General Concepts

This is the second edition of a fairly good work on telecommunications, with strong emphasis on Internet. The first edition was reviewed in CAMsoc Update in Mid-March, 1996 and Church Bytes in February, 1996. The review in CAMsoc Update read, in part:

Christian Cyberspace Companion is probably the most technically accurate book on the subject that I have reviewed thus far. It touches an a wide variety of topics related to "going online", and only very rarely did I spot mistakes in the information presented. The section in Chapter 8 ("Electronic Mail") which discusses how to discover the Internet address of somebody you want to write to is the most complete I have seen outside works specifically devoted to finding Internet resources. Appendix C, the "Christian Internet Directory" is fairly extensive, nicely arranged, and concise.

Practically from the moment that computer-mediated communication became possible, people have talked about using computers for evangelism. Now, Andrew Careaga has put his thoughts on the subject on paper. This book was reviewed in CAMsoc Update in January, 2004. That review read, in part:

Instead of speculating on what might work, or banging the drum for what he already knows, Careaga went out and found out what is already being done in terms of online evangelism. The book is full of examples of people already doing online evangelism, though web sites, newsgroups, mailing lists, and chat rooms. Similarly, he gives examples of people who have come to Christ through online evangelistic efforts. In other words, Careaga isn't saying, "This would be a neat thing to try" he's saying, "This is what works." The focus is not on finding an excuse to play with technology, the focus is on ministry, albeit through a different medium.

The fact that this is primarily a collection of academic and research papers will likely cause some from industry and the general public to dismiss it out of hand. This is a pity, since I found more realistic help and advice in this than in a year's worth of business seminars and any number of popular works.

The questions that Lochhead raises are important and powerful ones, which challenge the Church to rethink the impact of the information revolution, not only upon the Church office, but on the pulpit and seminary as well.

More thoughts from David Lochhead about the "why" questions. This is slightly more accessible than his earlier work, but still thought-provoking. The history of ecumenical networking efforts is probably worth the cost of the book in and of itself. This book was reviewed in Over The Shoulder in March, 1999. That review read, in part:

After all these years, David Lochhead is still sitting back, thinking about what it all means, and coming up with perspectives which nobody else sees until he brings them up.

While extensive, the work is neither complete nor exhaustive. But then, given the expansion of the field madly off in all directions it could hardly be so. The book could use some discipline, not in excluding the humour, but in including more extensive, or more accurate, definitions in places. Still, regardless of shortcomings, this is easily one of the two best telecommunications dictionaries available today, and, for breadth of scope, probably the best.

Fax

One of the few directories of fax numbers still being published on a regular basis.

One of the few directories of fax numbers still being published on a regular basis.

Internet

This is an important addition to the library of Internet references. I heartily recommend it to those involved in network training, both as a resource, and as insurance that you truly understand what you are teaching. For those at the non-technical level who are wondering what the heck the Internet is, and what it all means, this is your book. I can honestly say that I have not found any other book that explains the concepts and principles behind the Internet as well as this one.

A book aimed at helping churches and individual Christians use Internet technology for ministry. This book was reviewed in CAMsoc Update in August, 2007. That review read, in part:

The opening of Dixon's book reminded me uncomfortably of my own writing shortly after I discovered computers. In those days, computers seemed capable of anything, and anybody who had the faintest hesitation about jumping into the information revolution with both feet was obviously a Luddite and a fool. Dixon does not go anywhere near so far, but his unabashed enthusiasm for the technology strikes me now as somewhat less than warranted, and it seems to me that his discussion of potential hazards is less serious than it should have been.

Among the larger resource-oriented guides to the Internet, I hold Gilster's The Internet Navigator to be best overall: clear, balanced and mature. Gilster then affirmed his pre-eminent position on the Internet Bookshelf with this most important work. This second edition adds new resources and also reflects the growing emphasis on the World Wide Web and dial-up IP connections, but is still a direct answer to the potential Internet user's invariable second question: "How do I find it?" This book should be at the deskside of every serious Internet user. For trainers and resource people it is essential.

Like a great many Internet books, this one starts with a history. But it is history with a difference. Grossman admits, in the introduction, that objectivity is futile, and further notes that each person comes to the net from a different perspective, and therefore experiences a different net. Yet the story of The Great Renaming and The Year September Never Ended are of much greater moment to current Internet users than DARPA's distant wonderings about nuclear war hardened communications systems. The war dealt with in chapter one is, of course, that between netizen and newbie. One important social point is not made: this battle is not new, and has been fought every year between the "occupying" forces on the net, and the equal number of newcomers (an automatic consequence of the net's doubling of size in every year since about 1980.) While Grossman is obviously, and openly, biased in favour of the net, she is also clearsighted about its shortcomings. One such is the fact that even in the world's least regimented society there are misfits, and a number are documented in chapter eleven. In choosing to present the various, sundry, and possibly warring groups involved with the Internet, net.wars provides the non-netted reader with a real feel for the real Internet.

Third edition of a fairly good introduction to the Internet. The first edition was reviewed in CAMsoc Update in Mid-March, 1996. That review read, in part:

Internet for Christians is the third book on the subject which I have read, and in one way, it shines above all the rest. Most people have heard that the Internet has pornography on it, and many guides to the Internet for Christians or for parents have some sort of warning that "there is unacceptable material out there, so be careful." However, since these works rarely mention just where the "unacceptable material" is, how to spot it, and how to avoid it, the result is more likely to produce paranoia than enlightenment, and so many people going "online" expecting to find evil under every electronic rock. Schultze is the first author I have found to go into detail (in chapter 6) with tips on how families should go online: where to put the computer, what times to allow kids to go online, "surfing the net" together as a family, and so forth. For that reason alone, I heartily recommend this book to anyone with children who is online, or is considering going online.

Several technical errors make it difficult to recommend this book to the uninitiated. In particular, Wendland's advice on viruses is highly misleading. Nevertheless, the wealth of resources included in the text and in assorted appendices makes the book quite valuable as a resource locator. This book was reviewed in CAMsoc Update in August, 1998. That review read, in part:

The basic message any "wirehead" wants to get through to the uninitiated is, "You can do useful things on the net." Wendland gets that message across loud and clear, with dozens of case histories of people doing useful things on the net. In each case, he gives the URLs for the sites used, and he gives several appendices listing newsgroups, mailing lists, and Web sites of interest.

Networks

Good text, good overview of the whole field of networking, good backstop for network experts in one field who haven't time for crossover training.

Tanenbaum's Computer Networks is well known as the standard data communications textbook, and with ample reason. Using the OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) layered model, this work gives thorough coverage to the concepts, and many technical details, of the whole field of communications.

The author has not been resting on previous laurels. This edition looks at examples from digital cellular, wireless LANs (mention must be made of the pun laden cover art, with a Viking working on a wireless equipped laptop, having one blue tooth and a tattoo that reads "Hi! I'm Harald"), fast ethernet, IPv6, broadband wireless, AES (Advanced Encryption Standard), streaming audio and Internet radio, and quantum cryptography. There is even an insightful examination of the difference in approach between Java applet and ActiveX security. (The opinion regarding viruses and advanced operating systems is somewhat simplistic, but nobody's perfect.)

The book is well structured and the writing is clear and eminently readable. Humour is not restricted to the cover: buried in the text are examples of wry wit that enliven the content without ever detracting from the topic under discussion.

Security and Viruses

This is the third work I have seen on the PGP text encryption and authentication system. It is also the first to truly present the general concept of E-mail security by covering the only other realistic option the Internet Privacy Enhanced Mail (PEM) standard and Riordan's Internet Privacy Enhanced Mail (RIPEM) implementation. Schneier's work is clearly aimed at the general, nontechnical reader. It is definitely for any user of E-mail, manager of communications systems, or student of privacy and confidentiality.

Indispensable handbook to understanding and combatting computer viruses. Includes a disk containing several important antiviral utilities. The author, Robert Slade, writes:

What I've tried to do in this book, is to give the typical home or office computer user the facts about computer viruses, and what you can do to avoid and get rid of them. This isn't a book for specialists (although a number of people who think they know about computer viruses could stand to read it.) A major part of the book is a list of contact information and reviews for antiviral products and other books. (Plus a disk of DOS and Mac software that can be of immediate help.)

Five years on from the latest edition of his first book, my brother the famous author comes out with a new title, this time a collaborative effort. That they managed to get a forward written by Eugene Spafford should be a sign to those in the know about computer viruses that this is a work which deserves serious attention. As a collaborative effort, it has strengths and weaknesses when compared to Rob's solo work. First, the prose style is of necessity jumpier. Each of the authors brings his own style and his own interests to the work, so the different chapters show up those differences. This can make the book a bit tougher to get through, because there is no single flow of thoughts to get used to and move with. On the other hand, the diversity of interest and expertise does bring questions to this work which might never have occurred to any of the writers other than the one who first raised it. I eagerly await a second edition, in which, hopefully, those new and intriguing questions can be dealt with a bit more smoothly.