How the Internet Works (8th Edition) (How It Works)

Simple, clear explanations walk you through every technology

Detailed explanations walk you through the technology.

The Internet has changed the world... and, with everything from blogs to podcasts, Internet phones to video, it’s still changing the world. Now, it’s easy to understand how it all works! This book’s big, brilliant, full-color illustrations and clear explanations make it all incredibly simple!

DISCOVER HOW THE INTERNET REALLY WORKS... IT’S AMAZINGLY EASY!

This new edition has been completely updated for today’s hottest Internet technologies, Web connections, hardware, communications and entertainment services, and much more!

•    See how the Internet can deliver any kind of information, anywhere: web pages, email, music, video, phone calls, and more!

•    Understand the most exciting new Internet technologies, from blogs and podcasting to wikis and BitTorrent

•    Discover how your connection to the Internet works... wireless, cable modem, DSL, even cellphones

•    Go behind the scenes with today’s most sophisticated websites, applications, and services

•    Protect yourself from the latest Internet dangers, including phishing, web surveillance, and wireless hacking 

Preston Gralla is the award-winning author of more than 30 books, including How the Internet Works, Complete Idiot’s Guide to Internet Privacy and Security, Complete Idiot’s Guide to Protecting Your Child Online, and How Wireless Works. He has written

frequently about security issues, computer technology, the Internet, and has been a columnist for many magazines, websites

and newspapers.

Some of the explanations are weaker than others. While Gralla gives a lot of details about how Internet telephony works, his explanation of PointCast consists of, to paraphrase, "You install the special client software, which communicates with the special server software and presents news to you." It's more of a definition than an explanation. The book is split about evenly between simple definition entries and detailed, commendable how-it-works entries. There's no glossary per se, but the index is good. --David Wall

Topics covered: Internet architecture, addressing, domain names, routers, connectivity, e-mail, newsgroups, Web browsers, push technologies, and Internet safety and security.

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Perfect for anyone, 2008-11-23
This is the best book to learn about the meanings of the internet and its history. It was very easy to understand. If you are taking any computor courses this is a must. No matter what level of learning you are at this will teach you what you need to know.


2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

Hard to rate - it depends on the audience, 2007-01-15
Obviously if you are just learning about the Internet, your first choice is not going to be Tanenbaum's classic "Computer Networks". Likewise, if you are a network security professional, this book won't help you either. This book is basically a picture book with very easy to swallow pieces of accessible text between pictures. It is meant to acquaint the complete novice with the basics of the Internet. By basics I mean defining terms, what it means to connect to the Internet, and interacting with the Internet without getting your identity stolen. The illustrations are quite enlightening to beginners, but don't expect detailed instructions on how to accomplish tasks of any complexity. If you are looking for that kind of beginner's book I recommend "The Internet: The Missing Manual" by Biersdorfer, published by O'Reilly and Associates. If you have a friend or relative who is completely new to computers who just wants to know about the Internet, this will do. If they want to interact with the Internet in any meaningful way, get the Missing Manual book. I was generous and gave this book three stars because I'm not really sure it's fair to downgrade a book because I think it is too simple. That might have been its intent.


3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

Surprisingly Helpful, 2007-01-15
I've been involved in writing web pages, setting up web/mail/ftp servers for about a dozen years. I was working on a problem with a fellow and had to admit that there was a point I didn't understand. He reached up and pulled down this book and opened it to the section on security - Part 9 : Protecting Yourself on the Internet. Here in a very few pages the Governments Carnivore (FBI) and Echelon (NSA) programs were discussed. There wasn't much on the details, but it explains what the Government is doing to monitor and track e-mails. Carnivore has, of course, been shut down.

Each item being discussed only gets a page or two, and those pages are mostly illustration. But this makes it easy to understand. If you want to know more then you can go to more advanced books, or of course search the web. [Wikipedia has an entry -- Carnivore (FBI)]

On the whole a surprising amount of information. It's aimed mostly at beginners, but there are some things here that I believe most professionals would find interesting.


3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

Practical staring point for inspiring Webmasters, 2005-04-06
All the facts you'll need about the Web, email, service providers, Web browsers and FTP. Topics range from connecting to the Internet, using Mail, Instant Messages (Chats), News Groups, File Transfer (FTP), and shopping from the Net. Written in a brief but informative style, at under $20.00 you'll find a wealth of information to help you. Keep this book on your desk and refer to it often for "practical" solutions to internet problems.


7 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

bare bones basics, 2003-06-24
I highly recomend this book for 4 year olds and 80 year olds. This book addresses concepts only and then at the most simplistic of levels. I am not technical and was not looking for a book targeted to programmers. I simply wanted a book that would provide a modicum of information to satisfy a curious mind and give some substantive explanations as to how the internet works. This taught me nothing and is falsey advertised.

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