Review by Gen of North Coast Gardening:

Over the last few years, I have seen so many of my favorite bloggers and new websites become popular enough that their owners have quit their day jobs, and I always wondered how they got their ideas or how they got started. I want what they have, but I had no idea how to get there from here.

Fox’s book was just the kick in the pants I needed. I am very familiar with the computer and the internet, but am low on techy skills, inspiration, and knowledge about how to build an online business.

This book was awesome because he details what others have done to achieve success, the steps one must take and the work involved in each kind of online business, the different types of business and what business model is most suitable each kind.

Then, in addition to all that, he provides the questions and inspiration needed to jog our own thoughts about what we might be passionate or knowledgeable enough about to start a business, and has such perfect memory and inspiration jogs that I went from not having any ideas to having too many to reasonably act on immediately.

He focuses on all the different kinds of e-business, so you don’t need an item to sell or a particular idea in mind to get started with this book. Rather, this book is perfect for those who have some interest in owning their own online business but need to know more about what exactly it entails and how one would make a business like this profitable.

I tried the Dummies book on this topic and was sorely disappointed – it felt like a big advertisement through the whole book, and didn’t really give me any of the tools I needed to get going or to inspire me with a new idea to act on. I’d recommend Fox’s book instead, as the first book to read if you are thinking of starting an online business.

Review by Robert J. Donahue:

Give this one a chance in spite of the title. It really does break down the different types of web sites (and hybrid-types) that make money. And after such “what do I do on the net?” fundamentals, it does add simple, inexpensive nuts and bolts to get ideas up to speed almost immediately. Examples throughout, as well as specific resource recommendations. Good for confidence, as it reveals that internet money-making is neither rocket science nor spam hype.

Review by M. J Lane:

For those of you who do survey research and struggle with getting an acceptible response rate, this is the book for you. It truly is an amazing resource for a method that can get one to near a 75% response even on mail-only surveys. Highly recommended.For those of you looking for any help on statistics, this is NOT the book for you.For those of you interested in increasing the validity and reliability of your surveys, this is could be the book for you. It does have an effective treatment of writing questions and effective survey design.If you wish to become an expert in coverage, sample frames, sampling, etc, look elsewhere. That topic gets just 10 pages.No book can do it all of course but I would have left out some of the “fluff” chapters Dillman included for some discussion of the more technical side of the statistics of analyzing surveys after you have designed them the way he suggests.

Review by Frank Lynch:

I have close to 20 years of experience in market research; yet with the move that many are making to conducting their research over the Internet, I knew I needed to get a lot of learning quickly, in order to better understand the trade-offs being made between cost savings and research quality. Dillman’s book fills that need. Building on an earlier edition, which focused on the issues surrounding interviewing by mail, Dillman confronts issues surrounding lack of randomness, need for clarity in a self-administered-survey world, and issues of internet coverage, in drawing conclusions. Also, he has a very helpful discussion on the issues surrounding combining data collected through different methodologies at once. Dillman also discusses the need to recruit within the context of a social exchange; we are, after all, collecting information with the respondent’s approval, and our generalizations are stronger when we have a good sampling plan and can maximize co-operation.Highly recommended!

Review by Steven B.:

As the author points out in this book’s introduction, Internet searching gets more difficult as the number of Web pages on the Internet increases. Finding what you want isn’t simply a matter of entering the right keywords in a search engine. You need to know how to search and which search engine will work best for you. You need to know where to start on the Internet if the information you are searching for can be found without using a search engine or is found on what the author calls “the invisible Web,” the part of the Internet that hasn’t been mapped and indexed by search engines.

“The Extreme Searcher’s Internet Handbook” is a practical-advice guide to Internet searching. The author looks at Web directories and search engines and tells you where to start when you are doing different kinds of research. There is also advice for conducting research in newsgroups and mailing lists, as well as a catalogue of online references such as encyclopedias and dictionaries. A chapter on news sources and online shopping Web sites rounds out the book.

If you are patient, you can get a lot of good advice from this book. I discovered, for example, that one search engine, AltaVista, permits “NEAR” searches for keywords within ten words of one another on Web pages. I didn’t know this kind of search was available. I also discovered a handful of excellent directories and Web sites for conducting Internet research.

However, this book doesn’t serve well as a reference. The headings are not particularly descriptive, which makes finding information difficult. The author does a good job of explaining each search engine’s features, but the features are presented in long bulleted lists, which makes it hard to compare the search engines. A table in Chapter 4 attempts to compare different search engines, but the table is so crowded with data, it is nearly impossible to read or understand.

The author rightfully points out that Internet researchers often neglect newsgroups and mailing lists in their research, but his instructions for searching for newsgroups with Google are out of date and he doesn’t explain how to use Outlook Express or another newsgroup reader to subscribe to newsgroups. Worse, he lumps Yahoo! groups in with newsgroups, when really the two are quite different, as Yahoo! groups are held privately by Yahoo! members (and for that matter, the author might have considered explaining how to create a Yahoo! group on your own). Only three pages are devoted to mailing lists. I think this topic could’ve used more attention.

The author obviously knows his stuff and is passionate about helping others conduct research on the Internet. I just wish this book was organized more carefully and was professionally published. As another reviewer noted, a graphic image (of a leaf?) obscures the page numbers. That is unforgivable in a reference book like this one, where you often have to consult the index and turn to a particular page. I got angry more than once at not being able to tell which page I was looking at.

Review by Mary E. Bates:

Wow. Ran Hock’s done it again. I’m a jaded, long-time web researcher, but I opened up this book and wondered how I’d managed before now. Ran offers detailed descriptions of search engines and their key features, techniques for finding multimedia content, reviews of the major web directories, tips for searching news, and even a nice “Internet reference shelf.” This book should be on every web searcher’s desk.

Review by Compay:

I have developed several hundred websites over the last decade, optimized them for Google, and have literally made millions for my clients. So while most web marketing books may not present me with new techniques, I have still given five-star reviews to those that I think others would find useful.

Not only is this book a weak primer with plenty of page filler, but Perlman’s suggestions can actually hurt your marketing results. Chapter 4 is dedicated to your keywords meta tag, yet Perlman doesn’t realize nor does he mention that Google’s algorithms have completely ignored the keywords tag for years. When discussing title tags, he makes no mention of easy mistakes that will get websites penalized or even blacklisted from Google. Perlman encourages reciprocal link exchanges with other webmasters (with no mention of anchor text), but never explains that some links can be worthless, and others can get you banned from Google.

The only effective marketing angles that Perlman barely scratches the surface on are writing articles, press releases, and blogging. I can point out several books for the same amount of money that contain ten times as much useful information for newbies and designers alike, such as Web Marketing All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies, and Web Copy That Sells.

I bought this book (Amazon verified) because there were almost 50 glowing reviews. What I failed to notice was that 90% of the reviewers have written only one review. Most of them refer to the author by his first name, and suggest that they’ve been to his seminars. The testimonials in his book are from other authors, and not a single one of them are web developers or online marketing experts. Perlman himself seems to have no background in web design or internet marketing (there’s zero mention of either on his sites or in his book).

Countless other web marketing books will help you more in the long run, and will actually tell you how not to get banned from Google. I’m not even upset that I bought it, I’m upset that so many people new to web marketing will buy it, and do a major disservice to promoting their business.

Review by C. S. Frederick:

I purchased three SEO/online marketing books and “ebootcamp” was the worst out of the three. The the information in this book was made over simplified to the point that it was not worth buying. “SEO Made Simple” was shorter but had more precise/useful information. Unless you’re completely computer illiterate find something with more substance to spend your money on.

Review by :

This book is a comprehensive survey of history from the creation of the Earth to the begining of the Millenium.It is divided into 4 sections:Pre-History, Ancient World, Medieval World, and the Last 500 years. It is a very visual book, with lots of photographs and illustrations to complement the concise text…But what makes it an INCREDIBLE resource is that it is internet-linked. There are hundreds of websites listed in the book that expand on the information presented. The research team at Usborne books has come up with age-appropriate websites from extremely reputable universities, museums, and institutions throughout the world to complement what is in their encylopedia. Let me give a few examples. For Ancient History there is a link to the University of Pennsylvania where a person can print out his/her name in hierglyphics. For modern day, there is a fabulous site at the BBC where you can read about the rise of Hilter and take a quiz afterwards. There is another site where you can listen to famous speeches throughout the ages. IT IS SO INCREDIBLE. And the best part is you can access all the listed sites through Usborne’s website. The publisher’s site will keep the links up to date if addresses change. This is a terrific resource for any student.

Review by apoem:

This is an excellent introduction to history. This is a must for homeschoolers, particularly those of a young age.

There are pictures and drawings and photographs that illustrate intersting points in history. There is basic information about how the archeologists have surmised what they know.

The children and I have found it fascinating.

It does once in a while touch on subjects that we discuss or skip over. It is so mild it is difficult to think of an example up front. However, the books is well worth the money and I would buy it again.

It is educational, interesting, clearly written and concise yet it is not boring.

Review by Robert D. Steele:

I ordered this book on the strength of the title, and on receiving it, discovered that the author is the Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation at Oxford University, and co-founder of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at the Harvard Law School (they hate it when we just say “Harvard”–must be a culture thing). So right off I know this is at least as serious a book as I hoped for.

The book is instructive without being tedious, alarming without being hysterical. It is balanced, informed, and most relevant to all of us.

The entire book focuses on the transformation of the Internet from one in which the innovation could be done at the edges, with generative innovation that built on the provided software or hardware, to one in which we are allowed to buy tethered appliances like iPhone or X-Box that are “locked down.”

Even PCs are being locked down today, and with this and other examples the author has my total attention.

He suggests that the end point matters, and that the confrontation between flexibility and openness, versus security and perfect reliability (and later, perfect enforcement) is one that requires more creative thinking rather than knee jerk mandates one way or the other.

He notes that historically IBM tried to bundle everything, and they were forced by anti-trust to unbundle, just as AT&T was, as Microsoft was, and as Google will be if the USG Government ever gets either honest or informed–either will do. Look for my book review of “Google 2.0: The Calculating Predator” to understand this suprnational unsupervised threat to multiple sectors, never mind privacy and copyright.

In a nutshell, he frames the challenge as that of modularity within which the end-user can innovate, versus walled gardens that are locked down.

In passing the author vindicates both Morris, and the manner in which justice was applied. Morris intended to count the computers on the Internet, and screwed up the code. The judge intended to punish him but not end his promising career. All good.

The author discusses what Vint Cerf and others have, the degree to which bots have taken over tens of millions of computers, using broadband connections left on at all times to create a subrosa network that does evil.

On page 63, three important principles from the author on generativity:

1. Our information technology ecosystem functions best with generative technology (i.e. NOT with locked down appliances hard-wired to a center)

2. Generativity instigates a pattern both within and beyond the technological layers of the information technology ecosystem (i.e. content collaboration and social collaboration and value-added)

3. Proponents of generative systems ignore the drawbacks attendant to generativity success at their peril.

This is followed by a great discussion of features of a generative system as they would be hoped for by the author:

- Leverage

- Adaptability

- Base of mastery

- Accessibility

- Transferability

He cites benefits of a generative system as including:

- Non-profit social innovation

- Disruptive innovation

- Broad participation

- Generative systems from generative building blocks

- Recursion (of value) to content and then to society

The scary chapter in the book–the author is elegant but one needs little help to imagine the worst–discusses how tethered appliances enable “perfect enforcement” to include GPS devices turned on remotely to serve as audio surveillance on demand, and so on.

Turning to solutions, the author distinguishes between flexibility needed at the content level (he is laudatory about Wikipedia) and the technology layer. He discusses one possible solution, a Green-Red split system in which the Green system is locked down and totally reliable, and the Red system is open to innovation but also treated with caution.

He calls for better easier security tools for group and individual use, but as one who could never ever find a coder willing to document their code, and as one completely fed up with the pig code that comes out of Microsoft and Norton–pig in the sense of way too much crap and way too big a footprint–I fear that only an open source conversion experience will do. I note with interest a chart that shows that Sun Open Systems are the LAST to plug security holes, Not good.

The author suggests a “least harm” protocol.

He calls for a very large conversation among end-users, coders, manufacturers, regulators, and so on, and what I hear him saying is that the “system of systems” is on auto-pilot, the government is out of brakes (or brains, I would add), and if we don’t all do a collective “STOP, We Want to Discuss This,” we are destined to suffer the same fate as the sheep at Virginia Polytechnic who stood still while a moron killed 20+ of them–stood still while he reloaded. Had the sheep “rushed and crushed,” no more than one or at most two would have died. I am harsh here, because information technology can either be our cage or our liberation, and the author is very well qualified to present the case for concern.

I learn for the first time on page 174 of the National Science Foundation’s FIND initiative, and that alone is worth the price of the book.

Turning to protections, the author discusses data portability, network neutrality and generativity (I can assure all readers, Google is neither neutral nor generative), Application Program Interface (API) neutrality; privacy, individual liability versus technical mandates, and collective character (digital shunning combined with reputation bankruptcy and a clean sheet fresh start).

He discusses privacy 2.0 and problems such as code, patent, and content thickets. I like very much his reminding us that the Constitution provides for anonymity to encourage unpopular opinions. He naturally discusses data genealogy (what I call data provenance, like an art work), and reputation.

In passing, I love the brutal critique by Gene Spaford of the 0 laptop. He likens its projected impact–exposing millions to the bright side while not fixing their poverty, water, and disease–to subsidizing pet rats for every household just prior to the Black Death plague. My friend Lee Felsenstein is an equally virulent opponent of the 0 laptop, for different reasons. Me personally, I think the cell phone (but not the iPhone) is the only way to educate 5 billion people fast and with day to day relevance to their needs.

I put the book down feeling pensive, and wondering why CISCO CEO John Chambers, who has been asked in writing via Federal Express three times, continues to refuse to create a router-server that is both recyclable (or even better, updatable remotely without having to flip boxes) and that will provide data at rest encryption and Application Oriented Network (AON) features at the point of creation–in other words, every creator can control the privacy, content routing, access, sharing, and so on, and by implementing something like Grub Search on the same box, we can put paid to programmable search engines patented by Google that will only show you what the highest bidder has paid to “allow” you to see, and to the Googleplex, which “confiscates” everything it touches and then claims to “own” it–including your medical records.

This is a great and important book, if you care about the global role of the Internet is creating wealth and consequently peace.

Ten other books that come to mind as equally important:

The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World

Voltaire’s Bastards: The Dictatorship of Reason in the West

Manufacturing Consent

Fog Facts: Searching for Truth in the Land of Spin

Managing Privacy: Information Technology and Corporate America

Who Owns Information?

Silicon Snake Oil: Second Thoughts on the Information Highway

In the Absence of the Sacred: The Failure of Technology and the Survival of the Indian Nations

The Tao of Democracy: Using Co-Intelligence to Create a World That Works for All

Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace

My bottom line: as we all press toward localized resilience in community, I for one would be happy to shun all tethered appliances and rely solely on collective human intelligence in community. I really like the work of Naomi Klein (No Log, Disaster Capitalism) and Paul Hawken (Blessed Unrest, Natural Capital, Ecology of Commerce). We are all long overdue for a massive boycott of all that is not in our interest, and we can start by evaluating the true costs of fuel, long-distance food and clothing, and perverted uses of water that we are running out of.

Peace.

Review by Terry Robinson:

This book should have either been 150 pages shorter and simply an argument or 100 pages longer with fully developed ideas. Zittrain frequently references and discusses the idea of “generativity” and changes the definition at each usage. Sometimes it means “creativity” sometimes it means “openness” and sometimes it means “freedom”, while all these ideas are tied to generativity, none are categorical or clear. It seems to be a shorthand for “computer good stuff” in the same way the word “umami” or “freedom” is used with several means and a body of meanings that’s poorly defined.

The book also references several seeming contradictions that I felt were poorly addressed. The opening of the book talks about the triumph of the Internet because of its openness over walled garden, then says that it’s under thread by tethered services, which the Internet had initially bested.

Hacking isn’t referenced for devices like DVRs, iPhones, and other such beasts.

DRM is entirely ignored as well as its failure in the music realm. I think the Sony Rootkit debacle would have served as a nice piece.

Finally, the book’s title includes “and how to stop it”. I don’t recall much in the book that actively tells the read what to do to stop a tethered device dominated network nor what legislation should be avoided or promoted.

The center bits on generativity and how it pops up in everyday life was both informative and interesting. Maybe this book should have been broken into two parts rather than the odd mingling that took place in this text.

Review by Jeff Lippincott:

This book was OK. It covers a very broad range of topics regarding how to use the Web (Internet) to make money. Basically there are five sections to the book (5 topics): (1) online infopreneur, (2) eBay retailer, (3) affiliate marketer, (4) Yahoo! Stores retailer, and (5) blogger. I’ve reviewed other books on all each of these topics. And I’ve been pretty clear in my reviews that topics 2 through 5 do not provide much benefit for the cost when it comes to making money. There are books written about each. And this book just does not do any of them justice in the short space given them.

This book has an introduction and conclusion along with 26 chapters:

0. Introduction

1. Creating “Digitally Delivered Information Products”

2. What is information marketing?

3. Top 7 information topics

4. How to figure out what information to sell

5. Researching the online marketplace

6. Evaluating your “brilliant” idea

7. Creating your information product

8. Licensing

9. Joint ventures

10. Public domain

11. Getting your site’s foundation built

12. Creating your hot offer

13. Setting up your site

14. Headlines that sell

15. The eBay Machine

16. Finding the right products and setting up business

17. The `flood”

18. Your listing

19. What makes a successful seller?

20. The world of affiliate programs

21. Finding an affiliate program and working it

22. The Yahoo! Stores phenomenon

23. Establishing your niche

24. Why blogging?

25. How to set up a blog

26. Making money with blogs

26a. Conclusion

My favorite part of the book was Section 1 (chapters 1-14) regarding online infopreneurship. It covered 122 pages of text. And I thought much of it was pretty good. But there could have been so much more. Another book that did a “less than” job on the subject which I just reviewed earlier today is “The Official How to Get Rich Guide to Information Marketing” (ISBN: 1599181401). See my review for that book to see other books that one should read if they want to supplement the material in this book presented in Section 1.

This book suffers from trying to cover too many topics in not enough pages. And when I picked the book up I had hoped that the author or authors would have given some insight into where the profits really exist when moonlighting on the Internet. Instead, all we got from these authors is a list of options that one can select from when they want to moonlight.

Blogging is not something that generally is done to make money online. It is something to do to build credibility for yourself as an author, consultant, infopreneur, or public speaker. Or it can be used to direct online traffic toward your business’ Web site. But blogging in and of itself is not something to be done to make money online. See my review for Blog Smog (ISBN: 078521576X) and read the book for a pretty good take on blogging. 3 stars!

Review by Mike Williamson:

After reading all the other reviews, I have a better insight into how the Yanik Silvers do so well. Do I believe the guy has made a fortune selling crap on the Internet? Absolutely! Do I believe vultures get fat feasting from the corpses on a recent battlefield? Absolutely! Do I believe all the “real world examples” this smirking con artist delivers up in his book, “Moonlighting On The Internet?” Can’t you fools see that he is smirking at you behind his hand? Is it an accident that, when he is describing how to steal public domain material to publish and sell under your own name, he chooses PT Barnum? I think not. Do you really believe the one about the little old lady who discovered a public domain book published 100 years ago about how to get rich and after trying to give it away to all her friends, she ended up selling it on the Internet because that was essentially easier and she could then sail away on her yacht and keep track of her swollen bank accounts via wireless Internet access?

Silver repeatedly reminds you of his inability to create websites. Have you seen any of his websites? I have. They are slick or should I say oily, greasy.

To this group of persons and obviously there are a lot like him, nothing is beyond the pale. People are prey; meant to be preyed upon and the slicker you are at it, the better you feel about yourself, I suppose.

I found myself unable to believe any of the hokum in his book no matter how much or how loudly his huckster cohorts swear to it. The central message of this book is how to profit from the gullibilities of all the people who surf the Internet looking for some way to provide themselves and their families a better lifestyle, a more financially secure lifestyle. You find something that has no intrinsic value and you carefully dress it up with words and then you entice people who don’t need it to buy it. Then, you chuckle as you watch your bank accounts swell. Don’t worry. You’ll never have to look any of the dupes in the eye because it’s the Internet, baby.

Far too many Yanik Silvers already in the world.