Silicon Snake Oil : Second Thoughts on the Information Highway

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Summary: A real eye opener
Review: This book makes you think twice about peoples comments on our great the Internet and the age of Information Technology is. Perhaps people recommending that the world will be worse off with out computers and Information sourced from the Internet should all be made to sit down and read this book. Clifford has hit the nail right on the head.

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Summary: Required reading for anyone with a computer it is GREAT!!!!
Review: Cliff Stoll hits the bullseye dead center with this book. It should be read by anyone who is online or planing to be. Cliff debunks all the myths about the "better living with computers than with out them. This book will make you think.

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Summary: A great eye-opener for a technobabble world
Review: This book shows the Internet through the eyes of a person that believes it is just too much. He talks about alternatives to using the Internet and, by using anicdotes, shows that the Internet isn't always the most "Human" way to do things.

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Summary: JustAnther peace of media SPAM to discredit the Internet ...
Review: In this book Clifford Stoll makes an important point or two about the Internet but as usual, Stoll sounds more like an unhappy child who would prefer not to share any of his toy's with the World. Clifford Stoll has found gainful employment as a main stream media goon who's sole purpose is to Bash the Internet while managing to appear credible, Clifford Stoll is truly an academic elitist who is unhappy with the Internet being open to the public wear it can act as an alternative press to the more conservative corporate main stream media outlets like MS-NBC, clearly the establishment is Internet phobic and Clifford Stoll is a spokes Man on the payroll of a media & softwear giant.. I think it's no ascedant that the NY Times, Washinton post & Chicago Tribuneno all wasted no time manufactur good revues to this 2ed rate book as a way to promote this peace of pro-establishment propaganda.................:-

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Summary: A good essay gone horribly awry...
Review: ...or at best, a good thesis dragged on much too long. Stoll's world view is valid - there really is a real world out there and it's darn interesting. Certainly, computers are at times frustrating, isolating money holes. But like everything else, the cyberworld is cheapened by hype, commercialization and the over use of the prefix "cyber-". Most of us are able to figure this out, so must it be regurgitated over and over for 236 pages? Stoll's writing is the book's strongest point, but the serial reminiscences do get taxing, and are more than a bit narcissistic. Stoll's arguments, on the other hand, suffer from a lack of consistency -- he complains that access to networks is too slow, but criticizes e-mail as being too fast for proper savoring as communication. Come on, aren't at least some of us smart enough to see these pitfalls on our own? I give this book a "4" only for the delicious irony that I ordered it ... over the Internet

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Summary: Good ingredients, but a very bland book
Review: This book has a lot of promise, but in my opinion, it just doesn't deliver. Instead of a strong, clear argument, Stoll's novel comes across as a collection of complaints and ranting. He makes several salient points worth considering, but they quickly become saturated by pointless digressions and personal anecdotes that are only vaguely related to the topic at hand. The result is a book with great potential that falls short of the mark. Stoll rehashes many points ad nauseum, and the repeated stories of astronomy and over-emphasis on the human experience quickly become tiring. In fact, the book is really quite boring, and I found myself struggling to endure yet another of Stoll's college adventures or forays into Mandarin. I was prepared for something a little more factual with much less bias: Stoll is eagar to give his own (mostly negative) opinion rather than letting the reader form their own. To Stoll's credit, Silicon Snake Oil is plainly written for the computer-illiterate and is a very refreshing look at such an important factor in our lives. It could be about fifty pages shorter and more to the point, but the ideas presented are intelligent and solid. Setting all criticisms aside, I would still recommend this book based solely on the fact that our increasely computer-based culture is in desperate need of a Devil's Advocate to debunk some of the myths and hype of the Internet. And despite its flaws, Clifford Stoll's Silicon Snake Oil is just the book to do it

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Summary: a good, fun book
Review: This book was fun to read and was interesting. The problem with it was that it always was so negative and made it sound like that computers have no purpose. I would like to know this then .. how else will I get reviews from people on books rather than magazines (who sometimes give into the hype..). How else would I be able to find interviews with Clifford Stoll in a minute if I'm interested in hearing more about him? There are many positives computers and the Internet brings. Its just how you use it

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Summary: common-sense look at computer hype's unrealized promises
Review: I enjoyed this unique, thought-provoking book. As a librarian, I know that the internet, CD-ROMs and online services are not everything! Books are familiar, easy to handle and store and are often the fastest, most cost-effective way of getting at information

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Summary: The book is way too long for the material
Review: It pains me to write this review, since I loved the Cuckoo's Egg, but this book just isn't very good. Stoll's main point is that people are spending too much time on computers and on the Internet, and it is a valid point. He says that they should live real life, which is a good suggestion. This would have made a good magazine article. The problem is that the book is full of criticism of every minutia of the computer world. After a while Stoll justs looks petty. For example, he says that when parents encourage their children to use computers, they are telling them not to be interactive. What about the old days, when kids were told to practice the piano? The book is full of criticisms provided without context. I made it to page 150, but couldn't take any more.

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Summary: Highways-- even information superhighways-- have exit ramps.
Review: Perhaps some third thoughts are in order. Stoll is fascinating to watch and interesting to read. In a way, that's the point of this book: Genuine life experiences-- sights, sounds, tastes, touches-- are always richer than virtual life experiences, represented most obviously by the Internet. Stoll hammers relentlessly at the absurdities of the connected life. He is, of course, right. One pictures the computer geek, alone with his machine, staring at on-line images of great art works, unaware of the museum down the street, or-- even worse-- unwilling to go there to experience the art first hand in the company of other people. So what? We are training a generation of children to do the same, to send e-mail to other students in their own schools rather than simply speaking to them and to paradoxically limit their worlds to the limitless world of the Internet. This all has a oddly familiar ring: Over a hundred years ago, Emerson's "Self Reliance" warned that the machines of his day had already and irrevocably destroyed mankind's ability to function in the natural world. Lets face it: Computers are simply machines. We determine their uses. At their best, they make our lives easier; at their worst, as Stoll sees it, they isolate us from our fellow humans and waste enormous amounts of our time. Read this entertaining and provocative book. Then, before you sit at your keyboard, play with a puppy out in the snow. We can have it both ways.