The Emperor's Virtual Clothes: The Naked Truth about Internet Culture

In this skeptical look at the Internet, Moore, who teaches English at Penn State, attempts to cut through the jargonish flackery surrounding the Net to determine its basic virtues and drawbacks. Inspired by Thoreau's Walden, Moore sets out to spend a year in the ``electronic woods.'' He visits the Usenet sector, a collection of ``newsgroups,'' or virtual bulletin boards, where people can post messages on subjects of common interest; observes various MUDs (Multi-User Dungeons), online role-playing games popular with college students; discusses political activism on the Net with a Washington bureaucrat and an Irish dissident; and bashfully dabbles in cyber-sex. Detached and decidedly unscientific, Moore illuminates the chasm between the high claims of the digerati and the misadventures of the novice Net user. His homespun approach and silly quips, however, make this a thin polemic. (Sept.)