The Extreme Searcher's Internet Handbook (2nd ed.)

Randolph Hock is well known in the information industry for his knowledge and insightful comments on internet search generally, and search engines in particular. In this, the second edition of the title, he has expanded and updated the information provided in the first edition. There is also a companion website that readers of the book can visit to get updates, although this is simply a list of links to sites mentioned. While this is useful, unless it is kept up to date it will become out of date as quickly as the content. However, it's a useful addition, which will make life easier for the reader.

The audience of the book is really going to be anyone who has an interest in search – librarians, writers, students and so on. It is written in a friendly, non‐threatening manner and as such the information is immediately accessible. The addition of sidebar “Tips” is also useful, and further enhances the useful, practical nature of the book.

The book covers a lot of ground: an introduction; general directories and portals; the basics of search engines; then the specifics: groups; an internet reference shelf; finding images; audio and video; new resources; finding products online; and finally becoming part of the internet by publishing your own content. It's only the last chapter that I find to be a little out of place, and though it contains useful and interesting information the chapter is not as valuable as the others – at least for the searcher.

The content is clearly laid out and easy to read. Screenshots supplement the written information and a full index ensures that readers will be able to find content quickly and easily.

An inevitable criticism of the book, from a British perspective is that it is written with an American readership in mind. Most of the examples given are for US‐based sites, and while it is true to say that sites such as the BBC are referenced one could argue that a site like that needs to be included in any case. Nonetheless, there are sections of the book that are of little or no value to the British reader – zip codes, colleges and universities, sections on shopping and shopping malls for example can be glossed over quickly. I think it would be unfair to say that this is a criticism of the book as a whole, but equally if it is being sold globally one would hope to see a slightly more international perspective.

I would like to have seen more reference to Web 2.0 based products mentioned, but this is slightly unfair, given that the real explosion of these resources has only occurred in the last few months, certainly after publication date of the title. However, mentions of weblog search engines – while available – are brief. Flickr is regarded as a storage resource, rather than a resource for finding images, and the author has limited himself to traditional search engines here, rather than exploring more widely.

The content tends to centre most closely round the major search engines such as Ask, Google, Live and Yahoo! This is sensible and is an entirely logical approach to take – given that these are the “big four”, any book on internet search has to focus on them. On the other hand, an extreme searcher is going to have an interest in other search engines that are available, and I would have liked to have seen a wider range of engines mentioned. True, engines such as HotBot, WiseNut, AltaVista and Exalead do get a mention, but only a brief paragraph in most instances.

The chapters on reference material, finding images and news resources are all excellent and worthy of particular mention. They all include useful insights into the best way to search for information and really add value to the book. I would, however, have liked to have seen a section on finding people and regional or country based search engines, though to be honest that's getting into nitpicking because many other subjects are very well covered –these just seemed noticeable by their absence.

This is a very useful book to have; full of useful content and information, well arranged and clearly displayed. It will be of more use to readers with an American interest or bias when it comes to internet searching, but readers in the international community will also find much to interest them. I hope that the companion web site is updated, and I'd like to see Hock go down a Web 2.0 path with that, because otherwise the book will date as of course it has done already. Finally, the book can be summed up with one piece of pithy, amusing, accurate and valuable advice “click everywhere”.