Reviews (2)

pretty accurate
What i was told wasn't far from what i recieved. The company/ person I bought the book from is good to do business with.

nice discussion of globalisation
The authors give an updated view of the basics about information systems (computers and networking, if you will). This field keeps changing so fast that new texts are continually needed.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computers    3. Computers - General Information    4. Entrepreneurship    5. General    6. Information Technology    7. Management - General    8. Management information systems    9. Business information systems    10. Computers / Management Information Systems    11. Impact of computing & IT on society   

Reviews (16)

You'll learn a lot about RMS, but at the same time be tired by the simple level.
FREE AS IN FREEDOM is Sam Williams' biography of legendary software developer and political thinker Richard Stallman. Founder of the GNU project, Stallman is little-known outside of a relatively small world of computing cognoscenti, but without him Linux and many other modern computing innovations would hardly be possible. In an interesting twist, the publisher O'Reilly has released this book under the GNU Free Documentation License, meaning that the book may be freely copied and sold.
Very Good Book
I find Stallman and Linus a very interesting comparison, especially their motivations. Williams has done a good job of providing the reader insight into a leading thinker in our time. As with most leaders there are those who think he is a genius, those who think he is a fool and those who think he is evil. The choice is of course dependent upon how closely the leader agrees with the observer.
Carpe Diem! (or don't)
I found Free as in Freedom in the library, Deweyed on the
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Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer hackers    4. Computer programmers    5. Computers    6. General    7. Open source software    8. Social Aspects    9. Social Aspects - General    10. Sociology    11. Stallman, Richard    12. United States    13. Biography: general    14. Computers / Operating Systems / Linux    15. Computers / Social Aspects / General    16. Free Software Foundation (Cambridge, Mass.)    17. Hi-tech manufacturing industries    18. Impact of computing & IT on society    19. Social Science/General    20. Technology/Social Aspects   

Editorial Review

Chapter 1 of Read more

Reviews (68)

A must
If you're in the software business and you haven't read this book, chances are you don't know what's going on.

An Corporate Information Seller's Handbook
Both authors are professors at the University of California at Berkeley.This book deals with how unchanging principles are being applied to the changing conditions and technologies of information marketing (software).
Very Practical
The arrival of the Internet and the information explosion it created has made it possible for inventors and entrepreneurs to build a business from scratch to worldwide marketing capability in a very few years. The authors of this book take the position that all too often we are deluded into thinking certain and tried and true economic principles have been abolished by this new Internet economy. They argue their position without jargon and with examples taken from the real world.
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Subjects:  1. Information Management    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Management Information Systems    4. Information society    5. Business strategy    6. Computer Communications & Networking    7. Economics - General    8. Information technology    9. Business & Economics    10. Business/Economics    11. Economic aspects   

Editorial Review

Sherry Turkle is rapidly becoming the sociologist of the Internet, and that's beginning to seem like a good thing. While her first outing, Read more

Reviews (18)

general comment
Turkle's book is one of the first ethnographies published on virtual communities and how we construct and reconstruct our senses of identity through the internet. It is therefore an important starting point for anyone with a general interest in this area research.Since this book was originally published however there has been a significant amount of work done on virtual communities and self-identity on the WWW that differs somewhat from Turkle's.Therefore although I highly recommend the book I also suggest that you take the time to explore this subject area more broadly before drawing any conclusions.

Relevant & Important
Turkle's research findings are mind-boggling, exciting, terrifying, and (whether we like what we see or not) revealing. We see, here, glimpses of the future as a place where the real and virtual collide. Where who we are and how we think will differ markedly from all we've taken for granted in the old familiar pre-Info-Age. Anyone who works with children or adolescents of the Info-Age should read this book! I recommend it, along with the more up-to-date work by Don Tapscott.

Lots on Bots
This book isn't for the newbie, but if you're already familiar with computers and what's possible on the Internet but haven't yet explored the world of MUDS and the like, this is one of the most informative and fascinating looks at the virtual world that you'll come across. Even more interesting are the questions that Turkle poses regarding self-identity and what the "self" is given the new "non"-environment we call cyberspace.Though offering few answers, the author introduces us to a future world of seemingly infinite possibilities for self-exploration and challenges us to ponder its implications for who we are, how we define ourselves, and how we interact with one another. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer - Internet    2. Computer networks    3. Computers    4. Computers and civilization    5. Internet - General    6. Mental Health    7. Politics/International Relations    8. Psychological aspects    9. Reference - General    10. Social aspects    11. POLITICS & GOVERNMENT    12. Science / General   

Reviews (3)

A fascinating subject
The word `ergodic' is very familiar in mathematics and physics, where in the former it designates measure-preserving transformations and in the latter an equivalence between time and space averages. To see the term appear in literary analysis is therefore interesting, and instigates curiosity as to its role there. The author of this book is the first one to refer to `ergodic literature' and he therefore gives the reader insight into the subject that perhaps cannot be obtained anywhere else. As a whole the book is very interesting, even though at times it might appear that the author is skating to close to the `deconstructive' school of literary criticism.
Just get it
... what else is necessary to say. This book will spur so many thoughts and ideas that you will be reading it for ever after. It is a must for any serious hypertext/cybertext scholar.

THE book on interactive narrative studies
Aristotle is alive and he is norwegian! Finally here is the lost book of Poetics. If you are one of the rare race of people that like to think about videogames rather than play with them, you will love this book. Maybe many scholars won't pay Aarseth much attention, but time will speak by itself. This is the most intelligent, visionary and interesting book available about interactive fiction/narrative/drama/or-whatever-name-you-like. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Communication and technology    2. Data processing    3. Discourse analysis, Literary    4. Literary Criticism    5. Literature - Classics / Criticism    6. Literature and technology    7. Semiotics & Theory    8. Computing and Information Technology    9. History / Ancient / General    10. Literary studies: general   

Subjects:  1. Communication    2. Information Technology    3. Information society    4. Internet    5. Internet - World Wide Web    6. Language    7. Language Arts & Disciplines    8. Language Arts / Linguistics / Literacy    9. Impact of computing & IT on society    10. Language Arts & Disciplines / Communication    11. Media studies    12. POLITICS & GOVERNMENT    13. Sociology, Social Studies   

Subjects:  1. Communication    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer networks    4. Computers    5. Computers - General Information    6. Computers and civilization    7. General    8. Information Technology    9. Networking - General    10. Social aspects    11. Communication Studies    12. Computer Communications & Networking    13. Impact of computing & IT on society    14. Language Arts & Disciplines / Communication    15. USA   

Editorial Review

How is the human brain like the AIDS epidemic? Ask physicist Albert-László Barabási and he'll explain them both in terms of networks of individual nodes connected via complex but understandable relationships. Read more

Reviews (79)

Greate Read and Interesting New Perspective on How things work in this Jungle
I got registered onto a few networking sites like Linkedin, Orkut and Hi5 in March and suddenly started thinking about term Network in social context. Being a computer engineer by profession and having worked on communication networks for last 5 years it was quite obvious to find parallels. And then I stuck upon this book. I must say i wasn't disapponted. Each Ideas has been built with convincing examples and is well supported by results from ongoing research being done by author. I would wait for him to write something on dissemination of information through social networks and network dynamics.

Highly Recommended for the Technical Practitioner
In an informal survey held in a recent webinar, over 50% of the (several hundred) participants ranked "Word-of-Mouth" as the most typical source for leads that convert to paying customers. Interesting...!
Excellent -Applicable to SOA Networks
I have been involved in telecommunications networking for years, and recently started up a "community of interest" web site around SOA Networks.
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Subjects:  1. Computer networks    2. General    3. Mathematical Physics    4. Miscellanea    5. Networking - General    6. Philosophy    7. Science    8. Science/Mathematics    9. System Theory    10. Impact of science & technology on society    11. Philosophy of science    12. Popular science   

Editorial Review

As the founder of MIT's Media Lab and a popular columnist for Read more

Reviews (80)

Good bread, but nothing in between
I read this book, partly based on the implied challenge of one of my professors.After finishing it, I can only say I'm glad I didn't pay full price for it.
Being Digital in Digital Planet
IMAGINE that in a bright morning you read a digital newspaper which was specially "printed" for you. Supported by a telepresence tool, your digital form can be present at some places at the same time -- without getting effort at all from your house. Mostly of your job will take over by smart-digital-interface tools. You are living in digital life.
Negroponte agrees...
"And so? I know: Extrapolating bandwidth, processor speed, network dimensions, or the shrinking size of electromechanical devices has become truly tiresome. Moore's Law, first expounded by Gordon Moore in 1965, is indeed a stroke of brilliance, but one more mention of it should make you puke. Terabit access, petahertz processors, planetary networks, and disk drives on the heads of pins will be ... they'll just be. Face it - the Digital Revolution is over." -- Nicholas Negroponte, 12/98
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Subjects:  1. Computer networks    2. Digital Communication Engineering    3. Digital communications    4. Engineering - Electrical & Electronic    5. Information Technology    6. Interactive multimedia    7. Popular Culture - General    8. Science/Mathematics    9. Social aspects    10. Sociology    11. Sociology - General    12. Technology    13. Technology And Social Change    14. Technology and civilization    15. Telecommunications    16. Technology / Telecommunications   

Editorial Review

Technology changes storytelling--movies don't tell stories in the same manner as wandering bards. Janet H. Murray, director of the Laboratory for Advanced Technology in the Humanities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is fascinated with the changes emerging technologies may bring. Interactive tales, more versatile structures, stories as games, and games as stories are among the topics she explores in her very personable and entertaining style. And what about fears that interactive escapism could be the coming addiction? She makes an unblinking examination of this question with insight into both the technological possibilities and the strengths of the human psyche. Strongly recommended for anyone who loves the art of storytelling in any medium. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

There's no future in Murray's dreaming...
This book came highly recommended to me.With all the hype surrounding its apparent genius I expected to be blown away.Sadly though, this book comes across as someone who has just played a video game for the first time (MYST) and decided that the kids might be on to something.Murray proclaims that one day in the distant future, they'll make a 'holodeck' and we'll finally have true immersion.In the mean time, we can gloss over all the interactive components that make such an experience compelling in the first place.The future of gaming/narratology/ludology whatever-you-want-to-call-it is already here.You don't need a "VR Suit" or some imaginary technology to have a truly immersive experience.Her woefully uninformed look at the games of her day are completely inexcusable:
playing with Story in cyberspace
janet murray's book is a seminal work for anyone interested in what story-entertainment is going to look like in cyberspace.
Take a spin into the midst of the future
Some may find this terse, warmly witty, and tidy treatise about "whither literature in the world of CyberSpace" as just too esoteric to read.Stop.This is not a book grieving over the lost art of words and writing that nurtures the lives of all readers.This wise book is a guide to the possibilites that elude pessimists wary of the ultimate effects of the computer on this century.Relax, discover the possibilites about which you've never dreamed, and let Murray tell you some stories in the mode of the future.For writers, for teachers....but also for the committed readers. Enjoy! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computers    3. Future Studies    4. General    5. History and criticism    6. Interactive & Multimedia    7. Interactive multimedia    8. Literature    9. Narration (Rhetoric)    10. Pop Arts / Pop Culture    11. Popular Culture - General    12. Virtual reality    13. English    14. General Theory of Computing    15. Literary Criticism & Collections / General    16. Literary studies: general    17. Media studies   

Reviews (1)

Internet for peace and for war
The book studies the Internet for peace and war. Mostly about peacetime activities. Like encouraging a greater youth participation in civic matters in the US. The early prospects are positive. The massive uptake of the Internet by the young, on a constant daily basis, offers rewards to political parties that can tap into this behaviour.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Internet General    2. Computers    3. Congresses    4. Government - General    5. Information technology    6. Internet    7. Internet - General    8. Political Freedom & Security - Civil Rights    9. Political aspects    10. Political participation    11. Politics / Current Events    12. Technological innovations    13. Impact of computing & IT on society    14. POLITICS & GOVERNMENT    15. Political Science / General   

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computers    3. Computers - General Information    4. Management Information Systems    5. Social Aspects - General    6. Sociology - General    7. Computers / Management Information Systems    8. Impact of computing & IT on society   

Reviews (9)

An extremely useful and informative book on an important social trend
This is a collection of short pieces, some written especially for the book and some reprinted from other sources. The authors have also interviewed a number of the more famous bloggers or other people analyzing the trend. This variety makes it an extremely useful introduction to the phenomenon.It certainly isn't a gripping read, but the ideas are fascinating.This is not a how-to book, except in the sense of explaining some of the capabilities of the format, and exploring what makes a good or bad blog.
The Significance of Blogs
According to one of the greatest scholars of the 20th Century, Dr. Walter J. Ong, SJ, who taught and inspired countless students and media experts for many years at St. Louis University; any new technology starts out in the path of older technologies and gradually finds its place, purpose, rules, and forms as people get used to it.
is rant on political left
I was very disappointed in the book. Unfortunately, there's at least as much ranting from the author about his views of what's wrong with the political left, and as much of his glorifying of the political right, as there is info about blogs.Info about blogs seemed to be only a backdrop from which to share his strong right-wring political views.If you are a strong right-winger, buy the book.Otherwise, if you are a centrist, on the left, or interested primarily in blogs, don't buy this book.
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Subjects:  1. Communication    2. Communication Models    3. Computer - Internet    4. Internet - General    5. Language    6. Language Arts & Disciplines    7. Mass Communication Media And Society    8. Popular Culture - General    9. Social Aspects - General    10. Sociology   

Reviews (23)

incohesive writing
This book suffers from incohesive writing and lacks a clear framework that covers the theme of smart mobs. The sequence of chapters does not provide a progressive build-up of a framework of any sort. Even more, the sequence inside each chapter does not carry the reader towards any defined theme. On one section the author describes teenagers in Finland sending text messages, then he jumps to his meeting with a company executive, then jumps to describing the mobile phone standards in Europe, etc.
A whirlwind tour through the world next year.
Howard Rheingold has excellent credentials to write this book through his long involvement at Wired magazine. He blends an effervescent interest in smart new gadgetry (point your phone-cam at some foreign signwriting and have it translated into your own language) with a thirsty desire to understand what it means to our society. To hunt down the story he structures the narrative in a breathtaking first-person style that takes us from Shibuya Station in Tokyo to the wireless capital of the world, Helsinki, and then back across the Atlantic to Bell Laboratories - and beyond.
Smart Mobs. Smarter Marketers.
The cool thing about "Smart Mobs" is that it's really happening. People are behaving in "linked" ways that transcend the obvious demographic definitions of groups we typically think of as "behaving in unison." As technology and the infrastructure arriving with it enable increasingly extemporaneous networks between people, marketers are similarly challenged to reach outside of traditional mass channels. Howard Rheingold brings us a really nice set of actual examples--combined with his own unique insights--that provide the basis for next-generation communications strategies as what had been cohesive groups fragment into a foam of indivduals united (only) by this moments current interest and the task at hand. For marketers, it's a great read...and a big clue. Anyway, I liked it. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Communication    2. Communication and culture    3. Information Technology    4. Internet    5. Networking - General    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Social Aspects    8. Sociology - General    9. Technology    10. Technology & Industrial Arts    11. Technology and civilization    12. History of engineering & technology    13. Popular culture   

Editorial Review

Written by the man known as the First Citizen of the Internet, this book covers Rheingold's experiences with virtual communities.It starts off with his home community, The Well, out of Sausilito, CA, and makes its way through MUDs and beyond.No one understands the compelling strength of online community like Rheingold. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Not very honest
The virtual community is, in reality, at best a bunch of people disagreeing and regularly indulging in shark-like small group attacks. The WELL, of which Howard speaks so much, hounded one of its early members - Blair - to his death by suicide, a matter described, but not really examined with much thoroughness. Yes, he touches on flaming, but does not examine a deeper pattern of common harrasment, particularly of outliers. How Howard himself participated in this type of online gang harassment activity, not understanding the man, Blair, and discounting his claims out of hand is a quite interesting story. He touches on this, and gives an account, which would be acceptable in a personal autobiography. But to leave it where he does in a book purporting to be a seminal piece on virtual community is truly remarkably remiss. Since the record is all there, or was, it could have been given serious consideration. Wrote the book on Virtual Communities
Howard Rheingold is the most important lens through which the entire culture of the Virtual Community and Virtual Environment dynamics should and can be seen.This book, in any of its print runs or versions, is essential for anyone who wants to understand contact between people who's only connection is online via computers.

A seminal 1992 work with update tacked on
Rheingold provides a comprehensive, broad sweeping portrayal of the virtual communities landscape, particularly as it was in the early 1990s. In particular, the book provides a fascinating history of the development of virtual communities from back in the 1960s. The many stories of the development of virtual communities and of life in virtual communities provide a rich account. Read more

Subjects:  1. Communication    2. Communication (General)    3. Computer - Internet    4. Computer Networks    5. Information Technology    6. Internet    7. Internet - General    8. Language Arts & Disciplines    9. Social aspects    10. Sociology    11. Virtual Reality    12. Computer Communications & Networking    13. Computers / Computer Science    14. Impact of computing & IT on society   

Reviews (13)

Expert Knowledge On Hacking Techniques
John Chirillo has made a career of hacking. As a hacking consultant to Fortune 1000 companies part of his job is to break in to corporate networks to expose their holes and help his clients secure their networks. In Hack Attacks Revealed, he shares his knowledge of how hackers gain the information necessary to break into your systems.
Author does not understand his subject
This book has done nothing to dispell my theory that the information
Reluctant law abider
I was relieved to read that this isn't considered a very useful reference on How to Hack.Certainly Ch. seems at his most enthusiastic, frothiest, even foamiest, in talking about the wonderful world of hacking.Yeah, he repeatedly trots out the line about having to know how to attack to know how to defend, time after time, but ya' gotta' wonder where his heart lies (Okay, even Milton had this problem.)
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Crime    3. Computer hackers    4. Computer networks    5. Computer security    6. Computers    7. Computers - Computer Security    8. Networking - General    9. Security - General    10. Security measures    11. Computer fraud & hacking    12. Computers / Security    13. Network security   

Editorial Review

A sentimental favorite, Read more

Reviews (142)

Thanks to the missing .75 cents...
We get an incredibly engaging page-turner of an astronomer/system manager tracking down a foreign hacker. Cliff Stoll genuinely struggles and questions his own actions not knowing whether he is doggedly tracing some hapless student or a nefarious spy. In the end he overcomes his Berkeley counterculture distrust of all those three letter gov't agencies and develops a respect for their work if not their inability to coordinate or communicate interdepartmentally. He becomes a security expert they all seek but laments the lack of openness and the attack on trust that is required in the academic world in order to facilitate networking and the exchange of ideas. A really good story and there is a pretty good recipe for chocolate cookies on page 155.

Nice reading with good technical coverage
"The Cuckoo's Egg" is a good book on computer hacking and espionage . It covers well all technical aspects involved in the case, stuff like UNIX, Tymnet and the very begining of system cracking.