BKINTYLP.RVW  981025

"Harley Hahn's Internet & Web Yellow Pages/Golden Directory", Harley
Hahn, 1997, 0-07-882300-5, C$42.95
%A   Harley Hahn
%C   2600 Tenth St., Berkeley, CA   94710
%D   1997
%G   0-07-882300-5
%I   Osborne McGraw-Hill
%O   C$42.95 800-227-0900 1-800-2-MCGRAW FAX: 1-717-794-2080
%P   904 p. + CD-ROM
%T   "Harley Hahn's Internet & Web Yellow Pages/Golden Directory 1997
         Edition"

An Internet "Yellow Pages" is no less ambitious a project than a
"White Pages," probably more so.  The pace of change on the Internet
is rapid, and ill-suited to the long lead times of book publishing. 
In addition, the volume and range of information on the net is
staggering.  Nevertheless, even the very brief "catalogues" found in
introductory guides tend to be a lot of fun and serendipitously
useful.

This is fun.  There are addresses for famous people, programming
resources, UFO theorists, software utilities, government information
and all the various and varied topics of the net.  There are cartoons
and graphics included; about four per page; which seem to take the
place of the advertising in a regular yellow pages directory.

This is somewhat useful.  For Internet resource people, this is a lot
faster than "grep"ing the active-groups and list-of-lists files when
the persistent "What can you do on the Internet?" question pops up. 
The closest competition, "New Riders' Official Internet Yellow Pages"
(cf BKNRYLPG.RVW) is more formal but actually contains fewer listings,
and is not as likely to find information on what you are looking for.

This needs work.  The entries lean heavily on Web pages and are light
on mailing lists.  The large format and 900 pages of listings look
impressive until you see the amount of white space and number of
cartoons.  (The white space ["yellow" space?] *does* make the layout
attractive and easy to read.)  The subject categories could stand some
input from a "real world" document such as a real yellow pages
directory or the Sears list of subject headings.  The index is vital,
and needs the most work of all in order to make this a major reference
work.  I also note still more degradation in the quality of the
information in this edition.

copyright Robert M. Slade, 1994-1998   BKINTYLP.RVW  981025