Old Fart's Guide to Internet Searches by Aaron Rosenzweig Search Amazon for other books by or about Aaron Rosenzweig. Rating: Reviewed by: Marie Jones

Whether you consider yourself an Old Fart or a Young Fart, or maybe a Middle-Aged Fart, if you want to master the world of internet searches, then Old Fart's Guide to Internet Searches by Aaron Rosenzweig is a must-have resource that will save you time, energy and probably your sanity, too. Who hasn't felt like banging their head against their monitor trying to find a decent website on pre-Civil War Silly Putty pottery or a recipe for Caramel CornBeef? Now the world of the web is only a few clever keywords away.

Most of us get by just typing a few key words into Google and hope for the best, but this comprehensive and user-friendly guide teaches us the real nitty-gritty of navigating our way around the web and getting where we want to go to learn what we need to know. With a gazillion websites and a bazillion pages of information out there, this book helps even the most novice computer user find the best and fastest ways to find information without being inundated with stuff we don't want or can't use.

The book covers everything, from understanding the role of the ISP, or Internet Service Provider, to choosing the best computer for your needs, to the awesome wonders of the World Wide Web and all the mighty wonders the Internet has to offer. Then we get into the world of web browsers such as Netscape and Internet Explorer, the two biggies, as well as many of the other browsers available and what they can and cannot do in comparison. We learn that Mozilla is not Godzilla's Italian cousin, but the mascot of Netscape, and that you can actually take a taxi on the net with iCab. More importantly, we get the complete rundown on what these browsers are all about, and why one may be better for your specific needs than another.

Then it's on to the search engines themselves, starting with the Big Daddy of them all, Google, and moving on to lesser-knowns as Alta-Vista, Vivisimo, BrainBoost, Sherlock and the absolutely amazing KartOO, which I had no idea existed until I read this book. Of course, no search engine would be worth a damn if we didn't know how to make the best of what they have to offer, and there is an entire chapter devoted to finding what you are looking for, whether it be a book review, a chicken recipe, an old friend, or a new job.

We get an education on using the best key words and phrases to make our searches more effective, and the author provides us with tons of insider tricks and treats that we can put into action to make our searchtime more rewarding. We also get the lowdown on Internet Pitfalls such as fake websites out to rip us off, hoaxes to watch out for, and copyright problems we may want to avoid.

Old Fart's Guide to Internet Searches is guaranteed to cut your search time in half and make navigating the growing web a lot easier and more productive, which is why this book deserves a space on your resource shelf alongside your dictionary and thesaurus. It is a fantastic field guide to the Web. Packed page to page with information you can really use, and bold new worlds you can discover, as I did with the nifty KartOO, even the fartiest Old Fart can become a master of his or her domain.