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Silicon Snake Oil: Second Thoughts on the Information Highway
Silicon Snake Oil Second Thoughts on the Information Highway
Author: Clifford Stoll
In Silicon Snake Oil, Clifford Stoll, the best-selling author of The Cuckoo's Egg and one of the pioneers of the Internet, turns his attention to the much-heralded information highway, revealing that it is not all it's cracked up to be.  Yes, the Internet provides access to plenty of services, but useful information is vi...  more »
ISBN-13: 9780785794943
ISBN-10: 0785794948
Publication Date: 10/1999
Reading Level: Young Adult
Rating:
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0 stars, based on 0 rating
Publisher: Bt Bound
Book Type: Library Binding
Other Versions: Paperback, Hardcover
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

reviewed Silicon Snake Oil: Second Thoughts on the Information Highway on + 141 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
The Art and Science of Logic Takes a Fatal Blow.

This book contains a veritable catalogue of every fallacy known to the art and science of logic. As a treatise meant to persuade the reader, its reasoning and language is nothing short of ridiculous. He fails to establish any sort of common ground or reliability. Then he wallows in abusive Ad Hominum, discrediting pro-technology positions by insulting those who hold it. He introduces a dozen red herrings, wasting time justifying conclusions irrelevant to the issues at hand. The book erects an army of straw men as it attempts to justify its rejection of positions by creating then discrediting different and usually weaker positions. More than anything it is a gallery of appeals to emotion, attempting to rationalize its conclusions by appealing to the sentiment of the audience. (There is enough thickly sweet sentiment in every chapter to make Cicero proud.) I could go on, but I'm already leaving this review barren of specific examples in order to deliver as much warning as I can in as few words: this book is nothing more than an irrational emotional outburst against computers and the Internet. It contains no compelling argument, and will drown you in sentimental prose as eye-rolling as any grocery store romance novel. Do not expect Stoll to be your rational, level-headed guide to the dangers of technology. Do not expect thoughtfully compiled evidence, articulate and clever argument, and a reasonable conclusion. Should he have had anything to say, he abandoned it from the first sentence of his project to a weak, wandering essay on "feelings" alone.
crredwards avatar reviewed Silicon Snake Oil: Second Thoughts on the Information Highway on + 24 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Insightful, and -- dare I say it? -- subversive work. No, the information superhighway isn't always a wonderful thing. A well-executed argument.
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