BKINT101.RVW   971115

"Internet 101", Wendy G. Lehnert, 1998, 0-201-32553-5
%A   Wendy G. Lehnert lehnert@128.119.41.229 lehnert@cs.umass.edu
%C   P.O. Box 520, 26 Prince Andrew Place, Don Mills, Ontario M3C 2T8
%D   1998
%G   0-201-32553-5
%I   Addison-Wesley Publishing Co.
%O   416-447-5101 fax: 416-443-0948 800-822-6339 bkexpress@aw.com
%P   534
%T   "Internet 101: A Beginner's Guide to the Internet and the World
          Wide Web"

Three or four years ago, everybody and her dog was producing a general
Internet guide.  Indeed, as Lehnert points out, they were rather a
glut on the market for a while, and many of those books have not been
updated recently.  Still, there were an awful lot of Internet guides
produced, and any number of them are still on store shelves.  Why,
then, do we need another?

Lehnert is quite free with her assessment.  She notes that many books
are out of date, but also complains about the inclusion of material on
platform independent Internet applications, and a failure to talk
about the history and reality of the net.  In this complaint about
history and background I can sympathize to a certain extent, but
Lehnert has listed works such as Douglas Comer's "The Internet Book"
[cf. BKINTBOK.RVW].  Comer has certainly done a far superior job in
this area.

The book starts with a section on getting connected and starting to
use the net.  The material is unfortunate, because it is written in a
very simplistic style, suitable only for rank novices, but doesn't
provide the necessary information that such an audience would need. 
Conceptual details are not given accurately, while specific keystroke
information may (and sometimes may not) be, but covers very little of
what the newcomer would need to know.

After this slow start, the book becomes very much better.  Chapter
three, on email, is excellent.  Although occasionally disorganized, it
contains solid information on the fundamentals, plus important topics
like header dissection, netiquette and dealing with spam.  Mailing
lists are covered quite well in chapter four.  The World Wide Web
material is definitely superior, although it is oddly split between
chapter five, which provides basics and an overview of search tools;
chapter seven, dealing with search strategies; and chapter eleven, on
more advanced HTML (HyperText Markup Language).  The chapter on gopher
is sandwiched between them.  The coverage of Usenet newsgroups is
serviceable, but no more than that and the same goes for telnet. 
(Somewhat oddly, IRC is lumped in with telnet.  I agree with the
implicit decision that IRC is not the most important application on
the net, but still ...)

Chapter nine, on ftp, is both good and bad.  ftp gets fairly short
shrift in these Web-centric days, so it is great to see that much very
useful information is included, covering file types and extensions,
encoding, and archiving as well as the basics of file transfer.  There
are, though, errors and weaknesses.  The definition of freeware is
more suitable to public domain software, and is contradicted by the
highlighted box on the facing page.  Freeware is also said to be a
source of viruses.  The coverage of viruses is, again, both good and
bad (which belies the author's contention that the public is becoming
more educated about viruses).

Two final chapters cover encryption, and general social issues. 
Again, these are a mix of good and bad.  The chapter on cryptography
is particularly weak, possibly because of limited technical background
in an admittedly esoteric field.  The general social topics cover a
broad range, and could be useful in stimulating discussion, but since
some of the text is not technically informed, it may sometimes simply
serve to perpetuate myths.

The author has deliberately tied the book to a related Web site.  Very
few URLs (Universal Resource Locators) are listed in the text.  This
does allow the Web site to be updated as sites change, but it is quite
frustrating at times to have to be tied to the online site for basic
information.  Even such a stable and well supported site as AltaVista
is only listed once, and then only in reference to specific material
obtained from it.  (Ironically, the thirteen citations for AltaVista
in the index do *not* include the one mention that does have the URL:
it is buried at the back of the appendices--on the facing page.)

One of the special aspects of the book is that it is intended to be a
course text.  As with all good texts, this one contains exercises at
the end of the chapter.  Some of the questions are the usual reading
checks, asking for trivial details that have been answered in the
preceding content.  The largest set of questions are discussion
starters: queries that may spark debate, but really admit no specific
answers.  In addition, Lehnert seems quite willing to spawn her own
jargon if she is not fully familiar with the topic under discussion.

Despite the various flaws, and despite the presence of a number of
excellent competing works, this book does have enough going for it to
merit serious consideration.

copyright Robert M. Slade, 1997   BKINT101.RVW   971115