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Netsurfer Recommendations

The Complete Far Side
Gary Larson, Steve Martin (Introduction)
Andrews McMeel Publishing; ISBN: 0740721135

Among the not-so-huge ranks of all cartoonists who ever lived, you can make the case that Gary Larson ranks at the top, right there in the number-one slot. Nobody even comes close to his inventive and often utterly obscure genius. We're convinced some of his cartoons are funny and yet incomprehensible simply because they're years ahead of their time. Human civilization is just not ready for them yet. Here is all of Larsen's published genius, over 4,000 cartoons (1,100 never collected in book form), in two volumes, 14 chapters, and about 20 pounds. Yes, this sucker is heavy - but then, it bears the heavy burden of a weighty genius. It's worth noting that the publisher spared no expense in terms of production quality in order to do justice to Larson's art and work. These are some fine looking books. Beside the cartoons, you also get Larson's commentary about his work, and even some choice letters from people he has managed to puzzle and offend over the years. If you don't already salivate at the prospect of owning this, we might as well trot out the dreaded H-word ("holiday") and suggest you think about buying it for some truly deserving soul.

Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe
Laurence Bergreen
William Morrow; ISBN: 0066211735

Contrary to popular myth and the unfortunate title of this book, Ferdinand Magellan himself did not circumnavigate the world. He was killed in the Philippines, leaving it to one of his five ships and 18 starving sailors to make it back to Spain as the first humans to officially go around the world. Nevertheless, the story of his voyage is amazingly dramatic and an adventurous tale of wooden ships and iron men (anybody remember that great Avalon Hill game from the mid '70s?). The book is perfectly timed to cash in on the publicity frenzy associated with the release of that Russell Crowe picture based on the book series by Patrick O'Brian. Since there's a flurry of wooden-ship books out there, we might as well mention a few of the others. We already recommended " The Bounty". There's also " Sea of Glory: America's Voyage of Discovery, the U.S. Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842", about a voyage of discovery which rivaled Lewis and Clark's expedition in ambition but is all but forgotten today. Finally, we could not possibly do the topic justice without mentioning the granddaddy of all nautical fiction, C. S. Forester's magnificent Horatio Hornblower series - less modern than O'Brian but, as they say, utterly unputdownable.

Wireless Hacks
Rob Flickenger
O'Reilly & Associates; ISBN: 0596005598

Unlike some of the other books in the O'Reilly Hacks series, this is a very technical volume. Rob Flickenger is really, really into that whole wireless thing, and it shows - the guy designs his own wireless antennas and puts access points into lightbulb fixtures. This is not a book for casual wireless users who might just want to secure their browsing a bit more - though it will certainly tell you how to do that. Many of the hacks focus on software, much of it designed to run on Unix, either Linux or Mac OS X. On the Windows side, you'll see coverage of Windows XP and Windows 2000, but the heavy-duty networking and security tools covered here are found on Unix. Beyond software, the other major focus is on wireless hardware and on wringing out of it the most possible function and performance. Casual wireless users will probably find all this too technical, but if you're setting up any sort of publicly accessible or technically sophisticated wireless access point, this is a must-have book.

Battlestar Galactica - The Complete Epic Series
Various
Universal Studios

The word "cheesy" was seemingly coined for this blatant attempt to cash in on the "Star Wars" frenzy. Yet, beyond the cheese, beyond even the shock of seeing Cartwright pater Lorne Greene in a cape, there was the making of a cult classic. What's important to remember is that in 1978 this was the only science fiction series on television, the only meal to satisfy the natural yearning of young kids for interstellar conflict. The series formed many a fond memory in impressionable young minds, a memory which will now force them to part with $83.99 for this collection of 17 episodes. Amazingly, only one season on the air has spawned a couple of decades of fandom - you can still see the occasional Cylon wandering the halls of your local SF convention. Don't think about it too hard. It's all just gloriously mindless fun - with blasters!