Title: "Free Stuff From the Internet: Your Guide To Getting Hundreds of Valuable Goodies"
Author: Patrick Vincent
Publisher: Coriolis Group Books
Length, price: 459 pages, $19.95 The most expensive thing here is the book itself -- $19.95 for a book about free stuff! Still, if you're new to the Internet, it's nice to have a book that tells you where the good stuff is in the Net
jungle.
And even veterans of the Internet will find some goodies in here.
Like the Internet, which is home to a vast range of words and ideas, "Free Stuff" points you to the high as well as the low.
For example, if you couldn't make it to Rome to see Cardinal Keeler's investiture, "Free Stuff" will console you by telling you how to find "Rome Reborn," an online exhibit of manuscripts, books and images from the Vatican Library (ftp.loc.gov, then go to pub/exhibit.images/vatican.exhibit/*). Then you could take an online Bible quiz (ftp to oak.oakland.edu, then go to pub/bible/bibleq.arc).
Not feeling quite so sublime? Then try the ridiculous by looking at TV trivia, quotes and plot summaries (send your Gopher to quartz.rutgers.edu, then go to Television and Movies).
Most of the stuff mentioned in "Free Stuff" is more useful than fun. You'll see large chapters on "Business and Career," "Computers and Software" and "Health and Nutrition." "Kid Stuff," "Humor" and "Games" are fairly small entries. And yet, how can one even put a price on a great, fun find that improves the quality of one's life?
According to "The Secret Language of Birthdays," people born on Jan. 28 (Alan Alda, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Jackson Pollack, Henry VII and myself being some of them) are gutsy, strong-willed and driven but at times can be over-excitable and sensationalist. Well, they've got a lot of nerve! Over-excitable? Never! Never, I say. That Gary Goldschneider is nothing but a fraud!
Actually, that's not true. Author Goldschneider is an astrologer who believes that someone's personality has a lot to do with the day he or she was born. Using a combination of astrology, numerology and the tarot, Goldschneider has come up with 366 personality profiles for every day of the year, including leap year.
I can't imagine someone actually reading all of this book. After I read about everybody I know, the book was pretty much useless -- with 200 and some more entries unread.
Unless you're really into astrology or other related interests, the book isn't worth the whopping price.
LISA WISEMAN