Newsgroups: bit.listserv.words-l
Date:         Sun, 3 Jan 1993 16:56:05 MST
From:         Dan Lester <ALILESTE@IDBSU.IDBSU.EDU>
Subject:      reviews of Krol's book
Comments: To: All fellow wordslers <words-l@uga.cc.uga.edu>

I wrote this review when the book first came out, as the text indicates.
It was published in several sources, including CuD, and on NETTRAIN.
a second review from NETTRAIN follows mine.

dan


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




              Sat, 28 Nov 1992 15:30:00 CST
              Internet/BITNET Network Trainers <NETTRAIN@UBVM.BITNET>
              Internet/BITNET Network Trainers <NETTRAIN@UBVM.BITNET>
              "James Milles, SLU Law Library" <MILLESJG@SLUVCA.SLU.EDU>
              Review of Krol, "The Whole Internet"

(1) Krol, Ed.The Whole Internet User's Guide & Catalog.
Sebastopol, California: O'Reilly & Associates, Inc., 1992.

ISBN 1-56592-025-2

"Available at leading bookstores," or order direct from O'Reilly & Associates,
103 Morris Street, Suite A, Sebastopol, CA 95472.
(800)338-6887; FAX (707)829-0104.  $24.95

(2) Reviewed by: John O'Connor; co-director, Instructional Development Office;
George Mason University (joconnor@gmuvax.gmu.edu).

(3) Target Audience: beginning and experienced users.

(4) Rating: **** (essential reading)

(5) Number of lines in review: 64

(6) Summary: A guide to the Internet covering some background and
history of the Internet; mail, news, ftp, and remote login;
gophers, WAIS, and World Wide Web, and a catalog of resources
available through the Internet, listed alphabetically by subject.

(7) Text of Review:

This book has already received considerable attention and praise;
it is well deserved.  For now, this book is the best single text
for the average (whoever that is) Internet user.  Krol is well-
known for the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Internet."  This book is
much, much more than that.

Chapter titles (with brief descriptions) are:

- What is This Book About (introduction, including an explanation
  that much of what he describes is not for a specific operating
  system, though most of his examples are from Unix).
- What is the Internet (who uses, governs, pays, what standards).
- How the Internet Works (TCP/IP and domain systems).
- What's Allowed on the Internet (NREN, politics, ethics, security).
- Remote Login (Telnet, non-standard & IBM servers)
- Moving Files: FTP (file transfer, anonymous ftp, compression,
  different systems--VMS, VM, DOS, Macintosh)
- Electronic Mail (universal & local features, binary & ascii,
  lists & fileservers)
- Network News (news readers, posting & replying, command summary)
- Finding Software (archie)
- Finding Someone (finger, usenet user lists, fred)
- Tunneling Through the Internet: Gopher (how it works, reading
  text files, servers, index searches)
- Searching Indexed Databases: WAIS (search procedures, adding
  sources)
- Hypertext Spanning the Internet: WWW (available sources,
  navigating the web, hypertext editors)
- Other Applications (R commands, X Windows, chat & MUD)
- Dealing with Problems
- Resources on the Internet (a 50 page catalog of information
  listed alphabetically by subject)
- Three appendices
- Glossary & Index

In the preface, Krol stakes out his audience--"This is a
book...aimed at the 'garden variety' computer user; not the
expert or the computer aficionado, just someone who has a job to
get done."  It seems an accurate assessment since many of the
early chapters will be old information for those who use the
Internet regularly.  The middle chapters, on resources and search
strategies, are full of detailed how-to information.  The chapters
on archie and WAIS are models of providing a sense of what these
tools offer, with specific instructions and examples about logging
on, while not getting caught in the maze of local permutations
and system specific variations.  The chapter on gophers seemed
less detailed, partly because it seems especially difficult to
generalize about that tool.  The resources catalog--50 pages long
listing over 300 resources--is great for browsing.  Under the
subject headings are listed appropriate news groups, libraries,
and WAIS, telnet addresses and login commands, on-line journals,
and other resources.

The above quote also gives a quick sense of Krol's style, neither
too cute nor cryptic.  It is informal, conversational, and above
all clear.  About one-fifth of the pages have a footnote, where
Krol will give a 1-4 line explanation of some detail.  The book
is physically well designed with effective illustrations and
screen images.

Krol's examples use Unix commands, but he goes out of his way to
make clear that he is explaining what is available on the Internet
and that the command he uses is an instance of a generic command.
Where there is likely to be significant system differences, he
points them out; for example, in the chapter on file transfer, he
lists the variations for DOS, Mac, VMS, IBM/VM.
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU