BKKROL.RVW   940506
 
O'Reilly and Associates
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"The Whole Internet User's Guide and Catalog", Krol, 1994, 1-56592-063-5,
U$24.95
krol@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu
 
For those of us who have used the Internet for some time, the enthusiasm of
"newbies" can sometimes be tiring.  You get used to seeing articles, and
hearing presentations, by those who are breathless with excitement over the
fact that they have received email from someone in another country.  Thus, when
I first heard of this book with the rather "california" title, I assumed I
would be plowing through old material and trying to be kind in the review.
 
The day I received the book, I had a use for an "Internet guide".  I had
forgotten the site that allows posting from mail to the Usenet newsgroups.  So,
I decided to put it to the test.  I didn't find the answer, but what I did find
was a fascinating and useful resource, well worth the time (and book price)
invested by novice and devotee alike.  In an environment where everyone and his
dog seems to be writing an Internet book, Krol has held a largely deserved
place in the pantheon, and is likely the most widely sold of the "resource"
level guides.
 
About three quarters of the book is devoted to the user's guide.  It is likely
impossible to give a "non-user" a true feeling for the "living" Internet in a
"static" book, but this definitely comes close.  The "catalog" is rather small,
but not to be skipped, taking up about half of the remaining pages, with the
rest assigned to four appendices, a glossary and the index.  All parts of the
book seems to have grown by about half again as much material as was included
in the first edition.
 
The user's guide contains fifteen chapters, implicitly divided into four
sections.  Although there are no explicit divisions, the preface suggests
different "sets" of chapters for different types of users.  The first four
chapters deal with background material; the book, the Internet, what, who and
how; while chapter fifteen covers problems that may arise.  The next four
chapters describe the functions of the basic tools of the Internet; telnet
(using a "remote" computer), ftp (copying files from a remote computer to your
local computer system and vice versa), electronic mail (including electronic
"periodicals") and the Usenet "news" discussion groups; to which chapter
fourteen adds "other applications".  Chapters nine through thirteen are
concerned with "finding" different types of information; files (archie), people
(finger and whois), menus (gopher), related information (the Web) and anything
(WAIS).
 
Krol, in the introduction, suggests that this book is for anyone who wants
access to the resources of the Internet.  This is definitely valid.  The
vocabulary and style are accessible to any intelligent reader, even without any
background or familiarity with computers.  The examples are clear and well
chosen.  The range of material covered is "sufficiently" complete: the Internet
is still "under construction", and probably will never be "finished", but the
range of topics covered is enough for all but the most specialized interest. 
Indeed, the book is not only for the Internet novice.  I practically "live" on
the Internet, and freely admit that much of the content even in the original
version was a new (and welcome) surprise.
 
I hesitate to say that I have any "complaints" about the book.  Those items
that I might raise tend to fall into the misty areas of personal opinion. 
Speaking personally, then, I would like to see some "reordering" of sections of
the book.  Within the "section" composed of chapters four to eight, I would
suggest that mail and news are of more interest to more people (especially
newcomers) than telnet and ftp.  Also, although Krol explains his choice of
UNIX as an "operating system of choice" for examples of various systems, it is
my opinion that this is taken too far in certain areas.  It tends to
demonstrate a "workstation" bias which may be hard to understand for those,
likely a majority, who have access to the Internet only through terminal
connections or personal computer "dial-in" situations.  This is echoed in the
emphasis on WAIS and the Web.  Although I would hardly recommend eliminating
the references to them, the amount of space dedicated to these topics is likely
lost on the majority of users who do not have either dedicated or "SLIP"
access, and therefore do not have access to gopher, WAIS or Web clients (or
Xwindows servers).
 
I have, perhaps, been unjust with my opening illustration: the information
about how to post to Usenet newsgroups from email *does* appear in the book. 
However, I expected to find it in either the chapter on mail (which does cover
"distribution lists", the electronic periodicals of the Internet) or in the
Usenet news chapter.  It appears in neither, nor is it referenced in the index. 
It *used to* appear in the "catalog", but I seem to have lost it in theis
current version.  In the same way I was surprised to find that chapter seven,
in covering mail and the distribution lists, did not mention the "list of
lists", which gives information about how to access specific lists.  Again,
this is not mentioned in the index, either, although it does appear in the
catalog -- and I am happy to see that information on how to get it now uses ftp
rather than WAIS.  (In the first version the dependence upon WAIS may have
limited the usefulness of the catalog.  In "Computing" WAIS was used to access
nine items: ftp, telnet, gopher and email combined only give you sixteen.  In
"Network Information" the imbalance was even more pronounced; WAIS is used ten
times, the others, combined, only four.  The current catalog is much more
balanced, although I note a new preponderance of World Wide Web items.)
 
The catalog can't really be considered a serious resource.  How could it? 
Fifty pages is only enough space for an unformatted printout of the "list of
lists" *or* a listing of the "backbone" Usenet newsgroups.  This would not
leave space for explanation or any other resources.  Therefore the catalog
should best be considered as, perhaps, a pointer to a general topic.  After you
start making contacts, you can take it from there.  The catalog is, however, a
lot of fun to browse, and does, as mentioned earlier, contain some very
valuable information.
 
These comments do not, however, take away from the overriding importance and
usefulness of the book.  The quote from "Communications Week", used as a cover
blurb, that it "... has become the Internet user's bible" may be overstating
the case with the raft of other resources out there.  It does, though, still
hold a pre-eminent position, and this new edition will help it hold that rank.
 
copyright Robert M. Slade, 1993, 1994   BKKROL.RVW   940506