BKISLCLK.RVW   20041017

"Islands in the Clickstream", Richard Thieme, 2004, 1-931836-22-1,
U$29.95/C$34.95
%A   Richard Thieme
%C   800 Hingham Street, Rockland, MA   02370
%D   2004
%G   1-931836-22-1
%I   Syngress Media, Inc.
%O   U$29.95/C$34.95 781-681-5151 fax: 781-681-3585 amy@syngress.com
%O  http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1931836221/robsladesinterne
  http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1931836221/robsladesinte-21
%O   http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/1931836221/robsladesin03-20
%O   tl i rl 2 tc 1 ta 2 tv 1 wq 4
%P   336 p.
%T   "Islands in the Clickstream"

Some describe Thieme's "Islands in the Clickstream" columns as poetry. 
So they are: semi-connected strings of imagery, rather than full
narratives.  Thieme himself, in the introduction, describes them as
sermons, and there is a sermonic structure to them as well: sequences
of vignettes, not necessarily related to those immediately before or
after, but somehow always circling back to where they began.

There are a gross of columns in this book, loosely grouped into
topical chapters.  Thieme's writing is usually gentle.  There is
enough erudition to make it interesting reading, but not so much as to
require study on the part of the reader.  There are ideas that could
be pursued, and aphorisms that sound intriguingly profound on first
reading, but nothing that demands attention, or deep analysis.  Such a
philosophical, and even new age, treatment of the technical world is
bound to be popular with many.  We are gently chided for our
thoughtless ways, but the work is, overall, upbeat.  (There is another
sermon-like aspect to the writing: after you become familiar with the
body of work, you start to recognize illustrations when they show up
again  :-)

This book would probably find a place at many bedsides, and the cover
graphic, of a tropical island, might also suggest that it would suit
for a vacation where you did not want too much technical intrusion.

copyright Robert M. Slade, 2004   BKISLCLK.RVW   20041017