BKUSNTHB.RVW   950607
 
%A   Mark Harrison usenet-handbook@ora.com
%C   103 Morris Street, Suite A, Sebastopol, CA   95472
%D   1995
%G   1-56592-101-1
%I   O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.
%O   U$24.95 800-998-9938 707-829-0515 fax: 707-829-0104 nuts@ora.com
%O   519-283-6332 800-528-9994 rick.brown@onlinesys.com
%P   372
%T   "The Usenet Handbook"
"The Usenet Handbook", Mark Harrison, 1995, 1-56592-101-1, U$24.95
 
I am not quite sure what to say about Harrison's book, but one thing I *do*
know--it's unique.
 
The first two chapters give a very sound overview of what Usenet news is, and
how it works.  Chapters three to six, and a part of chapter eight, give some
instruction on reading news with nn, tin, gnus, Trumpet Newsreader and
Netscape.  Posting is covered in chapter seven, while eight to ten cover
miscellaneous advanced topics.  Chapter eleven, somewhat oddly, talks about
email.  Appendices include a table of geographic distribution limiters, five
good (and classic) articles on Usenet UNIX wildcards and regular expressions,
sources for the software described in the book, and the Spafford/Lawrence lists
of groups and alt groups.
 
The material is clear and easy to read.  It does, however, have something of a
"techie" feel, confirmed by the suggestion that programming your own newsreader
is a good way to learn news, or the directions for WAIS indexing of articles. 
The organization is generally good, but could be improved or enhanced with
cross-references.  For example, chapter seven tells you not to post an article
until you've read the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions list)--but doesn't tell
you about the MIT mail-server source for FAQs until chapter eight.  Some of the
content is much more comprehensive, such as the excellent collection of hoax
messages that shouldn't be reposted.  On the other hand, as useful as they
might be in general, do we really need a chapter on email, most of one on ftp,
and an appendix on UNIX wildcards?  That space might better be used for missing
information such as mail-to-news gateways.  (A sidebar does describe
anonymising servers.  And the Usenet FAQ in Appendix B lists one--the Digital
site which is now permanently out of service.)  The material on newsreaders
could be expanded either to include more of them, or more details.
 
For anyone wanting to become involved with the thousands of topical discussions
ongoing under Usenet news technology, this book will get you started and
*won't* steer you wrong.  It is written by someone who firmly understands the
Usenet culture, and Valerie Quercia's frequent sidebars provide interesting
comments along the way.  Harrison's topic choices may be technical, but his
explanations are not.  This book can be for anyone.
 
copyright Robert M. Slade, 1995   BKUSNTHB.RVW   950607

======================
ROBERTS@decus.ca, RSlade@sfu.ca, Rob Slade at 1:153/733 RSlade@cyberstore.ca
  "Internet, the information network you _can't_ outgrow."  - Ido Dubrawsky
Author "Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses" 0-387-94311-0/3-540-94311-0