Critique de CHOICE

This book's title refers to mythical dragons that appear in stories as guardians, both benevolent and malevolent, of treasures and knowledge. Witten (Univ. of Waikato, New Zealand), Gori (Univ. of Siena, Italy), and Numerico (Univ. of Rome 3) posit that search engines are the dragons of today and it is in one's best interest to understand them. They provides a broad overview of the social issues surrounding search engine technology, starting with a brief history of the philosophy of knowledge, moving through a history of the Internet and current trends in the information sciences, and ending with predictions and suggestions on where we will go next. It is not a resource on how search engines work, but rather what ideas and ideals have been realized in the development of search engines, the political and human challenges they face, and problems and opportunities they present to humans and to the nature of knowledge and information. The book is written in a clear, simple fashion, making it accessible to all readers. The broad swath it cuts, however, does not detract from its use as an academic course resource. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels. P. L. Kantor University of Advancing Technology