Holiday Downtime Must-Reads for Net Literacy

Books about the Internet continue to pop up like mushrooms on a damp forest floor. They cover the spectra from introductions to basic navigation skills through client/

If you're looking for holiday gift ideas for that favorite navigator in

your life, here's some books - all but one published this year.

Rights and Responsibilities of Participants in Networked Communities by Dorothy E. Denning and Herbert S. Lin, Editors (National Academy Press, 160 pp.), is must reading for anyone interconnected on a computer network, which will continue to be a major issue, crossing the boundaries of politics, society and technology.

The Internet for Everyone: A Guide for Users and Providers by Richard W. Wiggins (McGraw-Hill, Inc., 655 pp.) is written by an experienced user and manager of Internet tools. Suffice it to say that Wiggins, moderator of the Usenet newsgroup, comp.infosystems,announce, knows of what he speaks--and he speaks well.

The Internet Business Book by Jill H. Ellsworth and Matthew V. Ellsworth (John Wiley &amp Sons, Inc., 376 pp.) is the best of a meager lot. This is one area that demands more and better attention.

The Mosaic Handbook for Microsoft Windows by Dale Dougherty and Richard Koman (O'Reilly &amp Associates, Inc., 204 pp.) is among the first of a new crop of books about the most popular tool now on the Internet. It even includes a two-diskette set of Enhanced NCSA Mosaic. Alongside Mosaic are about 10 other browsers for viewing Web pages, including AIR Mosaic, Cello, InternetWorks, Lynx, Netscape, Tapestry, WinWeb, et al.

The UNIX-Haters Handbook edited by Simson Garfinkel, Dan-iel Weise and Steven Strassmann (IDG Books Worldwide, Inc., 329 pp.) is a fun stocking-stuffer for a hacker. It's full of smart cracks, tips, tricks and techniques.

Managing Internet Information Services by Cricket Liu, Jerry Peek, Russ Jones, Bryan Buus and Adrian Nye (O'Reilly &amp Associates, Inc., 630 pp.) is a gold mine for network administrators and those who serve resources to Internet users. Use it with Craig Hunt's TCP/IP Network Administration.

Secrets of the Super Searchers by Reva Basch (Eight Bit Books, 1993), while not directly about the Internet, is critical reading for anyone who finds information on the Internet.

To gauge readership, I'll share tips on getting information from newsgroups if you send me e-mail. You must put the word "TRICK" (no quotes) in the subject line of your message or the deal's off. Have fun reading and navigating.

John S. Makulowich writes, speaks and trains on the Internet. You can reach him via e-mail at makulow@clark.net or makulow@cais.com