Looking for a kitschy internet book from the 90s

December 29, 2009 11:53 AM

Help me find a kitschy look-at-this-new-internet-thing book from the mid to late 90s.

In the year 2000, I bought this awesome little book called Electronic Life-Style: How electronics products are touching our lives, which explained all the new electronic gadgets of the mid-80s to those who were perplexed and confused by them. It was 5¢ at a Radio Shack clearance sale. So you have an idea of what I'm talking about, here are some pictures:
Front Cover
Back Cover
Example Page A (Electronic Map - doesn't use GPS)
Example Page B (CD Player)

I want to find a similar book from the late 90s internet boom. One that was written for someone who was pretty ignorant of computers, that's full of optimism and hype, but that's pretty high level (not a step by step guide or anything), and has lots of pictures of websites, etc.

Anyone have any recommendations, ideas? I know these kinds of books were written, but they're hard to find since they didn't leave much of a mark.

posted by cosmic.osmo to Society & Culture (6 answers total)

Best answer: Try to find copies of a magazine called "The Net" from 90s. It was a print magazine about how awesome the World Wide Web could be. They talked about cool new plugins and included a directory of new, awesome sites! It even came with a CD!
posted by Loto at 11:59 AM on December 29, 2009

I think a copy of The Internet Yellow Pages would be the ultimate guide to this new innernet thing. It's like a roadmap to the information superhighway!

It contains site descriptions and links to over 10,000 sites on the World Wide Web! TEN THOUSAND!
posted by bondcliff at 12:05 PM on December 29, 2009

I'd suggest checking places that sell used books but aren't used book stores. Our local library accepts donations and sells those that it doesn't add to its collection. A large portion of them are books on outdated technology. (I should know, we've donated half of them!)

Another place to try would be a thrift store that accepts donated books. I'm sure I've seen a few such books from the early days of the Internet there. ("Using your newsreader!", "The BEST 1000 Web Sites for Kids!", those sorts of titles)

Bonus points if you can find one that mentions MetaFilter!
posted by iktomi at 12:25 PM on December 29, 2009

You don't say where you are but in Philly there's an Impact Thrift Store (rte 309, Montgomeryville) that I was at yesterday. Big, big selection of these types of books.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 12:28 PM on December 29, 2009

Best answer: Surfing on the Internet: A Nethead's Adventures Online comes to mind, and I'm not sure why I remember it so very clearly. I remember my dad picked it up for me from the bargain rack at Barnes & Noble in the mid-to-late 90's because he knew I was always online, and me thinking it was the silliest thing I'd ever read, and also amazed at how dated something could become in like 2 years.
posted by tastybrains at 5:18 PM on December 29, 2009

There's lots of fun videos like this on youtube.
posted by extrabox at 7:03 PM on December 30, 2009