U.S. Government on the World Wide Web by Raphael Sagalyn (Times Books, $17). Did you know there was a Center for Army Lessons Learned? This book covers it and hundreds of its sibling agencies. After the mammoth compilations reviewed above, coverage here seemed a bit skimpy for what is probably the largest organization on Earth.
Unemployed or underemployed? Shannon and Arthur Karl’s How to Get Your Dream Job Using the Web (Coriolis Group, $30) helps you land that perfect job. Along with excellent advice on planning a successful job search, the Karls give you hundreds of Web sites listing jobs and job-hunting resources. They show you how to craft a successful online resume and give brief advice on setting up your own Web page as part of your self-marketing efforts. Tips from professional recruiters and advice on setting up your own home business follow. The accompanying CD-ROM offers job databases, resume software, an interview simulator, and other goodies. As I work on my own mid-career change, I’m finding this book invaluable.
Book of the
Month
Do you worry about your privacy as you leave footprints all over
the Web? Would you like to avoid the tedium of deleting hundreds
of spam messages? Are you scared of online viruses? Do you want
to keep your kids (and yourself) safe from inappropriate
cyber-experiences? Online veteran Michael A. Banks tackles these
(and other) problems in Web Psychos,
Stalkers, and Pranksters: How to Protect Yourself in Cyberspace (Coriolis Group, $25). Banks
explains the reality of the risks and provides solutions and
strategies to minimize them. Laced with experiences and true
stories, the book is both highly readable and instructive. What
about Web sites that want you to "register" by giving
your name and address? Is that safe? How do spammers get your
e-mail address? How much personal information can a Net-savvy
low-life get about you? Is there anything you can do to prevent
it? Mike knows all and tells all. Get the book.
Richard Mann, a prolific computer and technology writer, covers the computer book scene from his home office in Roy, Utah. E-mail comments and suggestions for future Book of the Month candidates to him at RichMann@unforgettable.com.
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