Silicon Snake Oil: Second Thoughts on the Information Highway-Fast Shipping

Description

In Silicon Snake Oil, Clifford Stoll, the best-selling author of The Cuckoo’s Egg and one of the pioneers of the Internet, turns his attention to the much-heralded information highway, revealing that it is not all it’s cracked up to , the Internet provides access to plenty of services, but useful information is virtually impossible to find and difficult to access. Is being on-line truly useful? “Few aspects of daily life require ‘re irrelevant to cooking, driving, visiting, negotiating, eating, hiking, dancing, speaking, and gossiping. You don’t need a computer a poem or say a prayer.” Computers can’t, Stoll claims, provide a richer or better life.

A cautionary tale about today’s media darling, Silicon Snake Oil has sparked intense debate across the country about the merits–and foibles–of what’s been touted as the entranceway to our future.