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Description edit
In Silicon Snake Oil , Clifford Stoll, the best-selling author of The Cuckoo's Egg and one of the pioneers of the Internet, turns his attention to the much-heralded information highway, revealing that it is not all it's cracked up to be. Yes, the Internet provides access to plenty of... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
First Sentence edit
It's some caving trip: Far below you is an active volcano from which great gouts of molten lava come surging out, cascading back down into the depths.
Table of Contents edit
1. A Speleological Introduction to the Author's Ambivalence
2. An Amalgam of Popular Fictions About the Internet, Including Brief Trips to China and the City of No Illusions
3. Further Explorations into the Culture of Computing, Leading to Questions About the Isolation of Networks, the Nature of Tools, the Utility of Sewers, and the Author's Continuing Ambivalence; with a Sidetrack into a Four-Wheeled Discussion of Maintaining the National Infrastructure.
4. In Which he Author Contemplates the Computer's Universal Ability to Generate Frustration
5. A Short Chapter about the Lives of Digital Things
6. Comparing the Digital Tools of Computing, Such as Image Manipulation, with the Physical Tools We're Leaving Behind; This Chapter is Heavily Biased by the Author's Astronomical Bent
7. Much Business, Some Computing, Precious Little Astronomy
8. Comparing the Usenet to CB Radio, Without Any Astronomy
9. On Classrooms, With and Without Computers; Some Basic Astrophysics for the Intrepid
10. An Inquiry into Mail, an Experiment with the Post Office, and a Comment on Cryptography
11. Wherein the Author Considers the Future of the Library, the Myth of Free Information, and a Novel Way to Heat Bathwater
12. Where the Author Considers Bulletin Boards, User Groups, and Reexamines his Modem Settings
12 1/2: An Embarrassing and Self-referential Addendum to Chapter 12, Included Because the Author's Sister Said She'd Beat Him up if He Didn't
13. A Conclusion, Which Does Not Mention Axolotls
Authors & Contributors edit
- Clifford Stoll (Author)
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
- Dewey: 303.4833
Books That Cite This Book edit
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