How to Find Health Information on the Internet by Bruce Maxwell
Between my husband (failed back syndrome and chronic pain) and my grandmother (cancer), I've done a lot of research on various health issues on the Internet. A lot of my digging would have been so much easier if I'd had this book! Maxwell presents the information in a clear, logical fashion, and doesn't limit himself to what might be considered "Official Sources". He also, in the introduction, includes the common sense warnings that so many of us tend to forget simply because "we found it on the Internet". If it sounds too good to be true, it is. If a site about a particular medical condition is sponsored by a pharmeceutical company, there is the chance that the information is biased. (Not wrong, just biased.)
If you're trying to research a medical condition on-line,this book can save you countless hours of clicking through bad links, bad sites and bad advice. I highly recommend this book!
Net.Wars by Wendy M. Grossman
Grossman, a free-lance journalist and occasional poster on alt.folklore.urban, writes about the Internet from an insider's point of view. Unlike other journalists, this woman has been here - in usegroups, on mailing lists and on the Web. She's coped with anti-social nuts with a keyboard (while moderating a conference on her ISP), she's discovered the wittiness of the "ordinary people" who post to various usegroups. She's logged on only to find her mailbox crammed with various net.hoaxes and net.urban.legends (FLASH! Nieman-Marcus never charged anyone $250 for a cookie recipe.)She wasted three hours once, with another journalist, "trawling the Net for pornography" in an effort to figure out just how prevalent pornography on the 'Net really is. (She finally found a site, after a suggestion from a friend.)
She explains why people who use AOL (and WebTV) are treated like third class netizens. She explains the differences between the World Wide Web and Usenet; between being on the Internet and being on AOL. She explains why the Communications Decency Act (CDA), a law the US Congress attempted to pass in order to keep the Internet safe from virgin eyes, was bad law. She devotes a chapter to women on the Internet; are we more "at risk" than men? Do we tend to lurk more and post less? Is it possible to "hide" our gender behind neutral screen-names, or does our writing style invariably give us away? She discusses the myths and practicalities of letting children on the Internet.
I can't say enough about this book. Not only is it an incredibly informative read, Grossman has a wry, witty style that makes me laugh out loud.
My sister-in-law, Barbara, sent me this book after she'd finished reading it. While my husband swears I'll read anything that has words in it, I am a little more discriminating than that, especially when it comes to fiction. When I read the dust jacket, I snickered, dubbed it "Jesuits in Space", and added it to my "when I've nothing better to read" stack.
When I finally did get around to reading it, I couldn't put it down. I had been completely prepared to dislike - no, hate this book because of the premise; the Jesuit order, after a radio telescope in Puerto Rico discovers proof of life on another planet, funds an expedition to the planet in order to be the first humans to meet the newly discovered neighbors. Being a "bleeding heart liberal", as my family describes me, and having studied the impact of Jesuit interractions with indigenous people in the Americas, I expected some sort of rationalization for past atrocities, some sort of defense of Manifest Destiny, re-set in the 21st Century.
I was wrong. Not only does Russell acknowledge the arrogant mistakes made n the past, she examines, through each of her characters, a troubling question; no matter how pure and altruistic one's motives are, is there any way for two civilizations enounter each other without causing radical upheaval?
I don't want to give away the book, so I'll leave it at that. Even though this is a serious subject, I think Russell manages to pull it off without getting too mired in the weightiness. I really recommend this book!
Children of God by Mary Doria Russell
This is the sequel to Sparrow. I can't get the direct-link to Barne's and Noble to work, so if you'd like to order this book, click on Sparrow above, and follow the links. I promise, it's worth the extra clicks!
Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
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