alt.books.reviews #6102
From: mc@shore.net (Michael Crestohl)

[1] REVIEW: INTERNET 101 by Alfred Glossbrenner
Date: Fri Nov 11 10:58:24 EST 1994
Organization: North Shore Access
Lines: 58

REVIEW: Internet 101: A College Student's Guide 
Author: Alfred Glossbrenner,  Windcrest/McGraw-Hill 1994  
350 pages, paperbound, ISBN: 0-07-024054-X  $19.95

When I first saw INTERNET 101, the first thing that struck me was
the author is Alfred Glossbrenner.  It's probably fair to say that he
has introduced more people to the online world than any other single
individual.  I recall Glossbrenner books back in the mid 1980s dealing
with everything from shareware to BBSing.  Alfred Glossbrenner possesses
the unique knack for explaining complex subjects in a way that anyone can
understand.  INTERNET 101 certainly demonstrates this knack.

INTERNET 101 is obviously aimed at college students - after all, one of 
the biggest Internet communities exists in the .EDU domain where students
have "free" acess to the Internet.  INTERNET 101 gets students up and
running fast with "The Internet 5-minute University" as the first 
twelve-page chapter is called and gives them instant Internet skills.
Next, readers are shown the "Top Ten Cool Things You Can Do Right Now"
which include fun exercises in using TELNET, finger, reading a USENET
newsgroup, e-mail, and Gopher.  Its the closest thing to instant 
gratification in 23 pages I've seen.

In subsequent chapters, Glossbrenner covers more mundane yet essential 
topics such as hardware requirements and communications software.
Next he delves into the complexities of how to FIND things on the Net 
using utilities such as Archie, Gopher, Veronica, WAIS and the 
World-Wide Web.  The next chapter shows readers how to GET things 
on the Net using FTP and points them to a few goodies such as Scott
Yanoff's Internet Resources List and other well-known on-line guides.
The chapter ends with a discussion of Rick Gates' Internet Hunt, a
fun way to test your skills at finding and getting information from
the Net.

There's more - plenty of information on processing files which covers
file compression, UUENCODE/UUDECODE, image files, grapic viewers and
where to get them.  Now that the readers have had an excellent sampling
of what the Internet is all about, Glossbrenner covers e-mail use
in greater detail.  Next, Glossbrenner tells you what to tell your 
parents about the Internet and how to get THEM connected too, presumedly
so they can use e-mail to write home for $$$$$.

Some of the other topics covered in Internet 101 are IRC, library card
catalogues, newsgroups and milings lists, foreign language practice,
Project Gutenberg, The Online Book Initiative, music , getting jobs
and dates (!) using the "personal" newsgroups, anonymous remailers,
finding a graduate school and grant money, travel information, 
games galore and a chapter on the X-Rated Internet.  Glossbrenner
concludes the book with a treatise on The Internet Toolkit and 
Glossbrenner's Choice of a plethora of shareware programs and text
files available directly from him for a reasonable $5.00 per HD disk.

My impression of INTERNET 101 is that it is an excellent guide to the
beginning Net user which offers a good taste of the features
and goodies of the Internet.  Although tailored for the 18-20 year-old
college freshman, it's of equal use and value to anyone with no computer
or online experience (like my wife  who is now "attending" the 
Glossbrenner Five-Minute Internet University as I write these 
final lines).  INTERNET 101 is available at bookstores.

Copyright 1994
Michael Crestohl
mc@shore.net