Can’t We All Just Get Online?

Who says the Internet has to bring us together? This month’s column of books for special-interest groups proves that it doesn’t have to. Gays and lesbians have their own books, as do religious types and seniors. What’s wrong with aligning with people just like us?

Just kidding.

If anything, these books targeting specific groups prove how much we have in common. They show how people in different communities, who identify themselves in different ways, all have similar interests.

That’s not to say there aren’t sites listed in the books specific to a certain group. But pick up a book you think doesn’t apply to you and you might just find that in many ways--if not in the most obvious ones--it does.

GOD ON THE INTERNET by Mark A. Kellner (IDG Books Worldwide, $24.99).

First the bad news: The first nine chapters of “God on the Internet” are all about connectivity. Most people are not going to buy this book to find out how to get online, they’re going to buy it to find out what to do once they’re there.

Now the good news: “God and the Internet” is a very cool book.

Each chapter is broken down by religion and further broken down by denomination. Introductions at the beginning of each chapter give an overview of what principles the religion was founded on, as well as brief histories of the religion.

Some of the religions Kellner has included are Buddhism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Judaism, Mormonism, Protestantism, Evangelicalism and Pentecostalism, as well as “new’ religions, including Christian Science, Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Unification Church and New Age sects.

Kellner warns at the beginning that Web pages change addresses and content frequently. So he offers his book as a “snapshot of what’s out there.” “God and the Internet” is an introduction to the diversity of religions that have found a home on the Internet, though a few of the services he mentions have gone on to a better place since the book was released.

Whether you’re on a spiritual quest or just on a search for information, “God on the Internet” is an excellent traveling companion.

THE GUIDE TO THE JEWISH INTERNET by Michael Levin (No Starch Press, $27.95; Windows floppy).

No, the Jewish Internet is not some separate place that requires a secret handshake for entry. It is, in the words of author Michael Levin, a phrase given “to all things Jewish on the Internet.”

“The Guide to the Jewish Internet” has sites on such subjects as online classes; Jewish resources at college Web pages; culture and literature; resources for Jewish educators; Israel (which has individual chapters devoted to the business, travel, politics, maps and education); and Jewish food, kids, music and news. There also are chapters on Hasidic, Orthodox, Conservative and Progressive Judaism, as well as sites about Asian-Jewish and Jewish-Brazilian culture that offer an international flavor.

Speaking of flavor, Levin even includes a site that just has a picture of a bowl of chicken soup. Other highlights include a place to buy matzo, another where you can buy personalized baby blankets with Hebrew inscriptions and the Famous Jews page.

Levin’s guide is more than just a list of sites. He goes into detail about what you’ll find at each site--though not so much so that the site will be radically different by the time you visit. The disk included with the book has all the links mentioned (there are more than 800) and Hebrew fonts.

GET ON WITH IT: The Gay and Lesbian Guide to Getting Online by Richard Laermer (Broadway Books, $18).

“Get on With It” is a chatty, frank guide (often too frank, frankly) to the gay cybercommunity, including the Internet, the paper press and cybercafes. Only a handful of chapters are really devoted to what’s on the Internet for GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered) types.

Although its site guide is not as broad as others reviewed here, Richard Laermer does go into far more detail on what each site offers than in other books. He tells what you’ll find at each site or online service, what to look for, what the good points are and where it falters. The chapters on getting online are thorough. It’s clear that Laermer spends a lot of time online, has a lot of fun there and just wants to share.

It’s also clear that Laermer is hot to trot.

Most of the book’s smuttiness is about Laermer’s own cybersex proclivities. But when he moves on to sweeping generalities, it’s hard to keep from chucking “Get on With It” against a wall. “Besides so much talk that it can drive you insane, Usenet is where you can find Internet directions to some of the most obscene pornography on the Internet. And this is why gay people flock to it.” Whoa . . . wait a second . . . what? The fact that it’s written by a gay man makes it no less offensive.

Assuming you can read further, you’ll find some great information. And Laermer’s conversational writing style makes it fun to read and easy to understand.

There are two glossaries at the back of the book: one for gay terms, the other for tech terms. Skip the gay glossary; there’s no way you’ll learn anything new. Laermer fares much better with the tech glossary.

Some clean highlights of the book are a list of America Online’s banned words. Among them are fart (unacceptable), genitalia (vulgar) and nudity (unusable). Another high point is a health chapter with a warning that the sites are unmoderated and to be wary of information. The chapter is not just about AIDS and HIV; there also are sites about stress, insurance, mental health, addiction, women’s health and alternative medicine.

GAY & LESBIAN ONLINE by Jeff Dawson (Revised edition, Peachpit Press, $16.95).

“Gay & Lesbian Online” not only lacks the personality of Laermer’s book, it also lacks the libido. It’s primarily a list of sites, some with descriptions, most without. Consider it a clean complement to Laermer’s book.

You also won’t find any connectivity issues addressed in “Gay & Lesbian Online.” Jeff Dawson assumes you know what you’re doing online.

Among the topics of Dawson’s site selections: activism, AIDS, online services, breast cancer, Canada, gay choruses, city guides (gay and general interest), cooking, dance and performing arts, domestic partners and same-sex marriages, family (including gay dads and lesbian moms), fat girls, gardening, gays in history, Madonna and New York.

The list goes on and on. And, as you might have noticed, they are not all GLBT sites. The book’s scope is as diverse as the GLBT community itself.

SENIORNET: Official Guide to the Web edited by Eugenia “Tin Lizzie” Johnson and Kathleen McFadden (Lycos Press, $29.99; CD-ROM).

“SeniorNet” starts at the beginning--all the way back to buying a computer, and then on through picking an online service or Internet service provider (though only a lousy half page of lousy information about Web browsers in unforgivable).

That this guide is heavy on basic practical issues seems to make sense: Technology can be daunting, even for Gen-Xers, and it can be especially impenetrable for people who remember a day when there wasn’t television. But “SeniorNet” does well in dispelling the myth that computers and the Internet are just for young people.

As a site guide, “SeniorNet” fares well. The summaries are thorough and chatty, the sites diverse. Topics range from architecture and history to literature and banking and personal finance. There also are sites on insurance-related information, books, dancing, cooking, museums, philosophy, media, death and entertainment.

The health chapter covers such issues as Medicare rights and alternative medicine, and it has a listing for an HMO locator site. Other chapters are just as broad: The section on history has sites about Alcatraz, a Holocaust memorial and even a Viking home page; the architecture chapter lists where to find sites about architect Frank Lloyd Wright, the castles of Wales and Rembrandt.

The chapter on SeniorNet’s own Web site is a little self-promoting, even if it does have other good information, including a list of learning centers and how some seniors use the Web.

Although most of the information is as complete and easy to understand as you’ll find anywhere, another noticeable omission is security issues. It’s almost unforgivable that the book left out mentions of privacy and online scams and rights.

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Krissy Harris can be reached via e-mail at [email protected]