I had purchased Bates' book "Optical Networking and Switching" in March. Now that I saw this book, I was expecting something new. However, it just a chapter scanned from that book and so donot buy this if you already have the book.

If what you are seeking for are real technical search tips, consider the following 2 books: Web Search Strategies, by Bryan Pfaffenberger, Mis Press, 428 pp, 1996, ISBN 1-55828-470-2, The AltaVista Search Revolution, 2nd Edition, by Eric J. Ray, Deborah S. Ray and Richard Seltzer, Osborne McGraw-Hill, 395 pp, 1998, ISBN 0-07-882435-4, On both you will find plenty examples and suggestions of how to improve or refine a search, while on Reva Basch's Secrets of the Super Net Searchers, you will have to distill more than 300 pages to gather some technical advice, from its purely verbose interviews. The only technically usable sections of the book are its Appendix A, with a List of about 100 Referenced Sites and Sources, and the book's main Index, where more information on some Search Engines, can be dispersely gathered and located among the interviews. What Reva Bash presents is a collection of personal points of view and general advice of how to keep up to date and seek new information, via the Web. A significant number of interview questions where centered on services like DIALOG, LEXIS-NEXIS, CARL, NETTRAIN, WAIS and Gopher, and almost none on "Super Net Searching Engines" as the reader could expect from the book title. The 35 interviewed professionals, includes specialists on independent research, academic librarians, educators, corporate researchers, web-masters, writters, consultants and net pioneers, but none of them actualy involved on any of the major Web Search Engines, like AltaVista, Lycos, Infoseek or Yahoo. The final impression is that the book was written to other Super Net Searchers interested on knowing a bit more of some colleagues own experiences and points of view, but with no clear advise rules emerging as a consensus for the common day by day Internet use after all.

As if blandness of text and the complete lack of colors other than black, blue, and white that would per chance hold a reader's attention was not enough.... This book's publisher couldn't even count. The sixth edition of this book (the one for which this I am writing this review) DIDN'T EVEN HAVE THE PAGES IN THE CORRECT ORDER!!! It's perfect reading for those who don't mind flipping through the book to find the page where the second half of the setence they had already started is printed! For those with a more discriminating taste look elsewhere.

-Stephen

this has got to be the most dumb story i've ever read in my life. people who call it a piece of literature must be nuts. i have read a fair bit of literature and have not landed upon a worse piece.