Silicon Snake Oil: Second Thoughts on the Information Highway [Library Binding]

Clifford Stoll (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0785794948 | ISBN-13: 978-0785794943 | Publication Date: October 1999

In his previous work, "The Cuckoo's Egg", the author related the story of how, through the Internet, he uncovered a computer spy ring. This new text deals with the myths and realities of the Internet, looking at the darker side of the information superhighway and attempting to reveal its hidden hazards. It illustrates how electronic data transfer can be slow, less reliable, and more expensive than communication by phone, fax, and even the postal service. The work argues that discussion groups, lauded for providing access to information and diverse opinons, are in fact hotbeds of rumour, where conversations about issues frequently degenerate into the rude, offensive and tasteless, and where technical questions often elicit inaccurate answers. The text also suggests that business transactions on the Internet are, at best, perfunctory and, at worst, dangerous.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Computer expert Stoll presents a backlash account of the Internet, questioning whether its potential influence is as far-reaching and positive as supporters claim.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From Library Journal

Stoll, a Berkeley astronomer who chronicled how he broke a computer spy ring in The Cuckoo's Egg (LJ 9/15/89) and who has been netsurfing for 15 years, does an apparent about-face here, warning that the technophiles are trying to sell us a bill of goods on the promise of the Internet?one on which it can't deliver and that, ultimately, both ignores the cost of forsaking human interaction and actual financial costs. His is a lone voice countering the mass of media hype that has been touting the national information superhighway and the rush of individuals and businesses to get connected. In chapters dealing with everything from education to E-mail (Stoll reports he lost less mail via the U.S. Postal Service) to the "virtual" library, he details the limitations of the networks. Though he is occasionally not quite up to the minute on some library implementations, his message nevertheless should be read as a caution to every librarian rushing down the information highway. [For an interview with Stoll and an excerpt from his book, see p. 100.]?Francine Fialkoff, "Library Journal.
-?Francine Fialkoff, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Library Binding
• Publisher: Bt Bound (October 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785794948
• ISBN-13: 978-0785794943
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (79 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,959,213 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Dated Beyond Belief, July 24, 2005

By 

Douglas Moran (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Silicon Snake Oil: Second Thoughts on the Information Highway (Paperback)

Clifford Stoll wrote the highly-entertaining and engaging "Cuckoo's Egg," about his successful efforts to track down the person (or persons) who have hacked in to his computer network.

Unfortunately this book, which can be termed a cautionary tale about the internet and the world wide web (called back then the "information highway" or "information superhighway") has become outpaced by subsequent events to an almost absurd degree. While Stoll's writing is still engaging, and his contrarian views interesting, so many things he discusses are (in his own words about the Internet) "stale, incomplete, misleading...or simply wrong." The most prominent example is his assertion that " The Internet is a poor place for commerce." There are other assertions in the book that are equally dated. (Stoll, it might be noted, after calling the possibility of e-commerce "baloney," now sells Klein bottles on the Web. So much for his predictive abilities.)

While it is certainly no crime to have gotten predictions about the growth and use of the Web wrong--after all, almost everyone did--this book, with its almost-Luddite overtones regarding the internet, is really not worth the time except as a nostalgia item.

22 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Dissapointing, December 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Silicon Snake Oil: Second Thoughts on the Information Highway (Paperback)

As an Internet junkie, let me say that I'm glad I read this book, and I encourage all computer and net-obsessed people to read this book.

He does bring up some very good arguements -- like his theory that networked systems are ruining public libraries -- but many of them are unsubstantiated and full of holes. He has complaints about everything computer-related, from how slow they are to how they look to the lack of noises they make. (He complains that his computer, unlike his trusty typewriter, doesn't make noises when he types some characters or advances to a new line... but I couldn't help thinking that if the computer *did* make these noises, he'd just complain about how loud it was.)

The most irritating thing about this book is that he paints himself (perhaps unknowingly) as a hypocrite. For example, he writes how the usenet is basically a waste of time and how you hardly ever find anything useful there, yet he keeps bringing up things he learned while reading the usenet and talking about how much time he spent there. He seems to love the Postal Service, yet when he wants to see newly discovered pictures of Saturn, he logs in online to get them, then complains about how he has to wait, rather than perhaps mailing away for them, as a snail-mail supporter would do. And I found it especially disturbing that for a man who uses computers every day for his job and pleasure, who owns five different machines, and who has obviously been a computer user since before many of us knew what computer were, he offers exactly ZERO suggestions on how to improve them. I realized this about 100 pages in and wanted to stop reading the book right then and there, but the only thing that kept me reading was my interest in seeing if he ever presented any suggestions for improvement. (He didn't.)

Since this was written about 5 years ago, I would be interested to hear if any of his feelings have changed. Most of his arguements center around gopher, FTP, usenet, BBS systems, etc., and most Internet users never use these. He only mentions Mosaic offhand a few times, but what it has evolved into (IE/Netscape and the WWW) is the most important part of the Internet today. My guess is he would find problems with it as well, and he would have similarly-flawed arguements to back them up.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars You don't need to go online to find junk., June 19, 1998

By 

Hairy Growler "Hairy Growler" (Reston, VA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Silicon Snake Oil: Second Thoughts on the Information Highway (Paperback)

On page 45 Clifford Stoll confides: "This leads to some important questions that I am not smart enough to frame." "This" may as well refer to anything related to the internet or the misuse of computers. Whether the above statement was meant to be honest or humbly self-effacing is a moot point because in the end Stoll never seriously frames or answers any of the fundamental questions regarding the information superhighway.

The writing is awful. The insipid, conversational tone betrays an utter lack of rigor and depth of thought. It is what idiotic book reviewers have come to call "accessible"---a warm welcome mat for the feebleminded. Beyond the dreadful style there lies a vast intellectual wasteland utterly devoid of argument and critical thought, but polluted with observations. The numerous, wandering anecdotes are largely irrelevant and always boring.

The only message that can be extracted directly from this book can be summarized in one sentence: the internet is not all it's cracked up to be.

There, I just saved you $14.

Ironically, this book is a qualified success---it does prove that some publishers disseminate the same mindless dreck that pervades the internet.