Rating: 
Summary: A STOP sign for the digital library and Internet advocates
Review: In a word, this book gives us a second chance to think -
to think before it's too late, in regarding to all the
digital hypes.
After reading the preface of this book, I already
started thinking everything about Internet, digital library,
and all the related stuff.
Rating: 
Summary: A Must Read
Review: You've seen him on MSNBC, now read the book. Stoll takes the contrarian lane on the information superhighway. In a crowded marketplace where hyperbole is the norm, the author attempts to break down the essence of what computers can and cannot do. Stoll puts forth the argument that networking can at best supplment a life lived in the "real world", not replace it with "virtual experiences"
Rating:
Summary: I wish I'd read it BEFORE I plunked down $2000 on a new PC.
Review: Outstanding critical analysis of the Internet's exaggerated promises of "connectedness" and "information access" . Makes good companion reading to Travelling the Microsoft Network. Also a good companion to James Howard Kunstler's The Geography of Nowhere
Rating:
Summary: Presents a different perspective - a worthwhile read.
Review: Cliff evaluates the use of computers in many areas of life by looking at the current state of the art and projecting forward. This inevitably results in a negative view of the future.
On occasion, obvious positive arguments are not brought forward or
rebutted, however, it is refreshing to find someone presenting a reasoned argument
in favour of "real life" as opposed to propaganda for a cyber existence.
Rating:
Summary: Everywhere computers - everywhere useful?
Review: If you want to read a critical review on computer revolution -
and the Internet is just the last one - then give this book a try. Besides it's fun to read, you will find arguments that should at least
startle you (for example the comparison snail-mail vs e-mail)
If you are a computer enthusiast, this book is the right starting point to think about where to use computer - and where they are abused.
Rating:
Summary: An extremely easy read if the reader is receptive.
Review: "...I'm writing this free-form meidation out of a sense of perplexity. Computers themselves don't bother me; I'm vexed by the culture in which they're enshrined." With this comment made Clifford Stoll sets out to elnlighten the reader about computer culture in his latest book, Silicon snake Oil. This best selling author of The Cuckoo's Egg, porvides much needed insight into the computer craze sweeping society. Stoll uses ancecdotes and unconventional writing styles to drive his points home. His expertise in astronomy, as well as pioneering the information superhighway lend added support for his arguments. According to Stoll, "Few aspects of daily life require computers...They're irrelevant to cooking, driving, visiting, and negotiating, eating, hiking, dancing, speaking, and gossiping...computers can't provide a richer or better life." By using stories about his personal experience with computing Stoll illustrates his point of view magnificently. additionally, the stroies he relays about actually living real life serve as proof that life is actually worth living. Stoll comments, "Computers and networks don't just get in the way of work. They also separate us from the pleasures of daily life." At first the writing style is a bit awkward, but after a few chapters the pages turn effortlessly and the writers motive is clear. Stoll, in employing first person and what might seem to some as haplessly wandering from idea to idea, is illustrating the beauty of real life. Through his writing styel, Stoll is showing how beautiful disorder can be and that having everything in life run by binary codes does not necessarily provide ultimate satisfaction. In fact, Stoll seems to suggest, it provides an artificial, sanitized, version of life that allows for little to no creativity and enjoyment. Throughout the book Stoll examines different areas of society and points out the purported benefit of computers and then counters with his proof to the contrary. Stoll delves into education, libraries, the workplace, and even personal relationships. In each instance he clearly illustrates the dangers society faces when it blindly pursues a new technology at the expense of already existing options. This book is an extremely easy read and, if the reader is receptive, imparts knowledge well beyond the 250 pages contained therein. In the end this observation seems to sum up Stoll's premise, "No spreadsheet can create data where there is none. No word processor can help me write better. No online database can answer the tough questions...those which do not yet have answers."
Rating: 
Summary: Good but not great
Review: Stoll wrote one of the best spy books of the information age before anyone knew that it could even happen. This follow up is very interesting reading, and I agree with most of it. The best part is his feeling to turn off the computers in schools and go back to the personal interaction of learing. That is so true, we are harming our children for the future.
Rating:
Summary: An enjoyable book about the Internet
Review: Silicon Snake Oil is written by Clifford Stoll a Berkeley astronomer with extensive experience in the Internet and its development. It is written in a non-technical style that makes it very easy and enjoyable to read, but contains a tremendous amount of information about the Internet. His comments cover email, computerized education, bulletin boards, user groups and a wide range of computer topics. He provides a comprehensive analysis on why libraries should not be replaced by computer online information services. For those with extensive computer experience the books provides nostalgic memories of our problems we have had with computers and the Internet. For those new to computers it provides a different historical prospective to wonders of the informational super highway. For both it puts computers and the Internet into prospective, that computers and the Internet should not replace original thought, penmanship, letter writing, libraries or card catalogs, but should be just an additional tool. The books 1995 publishing makes its vocabulary a little dated, but the concepts are very relevant to today's computers users. I feel reading this book will increase the value I get out of technology and help me keep it in perspective.
Rating:
Summary: Stoll is right about certain points.
Review: This book by Clifford Stoll was intriguing and entertaining. Although a little outdated by today's computer standards, the real message of the book is that while the Internet and the computer is helpful and entertaining, they are not necessities of life. I believe that Stoll thinks that everyone is so pro-computer, that they don't look at the negatives of computers. He believes that the increased use of computers in an individual's life takes away from someone's life. He states that "Life in the real world is far more interesting, far more important, far richer, than anything you'll ever find on a computer screen." I totally agree from where he's coming from. I believe that there's more to life than just using the Internet or computer for work. I am a big fan of face-to-face communication and like to see someone actually smile instead of seeing :) typed on the screen. But I also believe that while believing this way has its advantages, being able to use a computer in this world is becoming a necessity. Everyone is moving towards a technological advancement, that not being able to use the computer and the Internet sets an individual back somewhat, and that's sad to say. I think the world is placing the skill of using the computer and the Internet up there with the skill of reading, writing, and even eating. I agree with Stoll when he implies that using e-mail is impersonal. It very much is, because there is a lack of emotion. In face-to-face communication, it is the emotion that makes the communication personal. Stoll states that the Internet is a false society, that nothing can compare to the real thing. Stoll believes that the Internet is mainly used for an entertainment purpose. That may have been true in 1996, but the amount that e-commerce has grown since 1996 is an indication that the Internet is not only for entertainment purposes. The Internet has grown so vast that I believe that Stoll's comments are outdated. However, his statements about how secure and private the Internet is still applies today. Although companies have made the Internet a little more secure, I still know of some people who don't send private information over the Internet because of their lack of faith in a site's security. Stoll also goes into the dangers of using computers in the classroom. Having just completed a totally on-line course, I think that having classes on-line is a good idea for probably only college students. I think that having teachers in the classroom with students is necessary to promote learning in lower-level grades of education.
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