The Extreme Searcher's Internet Handbook: A Guide for the Serious Searcher (3rd ed.)

Citation

Smith, A.G. (2010), "The Extreme Searcher's Internet Handbook: A Guide for the Serious Searcher (3rd ed.)", The Electronic Library, Vol. 28 No. 4, pp. 622-622. https://doi.org/10.1108/02640471011065427

Ran Hock is a prolific author of successful internet guides, and this third edition of his handbook for searching the internet follows a well tried pattern: an overview of Internet searching, followed by a survey of the different tools: Web directories, search engines, etc.

A problem with this approach is that much of the guide is descriptions of specific services, which tend to date quickly. While this approach has its place, it's a pity that there aren't more guides that look at the overall strategy and tactics that can be applied to searching the Internet – Effective Information Retrieval from the Internet (Stacey and Stacey, 2004) is an example of this alternative approach.

In fact The Extreme Searcher's Internet Handbook is pretty up‐to‐date – in the web directory section the recent merger of Librarians Index to the Internet and the Internet Public Library is reflected in a thorough description of the new service, ipl², and the latest version of Microsoft's search engine, Bing, is covered. There is a web page (www.extremesearcher.com/handbooklinks.html) which contains links to resources in the handbook and in theory should provide updates if resources change.

This edition has less emphasis on web directories, reflecting the reality that the power of search engines has to some extent overtaken the ability of librarians to describe and categorise sites.

There are thorough descriptions of the “big three” search engines: Google, Yahoo!, and Bing. However, there could be more in depth coverage of other tools which are now important for searching. These include Google Scholar, which despite reservations is becoming an accepted tool in academic research; and Wikipedia, which, despite continuing arguments about its “quality” as an encyclopedia, is a valuable source of links, performing the role of a Web directory. These tools are mentioned, but warrant more extensive discussion of their role in a complete search strategy.

The descriptions of resources include useful hints on search technique, for example that in image searching, using fewer search terms can be helpful since images generally have few terms associated with them.

There is good coverage of Web 2.0 social media, and advice about more traditional ways of creating your own personal web presence by setting up a web site. However, there is potential for more comparison of the tools required to search social media – Google Blog search only covers a fraction of the comment and opinion available in the blogosphere.

There is a comprehensive index, and a glossary for those bewildered by the ever‐changing terminology of the Internet.

I would have liked to see more on evaluation of information: people now tend not to have problems finding information, but there is a serious problem with evaluating what they find, and putting in context the random hits generated by a search engine.

Despite these reservations, the third edition of Extreme Searcher's Internet Handbook justifies the revision, and is a good grounding for novices, while providing plenty of “Ah hah!” moments for experienced searchers. And don't forget to follow Ran's advice for exploring the Internet: “click everywhere”.