By Christopher Tse
The phrase "Information Superhighway," once technical jargon used by avid Internet users, has
now become somewhat of a cliché. Every computer magazine or popular culture publication has
done a feature or two on this often talked about but never fully understood topic.
About a year ago, most books written on the Internet were technically-oriented and were targeted
for the informed computer user. Lately, however, the trend has been shifting toward serving the
interested beginners who want to jump on the "Superhighway" bandwagon. The two books
reviewed this issue, Internet 101 and Planet Internet, are both targeted towards college students
and their somewhat bizarre interests.
Internet 101 - A College Student's Guide
**
Photo courtesy of Windcrest/McGraw-Hill
Exploring the Internet is loads of fun; yet at the beginning the technicalities can make the it really
confusing. Internet 101 attempts to tackle the problem by leaving detail, definition and explanation
towards the end of the book while focusing on "Top Ten Cool Things You Can Do Right Now" in
the introductory chapters. A newcomer will find the "Top Ten Cool Things" are "not so cool" since
they are trivial Internet features (such as checking out the precise atomic time) that does not really
reflect the depth of the Net's available resources.
The the book redeems itself in the later chapters by actually discussing the different tools
available for Net surfing, while incorporating things-you-can-do-now-right along the way to
gratify those impatient learners. A novice will have little difficulty learning the jargon since the
explanations are often illustrated with examples and appropriate screen shots.
The style of the language of this book bears much similarities to those of the "Dummies"
series. A lively yet informative tone was employed throughout the chapters. Since Internet search
functions such as
Archie sometimes require field experience in order to be fully understood, the book provides quick
reference guides that lays out the procedures of entering and retrieving searches. Such helpful
references are available to most topics of discussion.
The second half of the book focuses more on contents than the tools. Considerable amount
of material is devoted to explore the "interesting" places on the Internet. (Yes, the word
"interesting" is actually put in quote in the book.) Not surprisingly, these "interesting" places are
no more than Internet resources of sexual contents. The topic of uuencode/decoding was brought
about in the discussion of binary files available on some newsgroups.
Besides alt.sex, the book also lists some little known resources that a more experienced Net
surfer might find useful and entertaining. For example, the book included an FTP site
(ftp.sunet.se) where users can log on and download song lyrics of diverse genres of music.
Overall, this book is not the most complete of the all Internet beginners book. Yet, it seems
to accomplish its task of making the learning process interesting to the college population. This
book serves better as a step-by-step introductory guide rather than an "Internet Bible" that sits on
the bookshelf as a reference. If you just want to learn it fast and directly, Internet 101 should be a
safe route towards Internet exploration.
Planet Internet
***1/2
Photo courtesy of Windcrest/McGraw-Hill
Once you have tackled the terms and learned the procedures of Net surfing, it is time to
explore something more than the "top ten" resources. However, since the Internet is not an
organized entity, it is sometimes very difficult to divulge those hidden treasures on the Net.
Experience will show that the best way discover exotic resources is to hang around
newsgroups of a particular interest and hope that someone will burst out a cool FTP site in their
message. There is also an easier way to accomplish that task: have someone who hang around the
newsgroups compile a list for you. Planet Internet does just that.
From body piercing to Nielson ratings, this book covers a wide variety of topics that the
authors think is of interest to the young generation. The material is organized in alphabetical order
by subject. In some ways, the book resembles an encyclopedia since the discussion of each topic is
brief. However, the function of the book is not to describe in detail, but to provide that 15 letter
FTP site name or a World Wide Web (WWW) home page address. With that piece of information,
you are on your own; the fruit of your exploration is only determined by your own effort.
Sex and alcohol are two of the most talked about topics in this self-proclaimed "irreverent
guide to the Internet's pubs, curiosity shops are back alleys." If you are into these two topics, (I
mean the discussion of them), this book does a good job of widening your horizons. If you are a
person looking forward to explore the dimension of the clari. or court. newsgroups, this book is
not for you. For that purpose I will recommend the authoritative guide to useful (or serious) Net
info--Internet Yellow Pages.
But before you get a college degree and have to worry about the business or finance
market, Planet Internet can be a good starting point for exploring less whimsical subjects. I highly
recommend this book for those who occasionally experience intense boredom and wish that there
is a better medicine to this problem than doing math homework. Having this book on the bookshelf
could very well be a short term relief.