From: mc@shore.net (Michael Crestohl)
Subject: REVIEW: THE INTERNET VIA MOSAIC AND WORLD-WIDE WEB, Ziff-Davis
Date: 3 Dec 1994 16:41:37 -0500

Review: THE INTERNET VIA MOSAIC AND WORLD-WIDE WEB, Ziff-Davis Press 1994
Author: Steve Browne   paperbound, 156 pages  $24.95  ISBN: 1-56276-259-1

There's no doubt that the Internet is growing exponentially year-by-year
and the fastest growing component is the World-Wide Web.  A year ago, in
December 1993 there were approximately 1200 servers and six months later 
there were over 7000!  The growth rate has been beyond belief.  It is not
in the scope of this short treatise to describe the Web or what it does.
Indeed, the number of books on the subject to reach the store shelves
in recent months testify to the immense popularity of this incredible 
Internet tool.  If 1993 was the "Year of the Internet" then 1994 is
without doubt "Year of the Web"!

To show you how fast things happen on the Internet, Ziff-Davis' book was
originally titled THE INTERNET VIA WORLD-WIDE WEB, but the wildfire 
acceptance of MOSAIC, developed by the National Center for Supercomputing
Applications at the University of Illinois called for an immediate update
before the book was even published!  Called a "browser", MOSAIC suddenly 
allowed ordinary personal computer users with dial-up Internet access 
to surf the Web at will.  In essence, The Web has taken the lawless
environment of the Internet and harnessed it with a slick graphical user
interface resembling a commercial on-line service.  The speed with which
things have taken place have created a need for information on what can
be done with the WWW and MOSAIC and how to do it.

Steve Browne's book presents these new Internet in a brief, easy-to-digest
instructional that will help the reader to learn how to use the Web and
MOSAIC.  Forst of all there is a brief description of the Internet, its
functions and utilities including the WWW.  The second and third chapter 
focuses on the Internet via WWW and using a "browser" program, including
how and where to get MOSAIC (It's free!).  Now the focus shifts to using
MOSAIC to access other resources.  Also covered are important subjects
such as WWW pages and features such as commerical, media, information
and personal sources,  Appendices include a HTML command reference, 
Hypertext transfer protocol and MOSAIC.INI settings.

THE INTERNET VIA NOSAIC AND WORLD-WIDE WEB is the first such book I have 
reviewed and of the two others appears to be the most "friendly" from
a standpoint of sheer size.  I hope to review the other two titles (and
who knows how many more will be forthcoming!) and report the differences.
However, to get at least operational with the WWW/MOSAIC this compact
book will certainly do the trick.  

(c) 1994
Michael Crestohl