Internet Books

Great collection of marketing essays chock full of good-tasting morsels of educational marketing advice baked to perfection. I recommend a "must read" for amateur and veteran educational marketers alike. George Halo, National Sales Manager, Curriculum Administrator

This is a very useful book. There are no wasted words; every paragraph has at least one nugget of important information. I know of no other book that brings so much on this subject together in such a compact package. I am recommending it enthusiastically to our members. Robert Goodman, Publisher, Silvercat and President, San Diego Publishers Alliance

It was a joy reading this book because it got my creative juices flowing. This is a book full of IDEAS you can put to work immediately to improve marketing and product development. Ideas for catalog development. Ideas for making direct mail and telemarketing more effective. Ideas for improving market research. Ideas for making the most of your trade show investment. Ideas for creating new product and improving existing product. Plus an extensive section on Web site development. And all of this was tailored for the education and library markets

Now in an updated and expanded second edition, i-Tips 2000: The Insiders' Guide To School & Library Marketing, Kathryn Kleibacker, Linda Winter, and Carol Ann Waugh successfully collaborate to present authors and publishers with an invaluable, indispensable, authoritative, practical and innovative "how to" guide to successfully publicizing and marketing books to school and community libraries. Every aspect of promoting and marketing to libraries is covered including K-12 market trends; the emerging home school market; library market trends; product development strategies; internet marketing strategies; traditional marketing strategies; and concludes with predictions for 2010. Soundly researched, informatively presented, i-Tips 2000 is "must" reading for any author or publisher considering marketing to school and community libraries locally, regionally, or nationally.

There are hundreds of new books about Internet published every week. How many of them will be yet interesting after a year or less ? Really few of them. Well, this book of Kendra Bonnett has been written in 1999 (3 year ago, an eternity for the Web) and it is still very useful (and pleasant) to read, like a very good wine and like a little classic. So I trust to Kendra Bonnett and I elected this book as my small breviary on building web sites (this is my work). Of course she cites some technical solutions (mainly IBM solutions) used in 1999. But this isn't a technical guide. "An IBM Guide .." is a book about what you have always to remember when you build and manage a web site, in 1999 and now and - I suppose - in 2010 too. It is written savvy. So thanks to Kendra Bonnett. I wait for her next book.

Of the hundreds of books that will be written about how to do business on the Internet, the first question you have to ask yourself is: Who was this book written for? Clearly, this is a book for people who have almost no experience with the Internet and ebusiness. That is a niche that is not well filled out there.

If you had a one person business and wanted to start selling on-line, you could use this book to organize your efforts and become more successful. It has a good step-by-step approach that will take you where you need to go. When I was starting up on the Web four years ago with our business, this book could have saved me a lot of mistakes, lost time, and wasted money.

On the other hand, if you are already a heavy Web user and know what you like, you are beyond most of the advice in this book. At the same time, I found myself getting good ideas that I might not otherwise have gotten for my business as I read the book. That doesn't happen for me with a lot of the Internet books I read. So, you might want to skim it even if you think you are in pretty good shape.

The book's main weakness for beginners is that it states some hard-to-execute principles without a lot to help you do them. For example, you are encouraged to think out of the box (differently than you think now). This is hard for anyone to do, and there isn't a lot of support for how to do that.

There is only one reference to IBM's services in the book, and that is handled in an even-handed and low-key way. You are told to get some help in this area, and IBM is mentioned as one possible source. I thought this was well handled.

Good luck with creating your Internet-based irresistible growth enterpise!

While there's certainly no shortage of hype about the Internet, there is a scarcity of clear, effective information about how companies are executing successful Web strategies. If you're confused about how to carve a niche on the Internet, or if you're overwhelmed by the complexity of the dauntingly dubbed "e-commerce initiative," An IBM Guide to Doing Business on the Internet offers a helpful starting point. With concrete examples and clear language, author Kendra R. Bonnett takes readers through a link-by-link plan for launching an effective Web site. She dutifully defines jargon and appropriately focuses on customer needs. As a result, this book won't appeal to hard-core geeks, but it does have plenty to offer readers whose Internet knowledge is at the novice or intermediate level. We at getAbstract.com recommend An IBM Guide to Doing Business on the Internet to executives who, when it comes to the Internet, just don't quite get it - but want to.

At last! Someone has written a book about how to really create a presence on the internet and actually make money (i.e. other than going public). Now that the dust (and hype) has settled a bit around e-commerce, the author has unearthed several businesses that are actually doing it right. If you're looking for a guide book to get your business up and running on the net, this is it! No B.S.--practical advice and real world examples. Even if you're business is on the net, get this book anyway--its full of great tips. Well written, too!

This book is simple to read and it is very focused. It has short tips that had beed very helpful in my bass fishing trips.

This is book is chock-full of tips any angler, amateur or accomplished. I also liked how portable the book is, so it is easy to take with you for those long waits when the fish aren't biting. The writing in this book is honest, and heartfelt. It's a quick, fun read, that you should certainly pick up

If anyone is qualified to offer over 100 tips on freshwater fishing, it's Bill Dance. Short and sweet, each tip is interesting, informative, and full of little nuggets of advice that will make you itch to get out there and try them for yourself. The illustrations are helpful, too.

This is not a book for experienced anglers. Good for those who are starting. For the price, and knowing it's for begginers, it is great book with 5 stars.

I once consulted for an organization that wanted to develop and publish from the ground up, their official "rules of behavior" policy document. When I was engaged the organization's Information Technology Management Team had already spent 14 months trying to write and agree on this document. This book would have given them the essence of a good "rules of behavior" document in about five minutes.

Yes, it's expensive. But think of it more like you hired a highly paid information security consultant for, er, half a day? Kind of puts the price into its proper perspective.

If you write/review/audit security policies and procedures for a living, your library should include a copy of this book.

Book is a very good resource on information security policies; however, I was disappointed that this book did not match ISO 17799 version 2005 it only matched the 2000 version. I would wait for the next version of the book for updated material matches for ISO 17799 v2005. The authors should have provided updates via CD ROM or download to support this necessary update to this version they have not. You would seem to think at $795.00 a pop for the book and CDROM you would get better support on the material in the book. Also pay close attention to the license uses of the security policies..

I keep books in two places, a small shelf near my computer that I can reach and a large bookshelf across the room. This book deserves a place on the small shelf within arm's reach.

Version 10 builds on the previous work and includes ISO 17799 outline format, policy coverage maps for Sarbanes-Oxley and coverage of the latest issues (technical, legal and regulatory.) I particularly appreciate the section on policy awareness. This is one of the biggest problems you run into.


If you are a manager, before you ever make a decision, or approve a policy, look the topic up, there is a good chance you will see something you didn't think of.

Let me give you an example, our company used to have a fairly long Non-Diclosure Agreement (NDA) prepared by our attorney for a specific purpose. However, we decided to create a simpler, general purpose NDA for all 1099 contractors. The lawyer created it and before I approved it I checked it against the book. I found three items that really should have been in our NDA that we would have missed, thank you Mr. Wood!

If you are a techie, do you need this book? Sure, because everything we do as a techie or engineer has liability implications for the company. Each topic is very clear, concise, and well thought out. It takes a few seconds to look it up, about two minutes to read the section and that investment is well worth your time.

Yes, this is an expensive book; however, it is worth the investment, every organization should have at least one copy. S.

In technology, books are often obsolete shortly after publication. Given the dynamic nature of technology, very few technology books can stand the test of time and remain relevant for a few years, let alone a decade after their original printing. Some of those rare titles that seem timeless include Applied Cryptography by Bruce Schneier, Security Engineering: A Guide to Building Dependable Distributed Systems by Ross Anderson, and the book I'll review here, Information Security Policies Made Easy, Version 10. Information Security Policies Made Easy (ISPME) is one of the most important information security books available for those who are serious about creating a comprehensive set of information systems security policies.

The importance of effective information security policies cannot be overemphasized, as they are the foundation toward implementing information security and ensuring the security of the people, systems, and networks within an organization. If an organization lacks security policies, they cannot inform employees and users of their specific security responsibilities. Policies define acceptable system use and user behavior, and those policies must be in place before they can be enforced.

Version 10 of ISPME contains more than 1350 pre-written security policies that can be used as a framework for the creation of a comprehensive set of information security policies. The book comes with a CD-ROM that includes every policy. The beauty of ISPME is that it removes the huge burden and time required to create a global set of security policies. With ISPME, you can immediately begin exploring the myriad policies required for information security.

One of the biggest mistakes you could make, however, when using ISPME, is to implement a policy too quickly, without deciding specifically how those policies with be selected, developed, deployed, maintained, and enforced. With that, Chapter 2 provides an orientation to the information security policy writing and development process. The books states that while it may be tempting to immediately start cutting and pasting policies together, it is crucial to understand both what the policies do and what you want to accomplish with them before you begin. If that is done, the subsequent policy writing tasks will be much more efficient and focused.

At 501 pages, Chapter 3 comprises the bulk of the book and contains the all of the specific policies. These policies are divided into 10 separate domains that are mapped to the ISO-17799 standard. This organization scheme makes it makes it easy to create a gap-analysis of your current policies against the ISO-17799 standard. This is helpful since many organizations are now embracing ISO-17799.

Each of the policies contain the individual policy itself and a detailed commentary on why the policy is specifically needed. Each policy also has a cross-reference to related policies and an indication of the audience (management, technical, end-user) and the security environment (low, medium, high) for which it is written.

Chapters 4 - 20 contain various high-level policies in areas such as mobile computing, data classification, email, Web security, and more. These 18 chapters are complete security policy documents that can be implemented with little customization.

The book contains 15 appendixes, which include secondary information such as awareness-raising methods, checklists, memos, and next steps to take.

The CD-ROM that is included contains the entire set of polices in HTML, Word, and PDF formats. It also includes two documents that map the policies in the book against HIPAA and Sarbanes-Oxley.

Organizations that take information security seriously will likely have used ISPME in its previous versions. But for those that have not yet taken the plunge, ISPME is a valuable tool that can be utilized to create a comprehensive set of information security policies in a cost- and time-effective manner. For those building corporate or organizational security policies, ISPME is clearly the definitive reference.

Even though the price is really high, there is a reason for that! This is a must have for security professionals.
Rick
CISSP/MCSE

I agree with all the other reviews that say that this book has everything you could possibly want for writing a Security Policy for your company. The price includes a single-company license for copying the copyrighted text into your security policy. Consultants will need to purchase a new license for each company they develop a policy for.

As the "Version 7" implies, this is a work in progress. As such, I expected to see a "Reader's Comment Form" at the back so the reader could notify the author of subjects he might add in the next version or of errors or omissions detected. There is no such form. I also found that I received only canned or sluggish sales responses from the email address listed on the back cover. I was surprised to find such a poorly-managed business associated with such an excellent book.

Think developing or updating security policies is a nightmare? Rather have root canal without the anesthetic? Purchase this book and you will be on a quick and painless path to getting meaningful security policies in place. The book is well organized making it a breeze to find what your looking for. Each policy also includes an excellent commentary that describes the policy's intent. Many of the policies are technology neutral making it easy to develop consistent and uniform policies across all computing platforms. It's well worth the investment.

Point Blank: If you have to deliver a security policy by a specified date, use this book. Quite simply, you will spend more time with your family and less time working. The book helps remove the pressure to perform.

A very good book, explicit with examples of how to integrate technology into the classroom for young learners and especially K-12 students. A great choice.

The Lengels obviously know technology and how it should be used in schools. For example, instead of agreeing that schools should prohibit use of iPods, MP3 players, cell phones, etc., in their classrooms, the Lengels suggest that teachers put all those digital gadgets that kids love to work for learning. The book is filled with how-tos on just about everything a teacher needs to know and also includes an online resource that complements the book's content .

This is such an easy to read book for the educator or reader interested in understanding the why of technology and some of the ways it can be used in the classroom to enhance student learning. Jim and Kathi Lengel have drawn on an extensive background of using technology to put into one place ideas, answers to questions and step-by-step guides called "How to". All educators or other interested parties will find something in this book for them. This book truly is a practical guide. There are many urls referenced in the chapters for the reader to seek further information and understanding.

Just finished reviewing a new book written by Jim and Kathleen Lengel "Integrating Technology - A Practical Guide". I believe we need to meet folks where that are, not where we think they should be. Yes, lot's of folks in the know are right about not teaching applications in my humble view, but away about the book.

They start with an interesting question " Why should we Intergrate Technology?" and then provide three chaphters of thoughts, bits and bytes of research, and URLs to get the reader focused. Each chaphter uses a different lens to sharpen the readers vison: Kids, Techers, and Classroom. There are interactive components, short surveys and "how to's", you can stop and try!

From there it gets into the real fiber ( was going to say meat, but....) of intergration for the rest of book, but not theory, truely a practical guide. Yes, it names applications! From Webquestd to Word and beyond, into all these new Right Brain, visually, gobal, hunter- gather media stuff!

This is a very fascinating book to read indeed. It takes the reader through thrilling rollercoaster rides into the past and future across so many disciplines in science and philosophy that is it hard not to feel enlightened. Prof. Syed Ahamed¼s visionary perspective into the future of internet, knowledge, and artificial intelligence from a platform firmly founded on science and robust rational is very compelling to read. I found the chapters III and IV of the book particularly impressive and truly enjoyable to read while being educated. I highly recommend it.

In this book Professor Syed Ahamed has been able to combine the different aspects such as intelligence and knowledge essential for modern day communication networks. The book provides an insight into the evolving class of intelligent machines which will be very different from the present day systems. The book covers a wide range of topics such as networks, intelligence, knowledge, wisdom and its applications in different environments. It takes you through a journey from basic concepts , design, implementation to higher levels of philosophy and wisdom and the ethics in the usage of such complex systems. It is a very special book which anyone interested in the art would find it very useful.

Do you need ideas in how to expand and/or absorb the Internet world of knowledge about anything?
Do you seek knowledge on topics that are hard to find explanations about them?
Are you overwhelmed by the amount of unfiltered information you get every time you search the Net?
Don't you feel mentally exhausted after spending hours looking to find good articles on subjects of your interest only to realize that the ones presented to you are of no value?
Couldn't the system be 'a little' smarter and pick up notions of your interest from your previous query and reach for those information that you are really in need of?
An excellent way to start to find answers to these questions lies in reading professor Ahamed's Intelligent Internet Knowledge Networks.

This is not an easy book to review. It is a text filled to brim with interesting information.

Because of that fact it would very hard to write a brief and yet complete review. I will simply provide a small thesis of what I had extracted from the work.

First of all it will be a book that I will read more then once.

This is an ambitious work that will provoke contemplation as well as spawn interesting research ideas for the coming future.

"Intelligent Internet Knowledge Networks" is the kind of book that is hard to categorize.

On the one hand I could easily see Computer Scientists digesting the material. On the other flank I could see this book having a place in a Masters Level or PHD Philosophy program.

It begins by building it's foundation on the cutting edge technologies of our day.

Early in the work Professor Ahamed discusses the implications that telecommunications and fiber optic technology have had on the present internet community - the technological and physical characteristics that have facilitated the current internet environment.

He then builds on this discussion naturally by getting into the concept of Intelligent Networks.

There is also a discussion of electronic government as well as medical networks both of which I found to be very interesting.

The bridge is then laid down which connects the technology to the human element. The AI concepts...embedded intelligence, sensing and monitoring networks, intelligent knowledge sharing....the technological framework which reflects how machines and programs may resemble or imitate human characteristics.

After this point we enter into the area which I found most fascinating - the wisdom machine.

While I write this review I think of an essay that I read last night written by Cardinal Ratzinger in which he discusses the foundations of Democracy - he conferred how a ruler may not in fact know what is just but may in reality merely be the manifestation of process and procedures. Where a ruler did not necessarily care about what was true or even virtuous but was simply a cog in the Democratic machine.

But what if wisdom or even truth could be pursued through the machine?

These are the implications which I find to be the most powerful. Can you imagine instead of getting into a senseless debate one could take facts and data and merely compute the outcome of an argument? I believe that this is the direction the wisdom machine would move us ultimately towards and the aspect which fascinates me the most.

This is the part of the work which I believe is the most fascinating and which carries tremendous implications for the very society in which we exist.

This text has brought me full circle from where I started my original major in philosophy almost 14 years ago - when I studied advanced quantification where similar ideas where discussed.

In conclusion if you are a thoughtful person, scientist or even philosopher I highly recommend this work. You will not be disappointed.

Enough said...the author is straight forward, frank and detail oriented.
Fantastic book for the serious e-businessman/e-businesswoman.

Ken Burke is a genius!! His Intelligent system is an icon in e-commerce today. The book focuses around a system Ken developed into an empire that became what we know as MarketLive. Read the book and you'll know the system. This book is a staple in the world of e-commerce. Read it!

Ken Burke's book shows that he really "gets it", which is clearly why his company has built a growing stable of recognizable, national clients who will attest to the success of his Company's MarketLive application, which is driven by the methodologies spelled out in this book. Ken is obviously a dynamic entrepreneur who is sharply focused on providing an e-commerce selling platform that will drive sales results - in the real world, not in theory. A great tool for any firm considering how to increase their online sales.

This book is an outstanding, comprehensive guide to online sales strategies. It is full of very practical, real-world strategies to increase conversion rates and average order size while reducing cart abandonment and customer service costs. There are lots of great examples about what works and what doesn't, and useful advice on how to keep your online customers happy and returning for more. Highly recommended!

Adrian Farrel is one of the world's foremost experts on IP networks and protocols. Drawing on his knowledge and experience as a protocol designer, developer, network engineer, and leader of 3 key IETF working groups, he provides an extremely comprehensive and thorough work on Internet protocol design and practice. It is especially strong on major topics of current interest including MPLS, GMPLS, and traffic engineering, and thoroughly covers the basics of routing, switching, transport, and applications protocols. It is an excellent book for protocol developers, network operators, and network managers. This well written and highly readable work is a must for anyone working in the area and useful as either overview or reference volume.

Adrian Farrel's book follows a new approach presenting Internet protocols. At first sight, you may think 'oh, more on the same...'. Don't be tricked, this is a different book.

You'll find a very comprehensive reference about Internet protocols including multicasting, QoS, routing protocols (covering almost all existing flavours) and real-time stuff. Chapter 9 is one of the most readable introductions to MPLS I've found so far. Chapter 10 about GMPLS does also a very good job.

The book has plenty of very up-to-date concepts and technologies, and anyone involved in computer networking should consider to have a copy on his/her bookshelf.

This is a modern and attractive title for the classical topic of TCP/IP computer networks. Students and professionals that wish to gain, expand and update their knowledge in the Internet protocols will find this book a useful reference. It is well written, achieves clarity at the expense of avoiding detail, provides plenty of good figures, does a superb job explaining why protocols were designed the way they are and dedicates a significant part of the book to introduce some of the latest protocols developed by the IETF that will or are already shaping the new Internet.

The book follows the classical bottom up layering approach. Yet it distinguishes itself from the rest by creating whole chapters on the latest internet protocol developments that are briefly treated in others. For example, an early chapter is devoted to IP multicast, which describes how multicast groups are formed and how traffic is delivered to them. The being reasons of IPv6 and its main features are described in a standalone chapter. Routing fundamentals and protocols are described extensively and valuable explanations on how routing protocols can be used for traffic engineering are given. Differentiated and Integrated Services are briefly presented as a manner to deliver specific quality of service levels. The chapter on internet transport protocols is concise and clear and describes briefly the new developments on SCTP and UDP Lite but unexpectedly the exposition on TCP, the most important of all of them, lacks of depth and descriptions of its latest important developments. One of the best and most extensive parts of this book are the four chapters dedicated to IP traffic engineering, in which MPLS and GMPLS form the core of it. They are competently and fully described from their fundamentals to how they are applied for traffic engineering purposes. The last part of the book contains brief but novel introductions of fast growing applications such as VPNs, mobile IP and VoIP among others. It is worth of note the abundant application notes of how MPLS can be used in conjunction with applications such as header compression, VoMPLS and MPLS VPNs. In summary, this is well written book that not only treats the traditional topics of TCP/IP network but it also introduces some of the most recent advances developed by the Internet community.

Adrian Farrel's 'The Internet and Its Protocols' (TIAIP) blew me away. I read this book because it explains the Internet I know, but also how new protocols work with that Internet and make it different from the network I first encountered over a decade ago. Farrel's amusing yet clear writing style delivers a great deal of knowledge in a hefty hardcover. If you want to learn about the protocols that make the Internet work, you need to read TIAIP.

One of the strongest aspects of TIAIP is the inclusion of protocol header figures for every protocol mentioned. I considered this an absolute must for any new protocol book I purchase, and Farrel delivers. Unlike some other books that rely on generic box line drawings, TIAIP's figures are bit-specific. In other words, the header at the top of the figure shows where each bit lies. The diagrams are also all in the same format, facilitating comparison between headers.

Comparison is another strength of TIAIP. Farrel doesn't just present protocols and leave the reader to work out their strengths and weaknesses. In most sections he spends time helping readers choose which protocol will best suit their needs. This is both practical and educational.

There is a ton of information in this book, so much that it may be better used as a reference than a read-through title. I admit to not reading every page, especially those that featured large diagrams of header options and their meanings. This level of details is perfect when I need to understand exactly how a protocol functions, however.

I'll mention a few topics that were fairly new to me and appeared in TIAIP. Topics like multicast (ch 3); DiffServ and IntServ (ch 6); SCTP and RTP (ch 7); MPLS (ch 9); GMPLS (ch 10); GSMP (ch 11); and header compression (ch 15) were all well documented. Farrel is heavily involved in MPLS issues, which is of benefit to the reader. MPLS seems to be appearing in many places outside the ISP realm.

I found a few issues with TIAIP, some of which author Farrel was kind enough to acknowledge via email. P. 50 switches the ARP and InARP meanings in table 2.10. In ch 5 on p. 118, the 172.19.168.16/28 and 172.19.168.32/28 networks can be summarized as 172.19.168.16/27, not 172.19.168.32/27. I would have liked to have read more on EIGRP, even though it's a Cisco proprietary routing protocol. Also, ISO does not mean 'International Standards Organization'; ISO is the 'International Organization for Standardization.' They use ISO, derived from the Greek word for equal, to avoid international language issues. For example, the English acronym would be IOS, and the French would be OIN. Clearly I put these minor issues aside when I rated TIAIP five stars; the amount of value this book delivers is incredible.

If you are looking for a book that shows you real details on Internet protocols in a thorough and engaging manner, I highly suggest considering TIAIP. I am adding it to my recommending reading lists today.

If you look for a empirical and graphic illustration of cyberspace, this is not your choice. This book is intended to contribute to theoretical founding of cyberspace. So most pages are devoted to reviewing and elaborating various existing theories, researches. That is, this is a meta-theorizing. His founding theoretical orientation is not fashionable postmodernist but Giddens¡¯s theory of structuration, particularly the knowledgability of actor, and modernity. The author manages to bring about a persuasive extension of Giddens¡¯s approach to cyberspace. He argues there is no reason to see that online community is not that different from offline day-to-day life from totally discrepant angle as postmodernists claim. Online community also assumes the development of the integrity, trust and shared stock of knowledge. What is needed to assess the experience of this brave new world is the proper theory of media and modernity.
The overall outline of the book is like this:
Ch.1: dealing with the nature of ¡®risk society¡¯ depending on Giddens and Habermas.
Ch.2: illustrating the technological and institutional features of internet.
Ch.3: theoretical founding of internet as media based on Thompson¡¯s conception.
Ch.4: arguing that the virtual community is not that far cry from actual (offline) community. So we can cope with it based on existing framework.
Ch.5 arguing that mobilizing IT into organizations like the enterprise, i.e., restructuring, should be reconsidered in the light that IT changes the settings of interaction for IT is a form of media. This chapter tackles the cases of government and NGO¡¯s IT adoption too.
Ch.6: focusing on how the internet enriches and transforms the nature of the self and experience in everyday life. His position is like this: ¡®the self is not being transformed by forces that operate exclusively behind the backs of individuals¡¯.
Below are comments I posted on the bulletin board of a graduate class. Most are complaints. Yep. It¡¯s not fair to the author. But the reader I presumed are those who already read the text. So there was not much reason to recapping the text and writing down praises. And some are not that relevant to the book directly. But I think it would be helpful to get what is like the real line of the book.

1. (On Ch.1) This introductory chapter on founding concepts borrowed from Giddens and Beck, in the tint of Frankfurt¡¯s conception of life world, is much more graphic than Castells¡¯s. But the sketch of time-space distanciation or modernization, in the light of uncertainty and risk is not figurative. And that, there is no definition of ¡®risk¡¯. Yep. Risk is well known concept and widely used. But the writer mixes it with life world in the sense of Frankfurt¡¯s. he should have suggest the definition of those concepts to place in the context. And worse, he omits various ancillary concepts like danger vs. security, disembedding vs. reembedding, ontological security and so forth. Yep. Recapping whole line of ¡®The Consequences of Modernity¡¯ is not reasonable. But such a skipping causes confusion.
2. (On Ch.3) I can¡¯t understand why the author uses the ambiguous concept of culture, while he devoted a few pages to theoretical problems of that concept. He doesn¡¯t substantiates the intangible word at all. I¡¯m not sure what would be his object in this chapter. Frankly, I couldn't distinguish Geertz¡¯s conception from functionalist¡¯s. For that reason, Giddens expelled that word from his theorizing. I couldn't see any benefit to use that word. Culture is no more than a conceptual umbrella, at least in sociology, which unjustifiably conflate seemingly compatible phenomena, though actually discrepant in practical research. Its notoriety doesn¡¯t fall short of one of ¡®society¡¯. For this reason, Giddens restrains himself from the temptation to sue that word, rather confined it only to ¡®the locale of interaction¡¯. Thompson¡¯s analytic framework of ¡®cultural transmission¡¯ is awesome. In my opinion, his framework is wholly compatible to Giddens¡¯s. For Giddens himself doesn¡¯t offer sufficient theorizing on media or technology, his framework could complement the shortfall. But I don¡¯t think Giddens¡¯s stratification model, especially power, could go hand in hand with culture. Instead, why not replace ¡®modality of cultural transmission¡¯ with ¡®media¡¯ ? I suspect author¡¯s use of ¡®culture¡¯ is no more than the inflation of concept.
Besides the conceptual glitch, the intention of ch.3 seems successful: to link the internet to publicness or public sphere. It has been discussed for long. But the author¡¯s attempt to theoretically found it has a point in sketching out the field.
3. (On Ch.4) On the first section of ch.4, I wonder why the author simply ignore the very condition of those various citations he bombarded. Didn¡¯t he fail to be reminded that it could cause confusion? I won¡¯t say he should have reproduced the emptiness of postmodernists, but he should have sensitized, at least, and articulated what is his opponent. It¡¯s the way of discussion. Yep. He illustrates their position in ch.6. but ch.6 is not ch.4.
4. (OnCh.4) the author follows the line of Giddens to attack the babbles of postmodernists. As well known, postmodernists take the stance of poststructuralists in the conception of the self. It has some points in the sphere of philosophy. But it¡¯s hard to be so in sociology. As Giddens puts it, the agency should be conceived as knowledgable actor. This is the point of late Wittgenstein too. In this vein, the babble of postmodernist should be rejected. In this regard, author¡¯s sketching out of IRC, in the fashion of Goffman, is much more persuasive than empty discussion of postmodernists.

To the first-time users of both the Arpanet and Milnet in the birthing days of the Internet, it was clear pretty early on that this new technological development could very well become a potent force in society's processes. Sadly, academic exploration lagged in its tracking over the years, apparently favoring instead a focus on technological advances in the new medium.

Slevin's work goes far in correcting the shortfall between books that teach us how to approach the Internet and those that speak of how the Internet approaches-and changes-us. He feels the Internet is a new media that informs certain social forces transforming modern society, and that our human relationships re-sculpt themselves in an emerging arena of "manufactured uncertainty" and "manufactured risk."

From this thesis, Slevin goes on to do something quite valuable. He creates a new vocabulary, perhaps even a language, which names these often contradictory forces that push and pull our communities with new social tensions and technological innovations. We respond to these tidal flows, of course, both consciously and unconsciously. The point Slevin makes in this is, "we ignore them at our peril."

While Slevin's book certainly cannot be described as a fireplace-and--shawl reader, it is, nevertheless, eminently readable for both the specialist and interested layperson. The textual flow is relentlessly outlined, tracking the changes in society from the early days of hand shaking computers through the emergence of today's world wide web. With the careful introduction and naming of each social development, a mental game board emerges, on which one can see how each transforming force dynamically plays out in our human uncertainties.

Slevin carefully negotiates the quagmire of describing the Internet in moral terms. He turns away from the battle between doomsday prophets and ecstatic acolytes of the electronic altar. True to the post-modern dilemma, he views the Internet through a multiplicity of lenses. His diopter may not always be accurate, but his focus is unusually clear, particularly on a swirling subject that refuses to be interpreted in linear fashion.

In reading through Slevin's careful foundation necessary for a useful vocabulary, one can sometimes lose the sense of raw power for transformation the Internet carries within itself. Slevin seems to counter this by describing how our core institutions, never big fans of any kind of change, creak and groan at their very roots. In fact, he makes a good case that certain organizations are responding to the Internet in a fitful reflex of denial or embrace, perhaps even an odd combination of both, unconsciously sowing the seeds for their own destruction or transformation.

On the other hand, his views on emerging virtual communities are quite tantalizing. While he agrees it is not productive to trade a real life for a virtual world, the Internet does offer the potential for relating to one another through continually changing social practices. If so, one consequence of the Internet might be a whole new sense of community as both real and imagined. This thought is crucial as Slevin considers what groups of people might find themselves qualified or marginalized in the new cultural arena.

On the whole, Slevin articulates an understanding of our emerging future as carefully as a medical student lays out a skeleton in anatomy class. Generally, he succeeds by offering the reader a number of "windows" (the allusion is intentional and well explained in the book) through which one can view the Internet and the new social experience it mediates.

One doubts this is a book for the ages, but it certainly is one for the present and immediate future. As one who is fast wearing out a perfectly good pair of eyes on fuzzy fonts, I approached the book through a weary ennui. I found myself quickly captivated by a rigorous and perceptive thinker offering a new language for interpreting what is for many of us an anxious experience. While Slevin sometimes falls into jargon, he quickly gets back to a thought that is fresh and original. The writing of this book was a wonderful effort, and well worth the read.

Terrell Seaton is a student in the Ph.D. program for Leadership Studies at Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA.

As a doctoral student in Mass Communcation at the University of Texas in Austin studying the social impact of the Internet, I was glad to find a text that discussed the Internet from a social and cultural perspective. It was so refreshing to find that someone recognizes that the impacts of technology are broader than just the "online culture."

I was also inspired by Dr. Slevin's active approach recommendation to technology, rather than the passive approach or wait-and-see approach, or the technozealot/technophobe approaches that are prevalent in current literature. I, too, feel that the impact will be the sum total of various pros, cons and indifferences of the medium and that only through a coherent study of technology and an analysis of communication and sociological theory will we be able to grasp its opportunities and consequences. I plan to refer to this book and the resources on the associated Web site as a key resource in my dissertation process.

The focus on the arguments of Giddens, Thompson and Baumann strengthened the position of the author and grounded the work in sociological theory. Slevin realizes that we must not assume that traditional theory will apply in this new medium, but that we must analyze existing theory and understand that the unique dynamics of the Internet might modify or even rewrite theory. This work is powerful and insightful in its ability to integrate and apply multiple perspectives. I only wish that I could have written this book myself!

Good books about the Internet are rare, but Slevin's book is certainly one of them. It approaches the Internet from a social point of view, and describes the Net as a completely new medium, which covers aspects of all other existing media, and which, being so varied, has some major advantages over single, separate media (like newspapers or television). As Slevin argues, the Internet differs from a single, separate medium in that it does not merely have a push role, but can give people so much information as to make a real difference and a huge impact on society. Slevin might, as such, have named his book 'Internet is Society' rather than 'Internet and Society'.

The book is a good introduction to the origins and definitions of the Internet. It describes how young people basically grow up with the medium and how other people are spending more and more time and money to explore the Net. The book also deals with the Internet's possibilities and, not unimportantly, with the risks that are involved. These risks being a hot issue in society at the moment (risk management in organizations), Slevin's book provides some new insights into handling the Internet, both online as well as offline. So the book is a kind of a SWOT analysis of the Net and I am very impressed by this book!

René Kalsbeek M.A.Communication Studies, University of Amsterdam