Best of the Internet, 2005 Edition (Best of the Internet)

Rating:
Summary: A book I find very helpful
Review: While the Google search engine is very effective in searching for material on the Internet, the order of the responses is sometimes questionable and why some responses are included will always puzzle you. Furthermore, in a world where not everyone is honest, some sites are not exactly what their keywords claim to be. Finally, it is also difficult to determine whether a site is appropriate for children to visit. We have all been suckered into visiting a porn site that appeared to be something quite different.
All of these reasons are why I like having a book where valuable Internet sites are listed according to alphabetized categories. This book is one that I keep close to the computer that I use for accessing the Internet. There have been many times when I have been working on a research problem and had a need for information of a type that I have not needed before. My first reaction is to reach for this book and it has almost always pointed me in the right direction. When my children need information for school, I have them look in this book before they go online. Since the site reviews include icons noting the suitability for children, I am saved the trouble of having to examine the site before allowing my children to see it.
Over the years, I have found the annual editions of this book to be very helpful, and this one continues that tradition.


Rating:
Summary: The Best is the Best
Review: Arranged in 26 chapters, A-Z, Joe Kraynak's 424-page Best of the Internet, 2005 Edition, is a directory thousands of websites. The book lists the "best" websites for topics from Abortion to Zoo. In between are categories like Dinosaurs, Education, Finance, Health, Jobs, Pets, Track and Field, and War - far too many to list them all in a review. Alphabetical margin tabs ease finding the desired section, and a detailed index, with cross references, facilitates finding topics and sites. Kraynak provides a brief, clear, informative description of each site.

The Best icon mark selected sites as Best of the Best. The Child Rating icon indicates if a site is appropriate for children, followed by the age level of children for whom the site is appropriate, or "not for kids." The E-Commerce icon marks sites that process online transactions. The best sites on Abortion, for example, are Abortion Clinics On-Line, ACLU Reproductive Rights, Ethics Updates, Marie Stopes International, National Abortion Federation, Planned Parenthood Federation of America - the best of the lot, Planned Parenthood Golden Gate, and Teenwire, another Planned Parenthood site. Only the three Planned Parenthood sites are appropriate for children, and they only for children age 14 and over. Only the Planned Parenthood Golden Gate site processes online transactions. Kraynak briefly describes the content of each site.

Scanning through the book allows users to decide quickly which site to navigate to, and that is the key value of this book. Taxes provide a timely example. Best of the Internet lists Bankrate.com, Citizens for an Alternative Tax System, eSmart Forms, Essential Links to Taxes, H&R Block, IRS.gov, IRS.com, Kiplinger.com, TaxProphet.com, TaxFoundation.com, TaxHelpOnline.com, TurboTax.com, United States Tax Code Online, and Yahoo! Tax Center. Search engines will of course pull up all these sites and more on the topic, or on some other topic, but checking each site in an effort to find what you seek can be very time consuming. Kraynak tells the reader that H&R Block has the best of the best tax sites, and why - tax calculator, status check on refund, tax news, tax dates, forms, IRS publications, and tax tips, and the absence of the E-Commerce icon means free access to these resources. And he says why the other listed sites are good too.

Best of the Internet is not encyclopedic, and Kraynak provides hints for searching the Internet in his foreward to the book. Nonetheless, using this book reduces the time spend searching for specific information. None of the six best Hunting sites is appropriate for children, whereas the Games, Kids, and Museum sections list lots of resources for children. General topics have subsections; for example, the music section includes buying resources, information and news, lyrics, MP3, music events, music genres (alternative, bluegrass, Christian, classical, country, jazz, pop, rap, rock and roll), software, instruments, and radio sites. Travel similarly has many subsections. The detailed index lists all the sites covered in the book, so it is easy to see if a site you know is among the best and whether other sites on the topic may interest you.

When I agreed to review this book, I thought I could quickly dismiss it. After all, I can use a search engine, even a metasearch engine, and I know various search techniques. But having used the Best of the Internet now for a while, I am adding it to my desktop library. This book saves time! It gets me to where I want to go without detours and deadends. Time previously spent searching the Internet can now be used to exploring useful sites. I like the Best of the Internet!