The Extreme Searcher's Internet Handbook: A Guide for the Serious Searcher (3rd ed.)

Citation

Grainge, V. (2011), "The Extreme Searcher's Internet Handbook: A Guide for the Serious Searcher (3rd ed.)", Program: electronic library and information systems, Vol. 45 No. 1, pp. 124-126. https://doi.org/10.1108/00330331111107475

It is claimed that this book is for anyone who uses the internet; especially librarians, teachers, students, writers, business professionals and anyone else who needs to search the web proficiently.

It has been written as a guide for users of the internet covering what serious users need to know to be able to use the internet effectively and to take full advantage of all the internet tools and resources that are available. It aims to include not only information that a serious internet user “has to know”, but also include details of things that would be “nice to know”. It does assume that readers are familiar with using the internet and hopes to reinforce their knowledge. Hock uses the metaphor of an English muffin – there are nooks and crannies of a muffin that need to be explored just as there are nooks and crannies of the internet waiting to be discovered be they broad internet resources such as discussion groups or even the nooks and crannies of a specific type (yes, even Google)

In 2004 Randolph Hock wrote the previous edition of this book; and much has changed since then. In this new edition he has included chapters on social networking including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Web 2.0 to reflect this.

The brief overview of the chapters at the beginning sets out the tone of the book, you can read it through chapter by chapter or equally dip into the chapters that interest you, (at your peril, you may well miss out on a great little nook or cranny). Each chapter gives a bit of background information and a resource guide with links to major sites on the topic.

Chapter 1 is interesting in that it gives a bit of history of the internet and how it came about, and gives answers to frequently asked questions. The second chapter concentrates on directories and portals and how and when to use them. Chapters 3 and 4 cover search engines, from basics to more advanced searching.

I'd like to have seen more information in Chapter 5, which looks at communication through discussion groups, mailing lists and other interactive forums, a topic which is “hot”; he also includes a page on Netiquette. He returns to “social media” in Chapter 10.

For me as a librarian I found Chapter 6 especially useful – think of the internet as a reference tool. It covers encyclopaedias, dictionaries, almanacs, maps, where to find statistics etc; all those things you learn at library school and think you will never need but often refer to.

For anyone who wants to use images or video then Chapter 7 is a must, with lists of places to go to find all these things, with explanations about copyright included.

It is amazing to think that you can read the headlines from a newspaper 10,000 miles away, but Hock seems to have listed all the ways possible of finding news including RSS feeds, blogs and podcasts.

The theme of participating in discussion groups and so on is continued in Chapter 10 and takes us forward into Web 2.0, expanding on the theme of networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, how to set up a blog or a personal web place.

At the very beginning the contents are laid out in a very easy‐to‐use manner, making it simplicity itself to find a topic easily, and to round it off there is a comprehensive glossary, a URL list and a very good index. The layout of the book is clear and in the main the clarity of writing is plain and precise, with some occasional handy tips printed in the margin and some handy illustrations. However, sometimes I think a beginner may struggle with some of the concepts and language.

All the links in the book are included in the web site that supplements the book www.extremesearcher.com/handbooklinks.html, with the listings being updated on a continuing basis. As the author is an American there is an obvious slight American bias, but that would be expected, and there are some references to UK sites, as well as to other world sites.

Although the aims of the book have been achieved, it does assume you have prior knowledge of the internet and it may be a little daunting for new users to the internet but it is still definitely worth dipping into.

Overall, this book is an excellent resource that shows how to keep up to date with all the new and constantly changing resources that are “out there”.