Questions Asked About Rob Slade's Book Reviews
Rob
day, but multiple copies of the *same* questions, I suppose it is time
for:
Questions Frequently Asked About Rob Slade's Innumerable Book
Reviews--Now With Answers!
Questions and answers
1) How do you find time to read all those books?
Darned if I know. I've always read a lot, and quickly. No, I don't do
speed reading: I find that I can't use those techniques. I read while
waiting, I read while traveling: sometimes I just read. I read and
review as much as I can spare time for. Those who have followed the
series of reviews will notice that sometimes I produce more than
others: a lot depends on what else I have to do at the time. Yes, I do
read all of the books: every page (although, I admit, sometimes not
every word).
2) Do you have an archive of the reviews?
Yes, two, in fact. The "base" URLs are http://victoria.tc.ca/techrev,
courtesy of the Victoria, BC, Canada TelecommunityNet (aka VTN), and
http://sun.soci.niu.edu/~rslade, courtesy of Northern Illinois
University (former home of the Computer Underground Digest and aka
NIU). All the various pages and files are in those directories, so you
can construct a full URL by simply appending the filename. Also, all
files are mirrored at both sites. For example, a reference in one
review, like "(cf.BKVR.RVW)," would mean that the filename (converted
to lower case) could be appended to the base addresses, and you would
find that both http://victoria.tc.ca/techrev/bkvr.rvw and
http://sun.soci.niu.edu/~rslade/bkvr.rvw point to actual reviews. (If
you use only the base URLs, you will find an index file that points you
at some of the major pages.)
For those looking for the reviews, probably the most useful addresses
will be http://victoria.tc.ca/techrev/mnbk.htm or
http://sun.soci.niu.edu/~rslade/mnbk.htm; the top level of the topical
menus of book reviews (security is not the only topic); and
http://victoria.tc.ca/techrev/review.htm or
http://sun.soci.niu.edu/~rslade/review.htm; the main index to all
reviews. Due to increasing numbers of questions, I guess I will be
maintaining this FAQ at http://victoria.tc.ca/techrev/revfaq.htm and
http://sun.soci.niu.edu/~rslade/revfaq.htm.
3) Where can I find the reviews?
All kinds of places, apparently. There are, of course, the archives
above, and the various topically related lists and groups to which I
post messages. Others archive various subsets of the reviews to
different sites, reprint the reviews in college or user group
newsletters, and repost the reviews to other mailing lists. If you want
to get on a mailing list for all the reviews, I have created a mailing
list at Yahoo Groups. You can subscribe by sending an email message to
techbooks- subs...@yahoogroups.com, or visiting the Web site at
http://groups.yahoo.com/list/techbooks/, where you can also find an
archive of the more recent reviews.
4) Don't you like *any* books?
OK, I'm a cruel reviewer. But fair!
But, yes, I do like some. In the absence of a "Rob's Picks" page (which
I may get around to some time) the closest alternative is probably the
page of references by the CISSP domains, at
http://victoria.tc.ca/techrev/mnbksccd.htm or
http://sun.soci.niu.edu/~rslade/mnbksccd.htm.
5) Why don't you rate the books you review?
Generally, the people who ask this question want me to assign a single
numeric value, preferably on a scale of 1-5, to every book.
Books are a little bit more complex than that. They are good or bad for
different reasons for different groups. A book for a novice is useless
to an expert. A book for an expert is useless to a novice. So I try to
state who I would recommend the book to, and why. I think it's a bit
more reasonable than just giving each book a number.
If I'd wanted to do that, I could have skipped writing the reviews
entirely. It'd sure save time. (See question 1 :-)
However, a partial answer, for those who want a quick fix, is to look
at the main review index. (See question 2 :-) I try to give a summary
of my reaction to the book, in not more than one sentence.
6) Where can I find your reviews of all the CISSP guides?
See http://victoria.tc.ca/techrev/mnbkscci.htm or
http://sun.soci.niu.edu/~rslade/mnbkscci.htm.
7) What's all that stuff at the beginning?
I was asked by the moderators of one newsgroup to use the standard UNIX
addlib format for publication information. It seemed to be a good set
of data, so I continued. The basic information is:
%A Author's name (use a separate %A line for each)
%C City (place of publication)
%D Date of publication
%E Editor (of book or series)
%G Government order number (use this for ISBN)
%I Issuer (publisher's name and imprint)
%O Comments/etc. (use for format/price, ordering info)
(also the links for purchase at online bookstores. Yes, I do
get a commission: see question 8.)
%P Page number(s) (use for page count)
%T Title of article or book
For more information, see the man page for the UNIX "refer" command.
8) How much money can you make reviewing books?
I find it quite bizarre that almost everyone seems to assume that a) I
buy all these books, or b) I get paid for doing these reviews. I get
the books free from publishers. (See question 9.) I don't get paid for
doing the reviews. Occasionally I use these reviews as the basis for
review columns or "best of" articles for magazines, and get a few
bucks. If people "click-through" the links on the reviews and buy
books, I get a commission. (Eventually my account may build up to
enough money that they'll actually send me a cheque.) I even get a bit
of a tax break by getting a "gift in kind" tax receipt when all these
dead trees go to the library. But this isn't exactly a business.
Of course, if any large corporation was interested in sponsoring the
reviews ... :-)
9) How can I get started reviewing books?
In the immortal words of the advertising campaign, just do it. Grab
some books, and review them. Post the reviews. Once you have built a
body of work, you can start asking publishers for copies of books,
especially if you have proven you are serious by sending them copies of
the drafts of your reviews. (Before you post them on the net.)
You don't even have to buy a ton of books to get started. Review the
ones you've already got. If you use them, presumably you know why. If
you want to review new ones, try the library. (If you live in
Vancouver, the Vancouver Public Library has lots of recent technical
books :-)
Of course, why would you want to? (See question 8.)
10) Where can I find books on (topic)?
Go to the main review index at http://victoria.tc.ca/techrev/review.htm
or http://sun.soci.niu.edu/~rslade/review.htm. Use the search function
on your browser (Ctrl-F for most Windows stuff, "/" for Lynx, etc).
Search for terms you think would be in the title or the topic of the
book. (For privacy you might want to search on "privacy," "private," or
"confidential.") When you find a likely title, there will be a link to
the review itself.
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rsl...@sprint.ca rsl...@vcn.bc.ca sl...@victoria.tc.ca p...@canada.com