Book Reviews

Internet Babylon

Secrets, Scandals, and Shocks on the Information Superhighway
Written by Greg Holden
Published by Apress, copyright 2004, 471 pages
ISBN: 1-59059-299-9 Rating 8 out of 10

Internet Babylon was a uniquely interesting look at the sordid history of the Internet. The book by author Greg Holden who considers himself a collector of odd facts has created quite an interesting read through the annuals of Internet past.

Mr. Holden proves that the truth really is stranger then fiction as you read through the collection of short stories. The writing is composed of a series of short, usually not more then one page, mini-articles on each story. These stories are arranged into categorical groupings and are set in such a way that they flow well together. This is not just any collection of disjointed thoughts, but is well thought out to make the stories flow together to paint a complete picture of the Internet.

One technical error that I noticed though was the authors misunderstanding and misuses of the term hits and page views, which he uses interchangeably on page 355. A hit is any request to a server, while a page view is just that a view of a page. A single page view can create numerous hits on the site.

The photos interspersed throughout the text are a wonderful feature, especially when I'm used to reading (and falling asleep) reading much dryer material.

Conclusion
This is a great book to read when you want to take a break from "heavy-duty" reading and just need something a bit on the lighter side. The book is fast moving and well laid out. Some of my favorite stories included:

  • At Large: The Strange Case of the World's Biggest Internet Invasion (BK) Phamton Dialer
  • Frozen Dead Guy
  • Interview with God
  • Internet's "Heavenly Father"
  • Acme Klein "Single Sided" Bottle
  • Teenage Stock Whiz
  • HavenCo (Sealand)
  • How to become a Hacker
  • The Hacker's Diet
  • About, Retry Ignore
  • Craig Shergold
  • Spam Radio
  • PawSense
  • Google Golf
  • Scott Fahlman Smiley creator
  • Smell-O-Vision
  • Star Wars ASCIIMATION