The Unofficial Tourists' Guide to Second Life (Paperback)

by Paul Carr (Author), Graham Pond (Author) "In a nutshell, Second Life is a virtual world created by computer programmers; a world that you can enter and explore like any other tourist..." (more)
Key Phrases: search panel, Linden Lab, Snow Crash, Creative Commons (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book is the only guide you'll need to get past the Second Life hype and find out what all the buzz is about."—Mark Frauenfelder, co-founder of Boing Boing, the world's most popular blog

About Second Life

"A startlingly lifelike 3-D virtual world...Second Life [is] about building things, meeting people, and expressing yourself."—Time

 "If you want to stay abreast of what's happening in tech, you need to get inside Second Life."—Fortune

"Second Life...is riding a real-world wave of new users and publicity that suggests the blossoming of an Internet superstar."—U.S. News & World Report

Product Description

Imagine an enormous, breathtaking virtual world to explore, where land can be bought for less than a dollar and new construction is limited only by your imagination. An online tourist destination where you can shop for virtual designer clothes in a shopping mall atop a live volcano, teleport to an underwater gig by U2, before taking a new friend back to your personal spaceship for virtual coffee or...well, you get the idea. The Unofficial Tourists' Guide to Second Life is a fast, fun guidebook that introduces first-time visitors to the endless wonders offered by this exciting and rapidly developing online world. All of Second Life is here, including:

• The Essentials. What to wear and how to behave.
• The People. Finding likeminded souls—or soulmates.
• The Major Destinations. Must-see tourist hotspots, shops, and shows.
• Shopping and Nightlife. A guide to the lively virtual shopping scene, and all manner of debauchery.
• For Entrepreneurs. How to buy land or start a Second Life business.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; 1st edition (April 17, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312376480
• ISBN-13: 978-0312376482
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #566,289 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very helpful, June 30, 2007

By	Martha Ainsworth "contemplative musician" (New York City) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As a 35-year veteran of online worlds, everything from irc to chat to the Palace to the Sims, I was skeptical about Second Life. Whatever fancy technology is involved, people are still people, and I figured it was in essence a chat room with new bells and whistles. And it is that--the core behaviors of online chat have not changed much in 35 years--but I was pleasantly surprised to discover that there is much more to Second Life than chat. I was helped in this discovery by the authors of this book. The official book from Linden Labs mostly tells you how to do things. This book goes another step, and suggests things to do. The news media seem mostly focused on commerce and sex in Second Life. And there is that. The people in Second Life are similar to the cyber-denizens you will find anywhere online. The real difference here is the places: the worlds that people have built. Even if you never talk to anyone else, you can have amazing experiences simply exploring: a mystical forest, a sinister cathedral in the sky, an amusement park where you can ride a roller coaster, a Victorian village, an urban wasteland, and romantic sunset beaches are among thousands of places imagined and created, not by the owners of Second Life, but by its "residents." This guide helped me find all of them, giving hours of enjoyment even to this ancient cyber-skeptic.

I also appreciate that the authors have taken some time to bring readers up to speed on the culture of Second Life's residents. In any online community--well, any community really, online or off--there is always a subtext that new people struggle to understand, consisting of previous events and interpersonal struggles. The authors have shed light on this history for us in a most amusing way. In short, I'm grateful to have read this book at the beginning of my Second Life experience; it was very, very helpful and has increased my enjoyment of Second Life considerably.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great intro to SL, February 18, 2008

By	Jonathan Greenlee - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A Great and direct intro to Second Life. I keep a copy next to my PC and use it to Navigate in SL.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It ain't that bad, Jerry, August 3, 2007

By	A. Curtis - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The review here by Jerry Saperstein is a lot of hooey. Jerry is either ticked off about something and using subtle cues in his text to bash the book and its author, or else is an overstuffed blowhard who didn't take the time to explore SL. If he had looked thoroughly at Second Life, he would have found what most find sooner or later: it's not a game. It has no game rules, no scoring, no winners and losers. Rather, it is a large-scale social network where people build their environments and connect with people they wish to know. And it's completely safe. You can't be killed there. He makes it seem bad that people are looking to escape reality. Duh! That's what role-playing is all about. He overlooks the vast array of human knowledge on display in SL. This is fast becoming a center for online education in social sciences, physical sciences, arts and letters. The opportunities for learning through exploration are amazing. This book is a great way to start searching for that excitement in a world beyond reality.