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From: tanida@alvis.css.gov (Tom Tanida)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.misc,comp.misc
Subject: Re: Seeking opinions on Quaterman's "Matrix"
Message-ID: <594@esosun.UUCP>
Date: 6 Sep 90 19:30:07 GMT
References: <1990Sep5.020102.21585@oswego.Oswego.EDU>
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Reply-To: tanida@alvis.css.gov (Tom Tanida)
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Organization: Science Aplications Int'l Corp.
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In-reply-to: dayger@penelope.Oswego.EDU (Tim Dayger)

In article <1990Sep5.020102.21585@oswego.Oswego.EDU>, dayger@penelope (Tim Dayger) writes:
>I'm thinking about purchasing a copy of John Quaterman's book the "Matrix".
>I'd like to hear from people who've read it.
>
>	1) How comprehensive/complete is it?  Do you feel that you gained a
>	   substantial amount of knowledge/understanding from it?

I learned quite a bit about the Net reading this book.  It has a
little of everything, so there isn't a lot of *depth*, but there is
quite a bit of *breadth*.  In this sense it also provides a decent
net reference.

>	2) How "readable" is this work:  Is it written in fairly plain English,
>	   such that someone oF normal intelligence with general knowledge of
>	   existing networks can fathom it?  Or is this another one of those

It's very readable- mainly because it is presenting overviews of a lot
of things.  The maps are interesting but in a way useless since nobody
could ever trace Internet/Usenet paths from a map with a billion lines
going to/from a billion sites on one page.

>	3) Is it worth the $49.95 sticker-price?
I think so.  Of course, I bought it discounted for $41, so maybe I
wouldn't know. :)

-Tom