Previously I've reviewed the "Second Life - Official Guide" and rated it 4.5 out of 5. Now, I think it's time that we compare it another one of the few books about Second Life available now. I'm talking about the Unofficial Tourists' Guide to Second Life.
This book isn't as well advertised as the Official Guide (what better promotion you can get than on the SL website? But .. if you look on the various sites that sells books online (like Amazon), you'll find it. Maybe you've already come across it and wondered if you want to buy it? Well, lets find out if it's worth the money.
First of all I'd like to describe the book a bit. As the name suggests, it's a tourists' guide. That means a listing of places-to-see, all categorized and described. Personally I think it has succeeded in this goal very much. It's a very easy read and here and there also very funny. You could call this section the core of the book. But ...
It has more to offer. This book is also a guide in the sense that it tells you something about Second Life. It tells you about the history of it (I think in a better way than the Official Guide) and about its residents. This last section mostly informs you about the various groups and types of people roaming SL and what kind you may encounter. And what would a Guide be without a good glossary? This book has it.
But what are the drawbacks of this book?
I guess they wanted to keep it from being too expensive, so they had to skip on the great graphics of the Official Guide. It has black & white pictures, but it's just to make the book a bit less boring. The pictures aren't really useful to get impressions of the places and items mentioned.
Also, this book doesn't come with a cd-rom, but that is compensated by a site that goes with the book. This site lists the various places mentioned in the book and this list is updated regularly. So if you are reading this book and want to visit the locations, or if you just want to see this list, just surf to www.unofficialsecondlife.com.
However, I think this site in no possible way resembles the quality of the book. To be honest, the site is crap. Set aside the list of locations, this site is very poorly maintained. This mainly shows in missing pictures on the site, bad graphics and the lis being unavailable if you click on the appropriate link. Of course I found out how you can access the list anyway. You can click here to go to the list of locations.
So, all in all, the book is great, but the supporting site is a joke.
Factual info about the book:
Full title: "The unofficial tourists' guide to Second Life" (April 2007)
By: Paul Carr & Graham Pond
Publisher: Boxtree / Pan Macmillan, London, UK
ISBN: 978-0-7522-2646-0
No. of pages: 223
Order at Amazon.com: US$ 9.95 (good buy for this price!), click here to order
My opinion:
Information value for starters: 4.5/5
Information value for advanced residents: 4.5/5
Graphical quality: 3/5
Easy to read: 5/5
Extra's: 2/5 (website)
My personal overall rating: 4 out of 5
Next up:
Well, I don't know. There aren't may books about Second Life available right now, but there are some that'll be published in the next couple of months. When more books will be for sale in the future, I'll do some more reviews, but for now you'll have to do with these 2 reviews. However, if you did buy another book (one that might not be available where I live) and you want to contribute, please do contact me by emailing to dixiebarb@gmail.com or sending me an IM in-world and you can do a review as a freelancer.
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