Best of the Internet, 2003 Edition

By Joe Kraynak

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0789728605
• ISBN13: 9780789728609
• Release Date: September 2002
• Publisher: QUE
• Length: 512 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 2.0" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

The Best is the Best

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 rad

A book I find very helpful

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.

A collection of some of the best sites that provide value

When I obtained this book, I immediately grabbed a notepad and proceeded to scan through it writing down all sites that appeared interesting. After going through the book, I logged on and did some serious web surfing and the sites were all what I expected after reading the descriptions. Clearly, 349 pages can hold only a small sample of what is on the web, but in terms of high points, Kraynak hits a lot of them. The sites are listed in alphabetical order, based on topics and examples of topics are automobiles, politics, toys, water sports and writing. An index that cross references the sites is at the end of the book and is very helpful when searching for sites that could be placed in more than one category. Each category has one site marked with an icon as the best of the group. This is a good compilation of some of the best sites you can find on the web and I will no doubt go through it again looking for additional sites of interest.