At first I was afraid that THE E-MAIL COMPANION was going to be another one of those books describing how to use smileys and telling you not to SHOUT in your e-mail unless you really mean it. It happens to mention those things but tells the reader much more and goes far beyond what I've come to expect from most Internet books. This is not JAIB (Just Another Internet Book).
January 8, 1997
I would describe The E-Mail Companion as being for beginners to intermediate users. If you've never used e-mail this book will get you up and running. If you need to know about the intricacies of sending e-mail between different providers (AOL to CIS to Internet?) the secrets are here. I get over 400 e-mail messages every day on CompuServe and the Internet so I need all the help I can get. I'm no e-mail guru but I have been forced to learn a few advanced techniques like nicknames and filters. THE E-MAIL COMPANION taught me a trick or two, particularly about working with other services. I would have been happy to learn more about how to use filters (that's how I handle 400+ mail messages per day—mention the wrong word and you'll be filtered out to the ozone).
I ended up skimming through the first few chapters dog earing a few pages I wanted to go back to. But when I got to the chapter on mailing lists I slowed down and read it all. The authors get into enough detail to keep your interest up without overwhelming you with arcane, geekish technical details.
If you use the Internet, BITNET, AOL, CompuServe, Prodigy, UUCP, FidoNet, MCI, or whatever you can pick up some interesting tips in THE E-MAIL COMPANION.
