Dave Barry in Cyberspace

Rating:
Summary: Dave Barry is hillarious
Review: I think this book is a cross section of what all of us have encountered at least once in our jouney through cyberspace. Dave takes us through a journey from the point of purchasing a computer to finding love 'on-line'. Most readers, with cyber related experience will relate to the incidents in the book. It is guaranteed to make you laugh out loud,(LOL as it is in the book!) even when you are alone.

Rating:
Summary: Not Dave's funniest -- but still great.
Review: Let me start by saying that I love Dave Barry's work -- I've been reading everything he's written since the early-'80's, always with great anticipation. With that said, I regret to report that this book is merely OKAY. Of course it was funny (how could Dave Barry not be?!), but I only found maybe two or three rolling-on-the-ground-laughing parts. So, if you're a fan of his, or if you have an interest in computers, you should definitely read it. Just don't expect as much side-splitting as other reviewers have claimed. For laugh-out-loud-til-you-wet-yourself Dave Barry humor, I recommend any collection of his weekly columns, and also *Dave Barry Slept Here*.

Rating:
Summary: Still funny after all these years...
Review: No matter how many times I re-read Dave Barry in Cyberspace, I laugh aloud. I do think, however, that this book will have its greatest appeal for those who began using desktop computers in their earliest stages. (My own experience with a PC began in 1983, just two years after the original IBM-PC was on the market, and I can vividly recall sitting and staring at an A:\ prompt, thinking...OK, now what?). Much of what Dave writes about may not be as amusing to more recent computer users, but if you have any memory of the "good old days," you will definitely enjoy Dave's stroll through cyberspace.

Rating:
Summary: Very funny, but not exaustive
Review: The humour of Dave Barry shows us why we hate those contraptions we call computers, and does it in a very funny way. The book's a bit outdated,though: it doesn'talk of one of the most frequented web pages, namely "404 page not found", and of the mysterious nemesis of programs "the program X has effectuated an unvalid operation and will be terminated". Inexorable.Well,you can't really blame old Barry for not mentioning snags that showed after 1996. I loved his book,and expecially his collection of weird sites (now,I fear,gone to "404",but replaced by equally weird sites).

Rating:
Summary: WARNING: Do not read in public places
Review: There is nothing quite as embarrassing as suddenly breaking into fits of laughter in a public place -- which is exactly what might happen if you try reading this book. Dave Barry is his usual, hilarious self, twisting ordinary facts into fresh jokes. Sometimes he even makes up those facts. Either way, it's still one of the cleverest lampoons of information technology that you'll ever read -- and probably a lot more fun than those Dummies books, too!

Unfortunately, this book on computers -- like computer technology itself -- is subject to obsolescence. Many of the websites in the "Selected Websites" section have already moved or shut down. However, Barry's reviews of these sites continue to be funny long after the site is gone.

There's also the question of that looooooong chapter on the MsPtato-RayAdverb story, which, although having its moments, is a little more mellow than Barry's usual style. It must have been a disappointment to his regular readers; at first I thought it was a waste of paper too. But after a while I came to appreciate the mini-story, which seems to be a new development of Dave Barry's writing -- a development that led to his first novel, Big Trouble.

"Dave Barry in Cyberspace" is few years out of date now, but it's still a hilarious book to read. Recommended for all Dave Barry fans, but if you're just starting to get into his books, buy this one later.

Rating:
Summary: He lampoons all aspects of using computers
Review: This book is hilarious, and there is a lot of truth in the exaggerations Barry uses to construct his jokes. In it, he lampoons the planned obsolescence of computers, the many ways they "increase" our productivity, the Microsoft monopoly, the Comdex convention, the trials and tribulations of installing software, using Word processors, the lure of the Internet, and the macho world of the majority of computer games. In a slightly more serious vein, he describes some unusual sites on the world wide web and presents a hypothetical Internet conversation between a housewife and schoolteacher who are both in a rut and looking for a bit of excitement.
The humor is typical of Barry, who makes great use of exaggerated statements that are based on a modicum of truth. If you have ever installed software, you will relate to what he says in his 12-step program for installing software. Fortunately, while he describes some unusual web sites, he stays away from those that are really unusual. His discussion of the level of discourse that generally takes place in chat rooms is right on the mark, and very funny. He uses that to segue into the conversation between two married adults who need some stimulation in their lives. They are both in relationships whose stability is based on routine rather than interest, so they are looking for some form of adventure. After a great deal of vacillation, the man finally agrees to call her and the book ends with her phone ringing.
This is a funny book, you won't learn anything about computers and very little about how our society functions, but you will certainly find their challenges easier to face after reading it.

Rating:
Summary: Any computer owner should have this!
Review: This book is one of the most hysterical books I have read. Dave Barry exagerates (sometimes) annoying computer situations that will have you nodding along (if you can stop laughing long enough) The book will literally make you LOL (and if you don't know what that means, buy this book!!) Dave Barry gives us insight to MS DOS, "technical support",(waiting on the phone for 2 hours then getting cut off) and buying computers. He also gives a history of technology in general, and any other random tidbits that could possibly relate to computers. I have one warning about this book: Never read it in the middle of a volin recital. It will only cause death glares in your direction ^_^ This book is definitly worth the buy!

Rating:
Summary: ROTFL :---)
Review: This book is rip-roaring, side-splitting, and downright howlarious! Oh my god. I read it cover to cover as though I were taking the bar exam except that every other minute I was literally rolling on the carpet howling as though someone was performing the "Tunisian Tickle Torture" on me. And I'm not even exaggerating.

The first few chapters are incredibly funny, and as you get accustomed to his kind of humor you start to want more and more of it and you eventually start laughing in preparation for his jokes!

Coming to the actual content of this book - it is an extremely comically cynical look at computers and how they affect everyone everyday. The guffaws begin with his description of evidence of computer usage in the stone ages, continue through to his tips on selecting a computer to buy, persist with his description of software and its purpose and culminate with a tongue-in-cheek description of the "information superhighway", internet and chat rooms. My personal favorite is his definition of "electricity" - it should appear in all physics text books.

Somewhere towards the end, there is also a somewhat touching story about a couple that meet in a chat room. I wonder if it landed up in this book as a mistaken cut-and-paste operation. Nice to read all the same.

All in all, if you are ever bored, forget TV and everything else - pick up this book and do yourself a favor. You never thought you could laugh so much.

Rating:
Summary: Dave Barry in Cyberspace, a minor disappointment
Review: This has all of the basic "Dave Barry" elements in it. As in many other books of his which are pretty good. The humor of his works increases if you know a bit of what he is talking about. In his book Dave Barry does Japan, his book is extremely amusing if you know a bit about Japan, Japanese culture and some things that Japanese people do. Because if you don't know anything about Japan and you read this book, you might assume that what most of what he is writing is true and that takes out the irony of his jokes. In most of his jokes in Dave Barry does Japan is that he mixes false things with true things so you would need to know what is true and what is false. This skill or knowledge is required to get the best out of his book, including this one, Dave Barry in Cyberspace. But this book disappoints me in a way compared to Dave Barry does Japan.
In Dave Barry in Cyberspace, he uses too much true things so then the jokes in this book aren't as good and amusing, there were a few funny and interesting parts in this book which is a major setback in the book. Though his view on technology and the advancement of technology is pretty interesting just to read. This book's main topic had a greater potential but Mr. Barry for some reason changed his style a bit so the potential humor, I feel is not fully released, due to the fact that he bases too much parts of his book to true things that are not using any irony in them.
Otherwise he as a humor writer he is pretty good at what he does and he makes up some stories that take up most of his book that is interesting in the beginning but gets duller and duller as you read on. There are some parts that he mentions in a different and more sarcastic way but you find that it's true is one of the interesting parts of his writing so I would give this book a 3.5 on a scale of 5.

Rating:
Summary: For when you just don't want to take computers seriously
Review: This is good stuff. You can tell that Dave Barry really does know computers and the internet, but he doesn't let that stop him from writing a hilarious introduction to cyberspace for the layperson. Of course, it has been five years since he wrote the book, and anybody who has gotten to the point where he can read this review on Amazon probably knows most of what Dave Barry facetiously imparts here. Still, the book ages pretty well, and I doubt it was intended to help people learn to use computers anyway. (I hope not, at least!) Instead, the reader can laugh along as Dave Barry pokes fun at every aspect of the computer industry.

At first I was somewhat surprised to see that so many reviews didn't like the short story at the end, "MsPtato and RayAdverb." I enjoyed it and thought it was very well written. The problem is that it's not very funny (nor do I think it was intended to be as humorous as the rest of the novel), so it seems out of place. On the other hand, the story is certainly on topic, since it's about a woman and mother of three who finds love on line after learning how to use her computer.