Online! The Book 210
Online! The Book | |
author | John C. Dvorak and Chris Pirillo (with Wendy Taylor) |
pages | 701 |
publisher | Prentice Hall PTR |
rating | 3 |
reviewer | Tony Williams |
ISBN | 0131423630 |
summary | Padding, information and errors all in the one volume. Could be worse, but not by much. |
If only John C. Dvorak and Chris Pirillo (with Wendy Taylor) had been able to deliver. If only they had not strewn the book with error, verbiage and irrelavancy. Ah, well.
This volume in its 700 pages (divided into 28 chapters) tries to cover everything from hardware basics to voice over IP, in between touching on e-commerce, security, web programming, networking, content management and business websites, to name just six of the topics perhaps each better suited to a volume of their own.
This book skims, and skims fast, over a number of important and vital topics while dwelling on others that many will find useless. Chris Pirillo seems to be an expert on marketing, so that gets thirty pages, while web programming languages get ten. We get forty pages of 'Hardware Basics,' which cover information vital to getting online such as operating systems, varieties of Intel chips, video cards and gaming audio drivers. I know that if I wanted to find the perfect spot to put breakout boxes about Babbage and von Neumann (essential to any book about getting online) I'd put them in the chapter on viruses. It seems as if the three authors said "we're contracted to seven hundred pages so let's just throw in topics we know a lot about until we get to seven hundred pages -- then stop."
Then there are the errors. We get editing errors like the text that tells us a 'geostationary satellite' orbits at 'about 22,300 miles,' next to a diagram showing the number 20,300 miles. We get errors in logic like the breakout box that has "DNS servers may run Apache, which is an open source Web server program" and goes on to imply that all DNS servers will run a web server. We get errors in grammar. We get paragraphs like "Although there are dynamic Web page URLs (meaning they change, or at least part of it does), most are static (stay the same). These can be dynamic by use of a programming error or dynamic because someone named the URL extension without adding a link elsewhere on the web site." With sentence construction like that I'm still not sure if the claim intended is true or not.
Did I like anything about this book? Sure, the chapter on 'How A Modem (Really) Works' was full of good solid information. Other chapters were similar, particularly the two following on networking and handhelds, phones and PDAs. Others did contain some good information, just surrounded by dross.
You can go to the book's website, which is basically just a single page with yet more hyperbole ("Everything is here. Well-written. Comprehensive.") or visit the Prentice Hall page, which actually gives you a table of contents and a sample chapter. Just don't go straight to the Prentice Hall PTR home page and search for books with "Online" in the title, as that won't find it. Instead search for books with "Book" in the title.
I'd only recommend this book to those who want to spend a lot of time finding the good bits, a few minutes chuckling over some of the errors, and thirty dollars on a paperweight. If you're really looking for a 'perfect gift' for people new new to the net, then find something cheaper covering just the essentials, and for those more expert, find a volume that actually covers a topic of interest well.
You can purchase Online! The Book from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
duh (Score:5, Funny)
Gee, and it's just out in time for Christmas. What a coincidence. No wonder they didn't have time to get their facts straight, December was coming.
Re:duh (Score:5, Funny)
This should be a "Perfect gift for people who read computer books".
Re:duh (Score:2)
Karma whoring? More like you didn't post w/ your username because you would look like a bloody idiot, posting
Re:duh (Score:2)
I had considered that, but I couldn't see how it was at all humorous. Maybe he has a bad sense of humor. Or maybe it's just me
What were you expecting? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:What were you expecting? (Score:3, Interesting)
Should I continue to recommend it or send a note to Reader's Digest that the 1890s called and want their book back?
KFG
Re:What were you expecting? (Score:2)
Re:What were you expecting? (Score:2)
Surely you can't be suggesting that most home users (to whom the book is aimed) simply plug an RJ-45 cable directly into their NIC without a modualtion/demodulation device acting as an intermediary to the raw signal?
http://www.c
Re:What were you expecting? (Score:2)
Regarding the other issues you raised:
Everything I have read indicates that modem use is giving way to either DSL or Cable modem for accessing the internet. I have not read the book either, but if the section on modems includes DSL and Cable modems that would be an odd conglomeration.
The point made by the review was that there was sparse coverage
Re:What were you expecting? (Score:3, Insightful)
The fact that one no longer necessarily (although occasion can still crop up)has to understand how a modem works sometimes people just like to know how things work. See the popularity of How Things Work in print and on the web.
Criticizing a book for explaining how things work is just gratuitous anti-intellectualism. People who couldn't care less can skip it and those that do have it available to the
Re:What were you expecting? (Score:2)
Quote from the article:
"Upcoming features? PAM. files larger than 2 gigs. NFS over TCP. The 80's called, they want their features back. NTPv4 was a listed big feature on a slide of 10 to 15 upcoming enhancements. How does an NTP enhancement get mentioned as a 'big' feature? Wow."
Actually I remember this because that quote IS in fact quite funny.
Re:What were you expecting? (Score:2)
Since I am german I didn't recognize this as a common phrase until the named article. It's a true shame that it translates so badly into german it ruins the fun of it:
"Hey, die 80iger haben angerufen, sie wollen ihre Features zuruck!" oder "Hey, das Smithsonian hat angerufen, sie wollen Ihr Studio 54 Ausstellungsstuck zuruck." just sounds kinda lame...
Re:What were you expecting? (Score:2, Informative)
Dial-up Ain't Gone... (Score:2, Interesting)
We have a lot of customers. There's seniors who don't do anything but email, so our "PAYING" rate [grnet.com] works well, at $5 for 20 hours of connection time, tracked by the second. (Who'd have thought $5 could last you six months?) Then there's joe and jane parent who don't want their kid on Kazaa all the time.
All in all, dial-up still fills a niche. The low-bandwidth, low-cost n
If wishes were fishes ... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:If wishes were fishes ... (Score:2)
Re:If wishes were fishes ... (Score:2)
Such situations are annoying, aren't they? I think that practically everyone who uses "flounder" as a verb really meant to say "founder," but, since they're invariably speaking metaphorically anyway, they end up accidentally making sense.
I think I'll wait.... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I think I'll wait.... (Score:1)
Re:I think I'll wait.... (Score:3, Funny)
"I saw the shit out of it!"
Re:I think I'll wait.... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I think I'll wait.... (Score:3, Funny)
> Personally, I'm looking forward to the promotional website for the movie.
Personally, I (for one) welcome our online.. promotional.... website? Wait, this is the wrong joke! (Isn't it always, though?)
Re:I think I'll wait.... (Score:2)
Well, about as accurate anyway... (Score:2)
Re:Well, about as accurate anyway... (Score:2)
Say what you want about Dvorak... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Say what you want about Dvorak... (Score:1)
Re:Say what you want about Dvorak... (Score:2, Funny)
Actually someone else wrote it, but he came up with a new arrangement.
Table of Contents (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Table of Contents (Score:1)
"Slashdot" wouldn't be a bad title, with this many dupes.
Re:Table of Contents (Score:2)
There're only so many times a publisher will erroneously reprint the same chapter without lobbyists getting in the way of their tree consumption
God.... (Score:2, Funny)
*remembers Dilbert boss joke.*
Heh heh...
Re:God.... (Score:3, Funny)
Reminds me about a joke about computer-illiterate people that started doing the rounds when British libraries began to introduce cheap (later free) internet access:
Sounds rather like it could be a PHB [dilbert.com] or BOFH [theregister.co.uk] situation here... lusers, anyone?
(Then again, for several years you've been
Mel Brooks, eat your heart out... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Mel Brooks, eat your heart out... (Score:3, Funny)
Email, Online!
pr0n, Online!
Look! The rating is a 3! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Look! The rating is a 3! (Score:5, Funny)
Why only computer books? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Why only computer books? (Score:2)
Hardly Suprising (Score:5, Interesting)
Great!! (Score:3, Funny)
Perfect gift idea for the newbies! (Score:2)
What a way to introduce someone to the World Wide Wow!
Re:Perfect gift idea for the newbies! (Score:1)
this book is too long... (Score:4, Funny)
The sequels are even better (Score:3, Funny)
Offline! Tales of slashdotting
Spelling! Secrets of the Slashdot editors
Speaking of hubris; try THIS on for size: (Score:2, Funny)
Time warp? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Time warp? (Score:3, Funny)
What does it cost? (Score:2)
Destined to be... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Destined to be... (Score:4, Funny)
$2.99? I got Bill Gates's "The Road Ahead" in a 50-cents bin. Are you telling me "Online!" is worth nearly six times as much as BillG's 1995-era visions of the future?
Well, OK, maybe.
This is the same Dvorak... (Score:5, Insightful)
And now he claims "...no more junk email"
OK. That's quite simply not possible, and he must know it.
"Packed with secrets never before revealed"
You're telling me there's a lot (wnough to "pack" a book this size) important useful things about the internet that only these three people knew until now?
Hogwash.
Re:This is the same Dvorak... (Score:3, Interesting)
correct me if I'm wrong (Score:1)
But I thought geostationary satellites are at an elevation of about 22,239 miles. It is important to get this right, otherwise your geostationary satellite isn't stationary.
Both figures in the book are wrong.
Re:correct me if I'm wrong (Score:2)
2) Many people would think 22,239 miles is close enough to satisfy 'about 22,300 miles'.
Re:correct me if I'm wrong (Score:1)
Re:correct me if I'm wrong (Score:1)
Quote makes it sound authentic. (Score:5, Funny)
Hmm... sounds exactly like being online.
Not exactly (Score:2)
To sound exactly like being online it would have to include hardcore photos of the authors and ads for penis enlargement.
Ed Kroll (Score:1)
Metacomment (Score:3, Funny)
(since this is a comment about comments, but on-topic because it's about reviews, does this count as a "metacomment"? My guess is I'm just an ass...)
Re:Metacomment (Score:1)
No, but certainly an optomist if you think it will shut someone up around here.
"This book is pure hogshit! How can you sleep at night, rating it a three?!?!"
ebook? (Score:2)
Re:ebook? (Score:2)
sadly.... (Score:2, Funny)
It is missing a few things (Score:2)
BTW, the "Early Comments" section is just BEGGING for
Dead tree internet directories (Score:3, Interesting)
Oh yeah, marketing. Of course, you could just make annual editions of internet "yellow pages" with corrected links, etc.
It's like going to the mailbox outside the post office to mail a letter.
P Is For Pirillo, P Is For Pathetic. (Score:4, Funny)
And to top it all off, he writes a newsletter called "Windows Fanatics". I feel so bad for this guy. World Vision should add this guy to their client list, he's at least as pathetic as the starving AIDS-ridden African child with flies crawling on his face.
BSD isn't dying, this guy is.
Re:P Is For Pirillo, P Is For Pathetic. (Score:1)
Re:P Is For Pirillo, P Is For Pathetic. (Score:2)
Re:P Is For Pirillo, P Is For Pathetic. (Score:2)
Re:P Is For Pirillo, P Is For Pathetic. (Score:2)
Perhaps their logic runs deeper than the Obvious. (Score:1)
If there's one thing I know about computers and the internet, it's that fluff is a very big part of it's culture. Also, Pr0n is a very big part of the internet and computers, fluffing is even more pronounced by this.
I feel that by your review you have exposed the book to be far more accurate in delivery then it ever could dream to be in content.
why not 'online for dummies'? (Score:3, Insightful)
'One of these days, you are going to have to teach me how to use computers'.
No, I won't.
Teach yourself or find something else to do. Writing a book like this is obviously going to make the authors and publishers some money, which is the point. This book was written by 'internet experts', the kind of people who get fired as soon as their companies find out how useless they really are. Then they get hired to write about what they barely know.
What does it take to get a 1? (Score:5, Insightful)
I mean really, there should be a competition to find a book which sets new lows.
What's the point of having a scale of 1 to 10 if nobody has a 1?
If Dvorak put out a book with so little value that it's not worth reading, will mislead anyone who doesn't know any better, would corrupt young minds if given to a library, would shame you to admit to have read it, much less purchased it, invokes sadness to look upon -- knowing that trees died to print it, leads you to question the sanity of the publisher or the motives of the author, then by all means, give it a 1!
Re:What does it take to get a 1? (Score:2)
Notice, how you'd have to print URL's to it (so you have to type it in), not the actual comments. Someone might find the comments amusing for the first 5 pages. Enough to earn it a 2 by rounding error or something. So even most of all the worthless comments on Slashdot (some of which are mine), wouldn't even rate a 1
Scratch that Itch! (To the tune of Devo) (Score:2)
It sounds like you just got yourself an itch to scratch.
Get to it
Look on the bright side... (Score:1)
Orbit (Score:2)
"Geostationary orbit" seems like a misnomer itself. If it's geostationary, is it really orbiting around anything besides the sun?
Re:Orbit (Score:1)
Travis
Oh the irony of it all (Score:3, Funny)
700 pages? (Score:1)
Full as a baked potato (Score:1)
This can't be slashdot.
And in other news... (Score:2)
Breakout box? (Score:4, Informative)
While this is an example of a page with a sidebar. [boingboing.net]
This is only worth commenting on because I had no idea what the hell you meant.
Hubris (Score:2)
Admittedly, they published it in 1992...
Re:Why post? (Score:2)
Re:Why post? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Why post? (Score:2)
Re:Considering... (Score:1, Redundant)
Yes, I am writing on a Dvorak Keyboard:
The keyboard was designed from work started in about 1930, by Dr. August Dvorak, an American from Seattle (distantly related both to composer Antonin Dvorak and the John Dvorak in question).
Re:Considering... (Score:1)
Re:Considering... (Score:2)
Re:Considering... (Score:3, Redundant)
Re:Considering... (Score:1)
Re:Considering... (Score:1)
Re:Considering... (Score:1, Funny)
Don't you mean "New World"?
Re:Considering... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:more reviews of this book (Score:1)
Re:more reviews of this book (Score:1)
Re:more reviews of this book (Score:1)