BKTEWSSG.RVW   960306
 
"The Essential Web Surfer Survival Guide", Fristrup, 1996, 0-13-442971-0,
U$29.95
%A   Jenny Fristrup fristrup@hpl.hp.com
%C   One Lake St., Upper Saddle River, NJ   07458
%D   1996
%G   0-13-442971-0
%I   Prentice Hall
%O   U$29.95 800-576-3800, 416-293-3621, +1-201-236-7139 fax: +1-201-236-7131
%P   598
%T   "The Essential Web Surfer Survival Guide"
 
There is nothing essential about the material in this book.  The information
about the World Wide Web, browsers, HTML, HTTP and other concepts is generic,
and not likely to be of help in building or browsing the WWW.  As far as
survival goes, how much help do you expect from a book that tells you
everything about creating you own Web page except how to find a server, where
to put your file up and how to code HTML.  I assume that one can agree that the
book *is* about Web surfing, even though there are whole (and multiple)
chapters that advertise companies, list media email addresses, and explain
non-net related software.
 
The book does contain large sections of screenshots from various Web sites, as
well as lists of URLs for other pages.  It also contains 150 pages of
unannotated HTML from random sites, huge sections of material from other
people, wide margins and a lot of white space.  The result is a bloated and
undisciplined work which might be an inefficient reference, but is no kind of
guide.
 
copyright Robert M. Slade, 1996   BKTEWSSG.RVW   960306

==============
Vancouver      ROBERTS@decus.ca         | "My son, beware ... of the
Institute for  rslade@vcn.bc.ca         |  making of books there is
Research into  Rob.Slade@f733.n153.z1/  |  no end, and much study is
User                      .fidonet.org  |  a weariness of the flesh."
Security       Canada V7K 2G6           |          Ecclesiastes 12:12