http://www.alibris.com) promotes itself with the slogan, "Books You Thought You'd Never Find," and offers links to thousands of booksellers, as well as its own offerings. The Web site also provides search functions, and if those fail, a Book Finder service that will look around for you.">

Cyberia

By DAVE GUSSOW

© St. Petersburg Times, published November 26, 2000

GOLDIE OLDIES: Alibris may not replace the joy of sifting through shelves and tables for rare and used books at hole-in-the-wall bookstores, but it may make finding the books easier. The Web site (http://www.alibris.com) promotes itself with the slogan, "Books You Thought You'd Never Find," and offers links to thousands of booksellers, as well as its own offerings. The Web site also provides search functions, and if those fail, a Book Finder service that will look around for you.

FREE IS A FOUR-LETTER WORD: Just for fun, I typed in the word "free" in an Internet search engine, and it came up with more than 80-million hits. Clearly, free is popular. Judy Heim and Gloria Hansen have written a book series of Free Stuff on the Internet (C&T Publishing, www.ctpub.com, $16.95), with topics ranging from gardening to collectors to sewing. The books have tips about using the Web effectively, list discussion groups for the topics and give other advice.

WIRED KIDS: If you're not keen about the idea of turning your child loose on the Web without supervision, Golden Books can help. It has produced a series of books and a Web site (http://www.finditquick.com) that leads kids to entertainment and education topics that it has checked out as family friendly and fun. Topics for the books ($6.99 each) range from extreme sports to music to dinosaurs.

CRIME STORIES: The Net has its share of everyday brushes with crime, from financial fraud to theft to high-tech sabotage. Tangled Web: Tales of Digital Crime from the Shadows of Cyberspace (Que Publishing, $25) by Richard Power explores more than a dozen cases and what Power calls the "Digital Shadow" on the Internet. Power is the editorial director for the Computer Security Institute.

50 FOR DANIELLE: Bestselling author Danielle Steel released her 50th novel in October. She has sold more than 400-million books. And, naturally, she's on the Net. Fans can check out her Web site at http://www.randomhouse.com/features/steel/.It includes letters she writes to her fans, news and lists about her books, a scrapbook and photos, and links to an interview with the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill and testimony she gave to a U.S. Senate subcommittee about suicide awareness and prevention.

- Dave Gussow is the Times personal technology editor.

http://www.alibris.com) promotes itself with the slogan, "Books You Thought You'd Never Find," and offers links to thousands of booksellers, as well as its own offerings. The Web site also provides search functions, and if those fail, a Book Finder service that will look around for you.">

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