Rating:  - Best book about the Internet!
An amazing book that shows you in clear, beautiful illustrations how every part of the Internet works. Whether it's the basic underlying technology like TCP/IP, or how the email, the Web, FTP or other Internet resources work, it's the place to go. It's great for advanced users as well as newbies. I particularly liked the section on safety and security --- I know now how the FBI's Carnivore program works.
Rating: - Amazing illustrations provide good basic intro to the net.
This latest edition of "How the Internet Works" is much improved over the previous edition, especially the illustrations by artist Michael Troller, which are both eye-catching and informative. The book provides a very strong basic introduction to how the internet works and the artwork makes it a joy to read. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone (with or without a technical background) looking to improve their understanding of the internet.
Rating:  - It explains complex technology in very easy language
This book is very easy to read. It takes you through different levels of internet technology using simple language and colourful graphics. It is a very useful material to consult at the moment when you want to get a fast internet conexion at home but you do not know how to do it. This is a book about internet architecture and technologies. Nevertheless, the chapter about how to make phone calls on the internet does not mention nor a software neither how to get a software that can let you make long distance phone calls on the internet. But I learned a lot about how it works!!!
Rating: - Simple but Thorough - A Great Introduction
I purchased this book a year or two ago and have come back to it many times as a reference. This is a visually-based book, which uses many illustrations to explain the functioning of the internet to the reader. Yes, there are a lot of areas where it glosses over things and it is very repetitive, but there are many parts where the large, clearly illustrated examples are without question the best explanation of some very complex systems. The book does spend a lot of time on simpler, less awe-inspiring technology like email and explaining how HTML works, but this is well balanced out by the visually-based explanations of how routers and other more dynamic aspects of the internet work together.
The book also clearly spells out the differences between various access systems (DSL vs. Cable modems, vs. dial-in modems, vs. Satellite access) and also spends enough time outlining wireless internet access and other systems to allow the reader to see how the same 'system' used for the internet applies to these newer, more cutting edge applications. I think the book does a great job of showing and explaining all of the complexities behind the internet, without bogging the reader down with too much jargon and detail.
Rating:  - Too much jargon, too simple explanations, don't buy this...
I had to buy this for a class. What a disappointment. It throws out all this jargon but all the explanations are way too superficial. I understand that this is just supposed to be an introduction - but all it did was get me more confused. I was better off when I didn't read the text and just asked people in the field how something works.
One good thing is that it is pretty up to date. It discusses the Melissa virus and other recent happenings.
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