Customer Rating:  
Summary: Hard to rate - it depends on the audience
Comment: Obviously if you are just learning about the Internet, your first choice is not going to be Tanenbaum's classic "Computer Networks". Likewise, if you are a network security professional, this book won't help you either. This book is basically a picture book with very easy to swallow pieces of accessible text between pictures. It is meant to acquaint the complete novice with the basics of the Internet. By basics I mean defining terms, what it means to connect to the Internet, and interacting with the Internet without getting your identity stolen. The illustrations are quite enlightening to beginners, but don't expect detailed instructions on how to accomplish tasks of any complexity. If you are looking for that kind of beginner's book I recommend "The Internet: The Missing Manual" by Biersdorfer, published by O'Reilly and Associates. If you have a friend or relative who is completely new to computers who just wants to know about the Internet, this will do. If they want to interact with the Internet in any meaningful way, get the Missing Manual book. I was generous and gave this book three stars because I'm not really sure it's fair to downgrade a book because I think it is too simple. That might have been its intent.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly Helpful
Comment: I've been involved in writing web pages, setting up web/mail/ftp servers for about a dozen years. I was working on a problem with a fellow and had to admit that there was a point I didn't understand. He reached up and pulled down this book and opened it to the section on security - Part 9 : Protecting Yourself on the Internet. Here in a very few pages the Governments Carnivore (FBI) and Echelon (NSA) programs were discussed. There wasn't much on the details, but it explains what the Government is doing to monitor and track e-mails. Carnivore has, of course, been shut down.
Each item being discussed only gets a page or two, and those pages are mostly illustration. But this makes it easy to understand. If you want to know more then you can go to more advanced books, or of course search the web. [Wikipedia has an entry -- Carnivore (FBI)]
On the whole a surprising amount of information. It's aimed mostly at beginners, but there are some things here that I believe most professionals would find interesting.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Practical staring point for inspiring Webmasters
Comment: All the facts you'll need about the Web, email, service providers, Web browsers and FTP. Topics range from connecting to the Internet, using Mail, Instant Messages (Chats), News Groups, File Transfer (FTP), and shopping from the Net. Written in a brief but informative style, at under $20.00 you'll find a wealth of information to help you. Keep this book on your desk and refer to it often for "practical" solutions to internet problems.
Customer Rating:
Summary: bare bones basics
Comment: I highly recomend this book for 4 year olds and 80 year olds. This book addresses concepts only and then at the most simplistic of levels. I am not technical and was not looking for a book targeted to programmers. I simply wanted a book that would provide a modicum of information to satisfy a curious mind and give some substantive explanations as to how the internet works. This taught me nothing and is falsey advertised.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great overview of the internet and related technologies
Comment: Simple, easy top read, give lots of indepth info for the non-techie and answers to all the questions you've wanted to ask.Great starter book on the internet for someone who wants to understand better everything from digital media technology to ASPs to how ISPs work.
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