Among the vast number of books written on computing and related disciplines, a number are hands-on in nature. Not all of these are enticing and motivating enough to coax the reader to jump into programming, or accessing the Internet, without some other forms of compulsion. This book is one of those rare ones that is written in a simple, yet compelling style, which will inspire even the laziest of readers to jump on to the Internet, and try a few of the easy but powerful tips right from the first page of the book.

With the proliferation of the Internet, and innumerable Web sites, it’s becoming increasingly apparent that a simple search is not enough to yield an appropriate site. One therefore needs better insight as to what can be done to narrow the output from search engines, so that the user’s time is used more effectively. Knowing and following just a few simple tips, one can save an enormous amount of time previously spent sieving out useful information. This, in turn, provides one with that extra edge, to more efficiently use one’s time when conducting a search on the Internet. This book is an excellent effort from the author toward such a goal.

The book is divided into four parts. A discussion of Internet portals forms the first part, followed by Internet search engines. Online news and information services are covered in the third part, while online shopping and services are the subjects of the last part.

The book has 20 chapters overall. Chapters 1 through 5 discuss popular portals (Yahoo, MSN, AOL, Excite, and Lycos). The next five chapters are on the Internet search engines: Google, AllTheWeb, Ask Jeeves, AltaVista, and Hotbot. Chapters 11 through 15 are on online news and information sites: CNN.com, ESPN.com, CBS MarketWatch, Weather.com, and Microsoft.com. The last 5 chapters are on online shopping and services: eBay, Amazon, Napster 2.0, and MapQuest.

Overall, I found the book very interesting. It will be useful for those trying to make efficient use of the Internet and online services, and for those who are eager to spend that extra few seconds to learn and experiment with more effective techniques for finding information on the Internet.

A few features that would benefit the book, perhaps in the next edition, are: making the book more internationally focused, rather than mainly US centered, and providing more tips for users, including those who are looking for information in languages other than English. As a first edition, the book does a great job, and Miller needs to be congratulated for his effort.