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Summary: This book is too good to review
Review: I promised Philip I'd review his book, but every time I get my hands on it, I find something so interesting or useful that I have to show it to one of my co-workers. The co-worker ends up borrowing the book and I get it back a week or so later. Then I start looking at it again and the process repeats itself. Oh well, there's always the online edition on Philip's photo.net site, but the wealth of info and the photographs make it well worth having the paper edition.
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Summary: Ask not what "I could" do with the web but what "we can do"
Review: This book helps readers envision what the web can do when our thinking about possibilities is not captured by proprietary technology. It illustrates in very practical terms how a reliable server works, how to attract and hold users' attention, and how to reduce the overhead involved in designing, hosting and maintaining a web site that's actually useful. More importantly, it inspires readers to think on their own, and offers them concrete tools to help them in that process, about ways to "share what they know and learn from what other people know", as the author's own site proclaims.
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Summary: A model text for computer book publishers
Review: This is unlike any other computer book I've ever read. I actually read it from page 1 until the end. I couldn't put it down, I actually *liked* reading it. It's full of great ideas and easy to follow, step-by-step instructions for building database-backed sites. The best thing about it is he conceptually explains not only *how*, but also *why* you would make a useful web service. His community systems are amazing little hubs of knowledge exchange, and everything you need to know when planning and building one is in here. I've been working on similar database-web applications, and I came away with lots of ideas. This would also be the perfect introduction to databases and websites to beginners. I read his first book when I was getting started, and it was very easy to understand. This book is even better. I wish more computer books were written like this; great information that is also a pleasure to read. A real page turner!
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Summary: Buy this book. Buy it now.
Review: I've been a fan of photo.net for a long time...First it was Philip's photographs, then his expert guidance and articles. Later, I stumbled onto his web-engineering work (including the online book). I started reading the book one afternoon while waiting for a compile to finish. I kept reading. I let my project slip. When my wife arrived to drive me home that night, I made her wait while I printed out the remaining chapters. I read all night. I pre-ordered my tree-carcass copy from Amazon that night. The next day (in fact most days since then), I've pushed this book on everyone around me who thinks they can or want to design web pages. Of course, I read the "book behind the book" story and was distressed at the treatment Philip's first book received. How exciting, then, to flip over to Amazon just today (10 June, 1999) and see that the book is ranked #570. It's good to know that a well-written book by someone I respect can climb to a respectable spot without appearing to sell out. Kudos, Philip!
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Summary: Best Web book out there
Review: This is not your typical Web book. It can be read by the technical and not so technical w/ ease. Full of plenty of war stories and thought provoking material, I would recommend it to any one involved in getting a Web site up and going. The refreshing part about this book is that the author is not afraid to take a stand and never minces words...that's half the fun of the book. Highly recommended.
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Summary: The most important book on the subject
Review: I have read a lot of material on design and content of web-pages. One of my biggest gripes with much of the publishing industry is that they consistently take pretty good magazine articles and fill them with redundant examples or boring autobiography and convert them into "books". But a book is not measured by length. It is measured by value--The Great Gatsby is more of a book than most other novels, regardless of length (e.g. I Know This Much Is True). Philip (not Phil!) has filled this book with content. There is something provocative and interesting in every chapter. I have wasted a lot of money on these fluff books in the past, as well as on books that told me self-evident things in a convoluted way to make it appear exotic or profound. This book avoids all pretense. It is concise, funny, specific, explicit and direct. Worth the price to buy even when it's free on the web. The only web-design book I will read again.
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Summary: Great for technical and business advice
Review: Well written book that will be useful for technical people building web sites and business people who want to know what to build. Lovely photographs that are often very appropriate to the text. And sometimes the pictures are just fun.
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Summary: Beauty!
Review: As opposed to so many software products that just seem to fix some old bugs and introduce new headaches with updates, this update of Dr. Greenspun's first book on Web Publishing does a fine job of upgrading content, clarity, humor and usefulness. Like the first book, I find myself reading sections of it outload to (non-computer) co-workers and everyone enjoying the humor and learning a little something in the process. In contrast to some comments here, I think many of the ideas and suggestions can find their way directly into implementation. Even if you don't agree with some of his, obviously strongly held, views on flashy content, he's very clear on what you need to do to "see for yourself" how things are going on your own website. Enjoy...
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Summary: The Easiest and Most Enjoyable Way to "Get It."
Review: Many people think they "get it" about the Web and the Internet, but they are really just using the same old tired models: representing 4-color catalogues on the web the same way they have been doing all along. Greenspun dismisses all this and suggests rewriting the model to rid the web of its broadcast quality and replace it with a decentralized space rife with Community, Searchable Documentation, Instruction Manuals, Communication, and Interaction. Let your clients write the site for you! Turn the model upside down. Greenspun helps us use the new tools to both improve our product, improve our relationship with the customer, and give the customer what he wants. Does the customer want flashy graphics and a long wait time? Probably not. Does the customer want information and possibly Free Stuff? Yes! Greenspun cuts through all the hype and gets down to business and suggests Machines, Computers, Servers, Applications, and Connections to the Outside World (and its like having a Guru right there beside you); but, this is not about the gear, its about what you do with it. But, be sure you get something that is right for you and works! Techies will enjoy the CGI stuff, but its the PhilOsophy that will appeal to the CEO all the way to the Small Business Owner who wants more than the free hosting sites offer. I bought the first version and chomped at the bit for the second version. I am not disappointed. I get what I liked from the old book spruced up for 1999 and the latest and greatest, plus pictures! (I am such a geek I refer to book printings as versions 1 & 2, egad!) As the book states, this is the first Coffee Table geek book!
Rating: 
Summary: The book is too heavy
Review: The copy I have is printed on this obnoxious glossy paper, which is 1. too heavy for me to hold the book as a bedtime reader for a long time; 2. too reflective that all the ceiling light/table light bounces from the pages directly into my eyes, and I have to hold it at weird angles to read it. I guess the photos in the book require some high quality paper; but the quality of the photo prints is still abysmal. Yes, I have read many books on this kind of paper. Sorry for letting out my frustration on this particular one. But I figure it's such a good book that it can afford to take a dent.
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