PASSAGE TO VIETNAM, HAIGHT-ASHBURY IN THE SIXTIES
Two recent releases reflect different experiences of the baby-boom generation: those who went to war in Vietnam and those who embraced flower power at home. Passage to Vietnam tours with 70 top photographers who scoured that country over the course of a week. Users can view over 400 breathtakingly beautiful photographs accompanied by informative captions. The adventure takes you from the bustling street markets to the backstage of a traveling circus. Passage succeeds in giving a vivid portrayal of a rich and thriving culture that is only now moving beyond the war. (Against All Odds/ Interval Research. MAC & PC CD-ROM, $39.95)
Haight-Ashbury in the Sixties lets you travel back to the time when sex was safer than war. This cultural survey includes an essay on greed by Lew Welch and a spirited defense of "the LSD experience." Interviews with poet Allen Ginsberg and the late Abbie Hoffman offer insights into the restless mind-set of the times, while concert footage of the Grateful Dead reflects the spirit. (Rockument, CD-ROM for MAC & PC, $50)
Curious fans of NBC's hit Friends can learn how producers got Marcel the monkey to dance via the show's definitive FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) on the Internet. While the Net offers many Friends sites, we like this one because it addresses burning questions like "Will Ross and Rachel ever get together?" and provides answers from a writer and former producer of the show interviewed for the FAQ. Friends Net Site provides a list of film roles played by the cast members, the words of the theme song "I'll Be There for You" by the Rembrandts and a description of how episodes are conceived. It's the perfect cure for the summer rerun blues. URL:http://geminga.dartmouth.edu:80/~andyjw/friends/faq.html
by Peter Neumann
Anyone with technophobia need look no further than Computer-Related Risks to find justification for fear. The book provides the most extensive chronicle to date of computer-related accidents and catastrophes. There have been many, like the destruction of an $18.5 million U.S. Atlas-Agena spacecraft that went off course because of a missing hyphen in its flight plan. Even animals can wreak havoc; last year a squirrel gnawed through a power cable at the NASDAQ stock exchange in Trumbull, Conn., and shut down trading for 34 minutes. The second half of the book is more technical, with suggestions on how to make computers more secure. Risks delivers a sobering note of caution as our society entrusts details of everyday lives to machines. (Addison-Wesley, $24.75)
>Peter Neumann
RISKY BUSINESS
AFTER MODERATING AN INTERNET news group on computer accidents for 10 years, Peter Neumann knows that the danger is not hypothetical. A principal scientist at the think tank SRI in Menlo Park, Calif., Neumann shares his concerns in his new book, Computer-Related Risks (see review). "I wrote this book because I really believe that everyone needs to know the full extent of what can go wrong," he says. Neumann, who got his first computer job in 1953, began collecting stories of computer fiascoes in 1980. He started the Risks Forum, which is now one of the most popular special-interest groups on the Internet, with more than 100,000 readers per issue in 1985. "Almost all of us are dependent on computer technology in one way or another," Neumann says. "The risks are enormous....We do not learn very much from our disasters."
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