Surfing on the Internet [Paperback]

J. C. Herz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 15, 1995

In secret, underground, an amazing new world has taken shape, an alternate universe where technical communications sit alongside bulletin boards devoted to TV sitcoms, popular music, and every imaginable sexual proclivity. The Internet has its own language, its own rituals, its own code of ethics, and even its own ways of punishing outsiders. Let the newbie beware! Surfing on the Internet is a fearless excursion through this remarkable new world, in the company of one of the most inventive young nonfiction writers at work today. Fueled by Fruity Pebbles and caffeine, J. C. Herz, a digital Dian Fossey loose in the jungle of Net life, embarks on an on-line odyssey. Beginning with worldwide message boards that feature tips for phreaking (phone tapping) and plots to assassinate Barney the purple dinosaur, she brings to life the anarchic sprawl of the Net, exploring the flames (personal tirades), the aliases (one guy she meets has 158), the Net cities and virtual saloons where the digerati congregate.No corner of the Net is beyond the reach of her curiosity, and some of those corners turn out to be pretty dark. Sex on-line has its limitations, for instance (although the cross-gender possibilities are intriguing). There are the out-and-out nuts who stretch even the most liberal free-speech ethos. And there's the chilling case of Kieran, the Internet ghost whose only off-line visitors for months are the people who deliver takeout food to his apartment. When last seen, J. C. Herz is checking into an Internet addicts support group - meeting on-line, of course. Surfing on the Internet is a romp through the frontier of the twenty-first century, and J. C. Herz is a brilliant and daredevil guide.Don't log on without it.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The information Superhighway's bright corporate future may or may not come, but the Net, shows Herz, already has a fully developed and wonderfully idiosyncratic culture. Herz here captures the grungy (if that can be said of the Net's ghostly text-based presence), junk-food and black-coffee, 24-hour-a-day reality of the Net. She describes the endless lines of text messages, the weird Star Wars-like virtual bar-at-the-end-of-the-universe sensibility of IRC real-time chat; the head-splitting fantasy game-like intricacies of Multi-User Dimensions (MUDs); the electronic cross-dressing (no one's "persona" can be taken seriously); and the curious-and sometimes poignant-personalities that haunt the Net's more obscure byways. There's hilarious stuff here: The Alt.barney.dinosaur.die.die.die newsgroup, dedicated to destroying the "purple pederast"; or Alt.alien.visitors and its loopy discussions of good and bad space aliens; or the "counter-intuitive" cyber-serenity of ZenMoo, the meditative site that rewards its users for logging on and doing nothing ("hair will grow on your palms if you keep typing," says the Moo program). By using numerous excerpts of screen text, the book is almost too effective at recreating the numbing, all-text look of the pre-World Wide Web Net. Indeed, most remarkable is the extraordinary amount of time ("12, 15, 20 hours a day") Herz and other hardcore cybernauts spend staring into the sickly glow of computer screens. Despite coming to question her own online habit, Herz, a staff member of Wired magazine, has written a brisk, funny and detailed homage to Net culture and conveys some measure of its addictive fascination.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

A 22-year-old Internet addict who has written for Esquire and the Miami Herald talks about life on the electronic frontier.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 321 pages
• Publisher: Back Bay Books; 1st edition (January 15, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316360090
• ISBN-13: 978-0316360098
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.9 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,034,476 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You'll be nodding your head in agreement the whole time!, September 3, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Middlesex, NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Surfing on the Internet (Paperback)

Oh my gosh, when i found this book in the "new book" section over 2 years ago at my library I thought it was cool fer the cover.

Then I read it.. oh my GOSH never ever have I ever read a book I agreed with SOOOO MUCH. The whole time I was reading about the little net adventures of J.C. Herz, I was smiling because I too have done it.. the usenet postings, the late night IRC excursions as well as the inevitable dip into MUD.

This book is great for anyone of the "olden" days of the online world. And for those vets.. feast yur eyes on the MindVox section.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is too darn coool. I just gotta buy it now., October 1, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Surfing on the Internet (Paperback)

I read this book 2 years ago, when I borrowed it from the library. Since I have borrowed many, many times. It never gets boring. It provides a look on the net when the most commercial stuff was mlm scams and chainletters. *sigh* The good ol' days...

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The perfect book on the topic, April 27, 2007

By 

Miss Linda (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Surfing on the Internet (Paperback)

Never have I read a better book on the topic. J.C. covers it exactly how it was. Today is so different - spam mail and myspace and RSS feeds, etc...

This book gets my nostalgic every time I pick it up and read it. Yes, that first review was me, "PunkaPixie" almost 10 years ago. I just had to write another review (don't know if its allowed), but THIS BOOK DESERVES TO HAVE ANOTHER FIVE STAR REVIEW!!!!! Why oh why is it being shunned to the bargain bin!?!?! LONG LIVE THIS BOOK! And bless the heart of Ms. J.C. Herz who one day, long ago, back when I wrote this review, had written me an e-mail which is buried somewhere in a text file. Wherever she may be, I wish her well!

Long live the days of IRC and usenet... oh how I miss it so.

I am staring at my copy of this book right now actually. Still proudly displayed in my bookcase. This book has always and will always be close to my heart. At 25 years of age now, I will never forget the good old days when the internet was a wee baby - long before it was tainted with the things that "could be".

This is a great book for anyone curious to know what life was like before the "mass influx" of people on the 'Net. And an even better companion for those who long to remember.