The Internet and World Wide Web ‐ The Rough Guide, 1998

Citation

Rowland, G. (1998), "The Internet and World Wide Web ‐ The Rough Guide, 1998", New Library World, Vol. 99 No. 6, pp. 262-262. https://doi.org/10.1108/nlw.1998.99.6.262.1

This compact volume covers a vast amount of information about the Internet and the World Wide Web in its 455 pages. The information is presented in four Parts.

Part one covers the basics ‐ how to get connected, online services and major ISPs (Information Service Providers), E‐mailing facilities, UseNet Newsgroups, Surfing, Finding it, and Creating your own Web pages. Whilst some of the sections present fairly basic information, others give quite extensive facts ‐ the “Finding it” section gives fairly detailed information on the various techniques and tools for searching.

Part two covers WWW sites, UseNet groups, with a software roundup.

Search powerhouses (search engines and directories) are covered in some depth,

The guide to WWW sites is arranged under subjects ‐ including art and photography (24 sites), banking (10 sites), books and bookstores (33 sites), comedy (15 sites ‐including an “Archive of useless facts”); other subject headings include fashion, kids stuff (“mostly”), music, religion, and weird (including one of my favourites ‐ “How to toilet train your cat ‐ how to point pusskins at the porcelain ‐ literally !”)

Part three is headed “Contexts” and gives a brief history of the Net, Net language and a glossary, with suggestions for further reading.

Part four is an ISP Directory ‐ listing, for example, five International ISPs, 15 based in UK, and 16 in Europe.

The guide concludes with “Fifty Things to do with this book” ‐ with links to How to reignite an old flame, Tune in to foreign radio, Make exotic music, Cast a voodoo spell, Preview and then buy one of 250,000 CDs ‐ or even Buy a frilly bra!

Some of the content is also available at the Rough Guides Web Site (http://roughguides.com) ‐ including HTML links to the 600 sites listed in the book.

Over 450 pages in a compact (14.5cm x 10.5 cm) volume at the incredible price of £5 represents value with a capital V! The pocket size probably makes it unsuitable for library shelves, but at this price, I urge you to buy a copy for yourself (as I did)!