![Cuckoo's Egg (90) by Stoll, Cliff [Paperback (2005)]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/W/IMAGERENDERING_521856-T1/images/I/310m-2EHv7L._AC_UL160_SR160,160_.jpg)
I feel a little bit guilty in writing a review for a book about computing that is now several years old. As other reviewers have noted, there's a lot about this book that is horrendously dated: e-commerce is well-established, network access speeds have long since shattered 9600 baud, Usenet is (for all intents and purposes) dead.
But move beyond that for a minute. Ignore anything he says about download speeds (although you should consider that, according to the Pew Internet Project, only 42% of Americans have high-speed Internet access at home, so broadband isn't as ubiquituous as some would like us to believe). Smile when he questions the concept of e-commerce. Every time he references Usenet or newsgroups, mentally substitute blogs and web forums; do the same substition with MUDs and World of Warcraft.
Even now, 12 years after the fact, the questions that he raises are still important and relevant. While I can find fantastic recipes for bread online, it doesn't actually tell me anything about that instant when you know you've kneaded the bread long enough. Getting driving directions online is great, until you realise that construction or an accident is blocking your intended route and you can't figure out how to get around it because you don't have an actual paper map. Kids learning how to use computers is great, but when they can't do basic arithmetic or write a five-paragraph essay, how can we justify spending millions every year on computers in the classroom?
For all that I think that the questions that he raised need meaningful answers, I found the book unsatisfying. Stoll is obviously a computer geek himself, and was a heavy computer and Internet user at the time that he wrote the book, so it is frustrating that he offers up so much criticism without tempering it with some statements about what he does find useful online. The book reads like a conversation, which is somewhat annoying because it wanders all over the place and gets a bit repetitive. It could have been tightened up into a highly-compelling work.
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J. Brand
Out of date but still surprisingly relevant
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 3, 2012
