BKTOUE.RVW 940321 Addison-Wesley Publishing Company Heather Rignanesi, Marketing, x340, 73171.657@Compuserve.com P.O. Box 520 26 Prince Andrew Place Don Mills, Ontario M3C 2T8 416-447-5101 fax: 416-443-0948 or Tiffany Moore, Publicity tiffanym@aw.com Bob Donegon bobd@aw.com John Wait, Editor, Corporate and Professional Publishing johnw@aw.com Tom Stone, Editor, Higher Education Division tomsto@aw.com Philip Sutherland, Schulman Series 74640.2405@compuserve.com 1 Jacob Way Reading, MA 01867-9984 800-822-6339 617-944-3700 Fax: (617) 944-7273 5851 Guion Road Indianapolis, IN 46254 800-447-2226 "The Online User's Encyclopedia", Aboba, 1993, 0-201-62214-9, U$32.95/C$42.95 toue@internaut.com aboba@world.std.com mailcom@aol.com The range of topics covered is certainly encyclopedic. The analogy to the encyclopedia is indicative in other ways. Encyclopedias generally don't have a lot of depth to any given topic. Encyclopedia articles do not necessarily do well at explaining complicated fields to complete novices. And encyclopedias don't generally have articles grouped on a topical basis: you have to search out what you need. This book started life as a guide for a Macintosh user group. Along the way it has grown to encompass diverse systems, bulletin boards and networks. With the exception of the exclusion of commercial services, the balance of the book is very even. There is something for pretty much everyone, from novice to net guru. The author jokes, in the Introduction, about the lack of organization in the book. I have to echo this strongly. Although there is a tremendous amount of useful material in the book, you are definitely going to have to dig for it. Although the comment that novice users don't stay so for long is quite valid, the inconsistency of even the introductory material may be a barrier to those with less tenacity and dedication to the task. The choice of some material is also odd: given that it takes forty-six pages to get to a discussion of common modem setting problems, one has to question the value of seven pages of screen shots from (rather uncommon) graphical BBSes. It is difficult to judge the accuracy of the material, although it is generally good. Sometimes a mistake or omission is covered elsewhere in the book. When the subject strays from the central theme of BBS telecommunications the information sometimes suffers. Security is discussed in at least three places, but the section on computer viral programs can't seem to distinguish between viri and other types of malware. (The recommended software for the PC is also less than compelling, although the Mac suggestion is more realistic.) For serious online users, trainers, and consultants, this book is likely useful and necessary. The occasional or irregular user will likely find it handy to jog memory on a wide range of topics. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1994 BKTOUE.RVW 940321 01100101 01101110 01100100 01100010 01100101 01100111 01101001 01101110