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ARCHITECTS OF THE WEB

Name: ARCHITECTS OF THE WEB
Author: Robert Reid
ISBN: 0-471-17187-5

1000 DAYS THAT BUILT THE FUTURE OF BUSINESS

by Robert Reid ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 2, 1997

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An authoritative overview of the last three years on the Internet that is is plagued, however, by serious questions of audience, an elitist voice, and an almost paranoid preoccupation with Microsoft's Bill Gates. Beginning with the creator of the first graphical Web browser, Marc Andreesen, Reid—himself a Net world wheeler and dealer—takes a ``big name'' approach in his technological history, using the eight people behind such milestone Web products as RealAudio (Rob Glaser), Java (Kim Polese), and Yahoo! (Jerry Yang) as centerpieces around which he builds his study. Subjects run the gamut from pure technological advances to the history of Web marketing and ``merging mediums,'' such as the Web and TV. For a CEO looking to launch a Web site, the book's business-savvy language will work, and it may prove an informative read. Similarly, the highly technical style will make a reader already fluent in the online lingo comfortable. However, to a lay reader, this book is likely to sound dangerously technocratic, as Reid is not very thorough in explaining the dozens of highly technical terms he uses. Indeed, Mark Pesce, creator of Virtual Reality Markup Language, states the dangers of too much technology in too few hands, saying: ``I am both excited and mortified by this technology.'' Furthermore, Reid's perspective is very Bay Areaspecific, ignoring developments taking place outside of California. If, for example, Wired is the leading Web publisher, as Reid claims, then what of New York exploits such as Word and Charged? And while Gates-bashing has always been the intramural sport of the industry, Reid takes it to a new low by dubbing Microsoft's CEO ``Chairman Gates'' in an obvious reference to Mao's authoritarianism. Of course, Reid's subtitle is reminiscent of Arthur Schlesinger's hagiography of John Kennedy. Perhaps the Web is Reid's Camelot and Gates his Castro.

Pub Date: May 2, 1997

ISBN: 0-471-17187-5

Page Count: 288

Publisher: Wiley

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1997

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.