How the Internet Works (7th Edition) (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The Internet does many wondrous things, but an alarming number of them remain "black boxes" whose interior workings are a mystery. In How the Internet Works, Preston Gralla shows how information gets from here to there on the world's biggest computer network. With assistance from illustrators Sarah Ishidi, Mina Reimer, and Stephen Adams, Gralla presents a series of full-color spreads, each of which picks apart some aspect of Internet technology. You'll find explanations of Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), Web browsers, electronic mail, Web search engines, multimedia, and more. There's a spread that shows how bulk e-mailers (known as spammers) extract addresses from newsgroups and send advertisements to them. There's also an excellent graphical depiction of how the infamous Melissa trojan horse wreaked havoc among Microsoft Outlook users in early 1999.

Some of the explanations are weaker than others. While Gralla gives a lot of details about how Internet telephony works, his explanation of PointCast consists of, to paraphrase, "You install the special client software, which communicates with the special server software and presents news to you." It's more of a definition than an explanation. The book is split about evenly between simple definition entries and detailed, commendable how-it-works entries. There's no glossary per se, but the index is good. --David Wall

Topics covered: Internet architecture, addressing, domain names, routers, connectivity, e-mail, newsgroups, Web browsers, push technologies, and Internet safety and security. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description

How the Internet Works, Seventh Edition is divided into eight parts, starting with a brief introduction to the Internet. This is followed by sections that cover connecting and communicating on the Internet, security and privacy, multimedia, Intranets and more. This book is up to date on the hottest technologies such as:

• Wireless Internet technologies, including WiFi and Wireless Hot Spots.
• Microsoft .NET and Web Services.
• Grid computing.
• Spyware.
• Internet Surveillance.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Que; 7 edition (September 22, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789729733
• ISBN-13: 978-0789729736
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #668,048 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent current information presented clearly & concisely, November 3, 1999

By	George Orfanedes (New Hampshire) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How the Internet Works (Paperback)

This book presents this somewhat complicated subject in clear understandable language and diagrams. Both the novice and the experienced user/surfer will discover new facts or clear up a misconception about the technologies of the Internet. Many terms are defined and explained, including the interactions of computers and associated hardware devices, communications, software, and protocols.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simple but Thorough - A Great Introduction, December 20, 2000

By	F. Lybrand "Black Mesa" (Chapel Hill, NC US) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: How the Internet Works: Millennium Edition (Paperback)

I purchased this book a year or two ago and have come back to it many times as a reference. This is a visually-based book, which uses many illustrations to explain the functioning of the internet to the reader. Yes, there are a lot of areas where it glosses over things and it is very repetitive, but there are many parts where the large, clearly illustrated examples are without question the best explanation of some very complex systems. The book does spend a lot of time on simpler, less awe-inspiring technology like email and explaining how HTML works, but this is well balanced out by the visually-based explanations of how routers and other more dynamic aspects of the internet work together.

The book also clearly spells out the differences between various access systems (DSL vs. Cable modems, vs. dial-in modems, vs. Satellite access) and also spends enough time outlining wireless internet access and other systems to allow the reader to see how the same 'system' used for the internet applies to these newer, more cutting edge applications. I think the book does a great job of showing and explaining all of the complexities behind the internet, without bogging the reader down with too much jargon and detail.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars very elementary and superficial, March 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: How the Internet Works (Paperback)

This book has glitzy graphics. Reading it, I was not sure where it was headed. Nowhere in particular, it turned out. Each "chapter" has a page or two-long introduction followed by a couple of pages of illustrations breaking down the various aspects mentioned in the introduction. Could be a useful book for learning the jargon of the internet but nothing more. I was hoping for the nuts and bolts description, but most of it was superficial. Maybe a decent introductory book for someone who has just discovered the "net".