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Dave Barry in Cyberspace
"RELENTLESSLY FUNNY . . . BARRY SHINES."--People A self-professed computer geek who actually does Windows 95, bestselling humorist Dave Barry takes us on a hilarious hard drive via the information superhighway--and into the very heart of cyberspace, asking the provocative If God had wanted us to be concise, why give us so many fonts?Inside you'll find juicy bytes onHow to Buy and Set Up a Computer; Step Get ValiumNerdstock in the Desert; Bill Gates Is Making Your Computer Come Alive So It Can Attack YouWord How to Press an Enormous Number of Keys Without Ever Actually Writing AnythingSelected Web Sites, including Cursing in Swedish, Deformed Frog Pictures, and The Toilets of Melbourne, AustraliaAnd much, much more!"VERY FUNNY . . . After a day spent staring at a computer monitor, think of the book as a kind of screen saver for your brain."--New York Times Book ReviewFrom the Trade Paperback edition.
224 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1996
44 people are currently reading
372 people want to read
About the author
Dave Barry
151 books2,230 followersDave Barry is a humor writer. For 25 years he was a syndicated columnist whose work appeared in more than 500 newspapers in the United States and abroad. In 1988 he won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. Many people are still trying to figure out how this happened.
Dave has also written many books, virtually none of which contain useful information. Two of his books were used as the basis for the CBS TV sitcom "Dave's World," in which Harry Anderson played a much taller version of Dave.
Dave plays lead guitar in a literary rock band called the Rock Bottom Remainders, whose other members include Stephen King, Amy Tan, Ridley Pearson and Mitch Albom. They are not musically skilled, but they are extremely loud. Dave has also made many TV appearances, including one on the David Letterman show where he proved that it is possible to set fire to a pair of men's underpants with a Barbie doll.
In his spare time, Dave is a candidate for president of the United States. If elected, his highest priority will be to seek the death penalty for whoever is responsible for making Americans install low-flow toilets.
Dave lives in Miami, Florida, with his wife, Michelle, a sportswriter. He has a son, Rob, and a daughter, Sophie, neither of whom thinks he's funny.
Dave has also written many books, virtually none of which contain useful information. Two of his books were used as the basis for the CBS TV sitcom "Dave's World," in which Harry Anderson played a much taller version of Dave.
Dave plays lead guitar in a literary rock band called the Rock Bottom Remainders, whose other members include Stephen King, Amy Tan, Ridley Pearson and Mitch Albom. They are not musically skilled, but they are extremely loud. Dave has also made many TV appearances, including one on the David Letterman show where he proved that it is possible to set fire to a pair of men's underpants with a Barbie doll.
In his spare time, Dave is a candidate for president of the United States. If elected, his highest priority will be to seek the death penalty for whoever is responsible for making Americans install low-flow toilets.
Dave lives in Miami, Florida, with his wife, Michelle, a sportswriter. He has a son, Rob, and a daughter, Sophie, neither of whom thinks he's funny.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 115 reviews
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February 15, 2019
The first 75% is hilarious, but then it degenerates a little. I suppose you could say the book hasn't aged well - it revolves around Windows 95!!!!!!!! - but Barry's humour is timeless.
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July 10, 2008
This is an old book. It is written from the perspective of Windows 95. It's still funny. And he makes it funny for all folks. Or, again, perhaps it's only funny to me because I used to do tech support and I understand him.
For example, the chapter on computer terminology contains;
Hardware: The part of the computer that quits working when you spill beer on it.
Software: These are the programs that you put on the computer hard drive by sticking them through the little slot.
For example, the chapter on computer terminology contains;
Hardware: The part of the computer that quits working when you spill beer on it.
Software: These are the programs that you put on the computer hard drive by sticking them through the little slot.
August 16, 2015
Not my favorite Dave Barry book, but still very very funny. Amazing how he could just substitute "Windows 8" for "Windows 95" and effectively modernize the entire book. My favorite page was definitely the emoticons that he made up and named in typically hilarious fashion.
February 17, 2025
Very witty and funny, great writing in my favorite language of sarcasm!
June 2, 2022
A surprisingly cogent review of early computing. And sadly, Dave’s impression of early internet denizens is pretty accurate to current inhabitants…
September 3, 2022
Not gonna lie, a strange choice for 2022. 4 stars.
January 29, 2013
Okay, so this is not your normal computer book. In fact, take everything you know about computer books and throw it out the window because Dave Barry certainly did. This book is a humorous look at the booming computer age - written back in 1996. Windows 95 was the hot hot hot operating system; AOL was one of the top internet service provider - and you would be ridiculed for being an AOL newb if your ip address ended in aol.com; and the internet was shiny and new.
Humor columist for the Miami Herald, Dave Barry has lent his skewed, sometimes questionable sense of humor to a variety of topics - everything from home renovations to raising children to Binky the Polar Bear in the Anchorage Zoo - and this book is no exception. His satrical view of the computer industry and how much they looooooove to take your money is spot on - without being a complaint, he accurately describes just how quickly the computer market was changing then.
He also delves into the mysterious world of the Internet and the World Wide Web - virtuely unknown frontiers for most people back in 1996. He takes a look at different off-beat websites he researched; internet acronyms and their meanings; and the world of emoticons (like the person who isn't happy to be giving birth to a squirrel). And, because it wouldn't be Dave Barry without him touching upon, he also takes you into the world of a fictional cyber-relationship - complete with all of the emotion and insanity you feel when caught up in one of those.
I highly recommend this book to everyone - even if you're not a big computer geek. It's a funny look at an everyday object you probably don't even give much thought about until it is broken (like HARDWARE being the part of the computer that doesn't work after you spill beer on it.)
This is a great book!
Humor columist for the Miami Herald, Dave Barry has lent his skewed, sometimes questionable sense of humor to a variety of topics - everything from home renovations to raising children to Binky the Polar Bear in the Anchorage Zoo - and this book is no exception. His satrical view of the computer industry and how much they looooooove to take your money is spot on - without being a complaint, he accurately describes just how quickly the computer market was changing then.
He also delves into the mysterious world of the Internet and the World Wide Web - virtuely unknown frontiers for most people back in 1996. He takes a look at different off-beat websites he researched; internet acronyms and their meanings; and the world of emoticons (like the person who isn't happy to be giving birth to a squirrel). And, because it wouldn't be Dave Barry without him touching upon, he also takes you into the world of a fictional cyber-relationship - complete with all of the emotion and insanity you feel when caught up in one of those.
I highly recommend this book to everyone - even if you're not a big computer geek. It's a funny look at an everyday object you probably don't even give much thought about until it is broken (like HARDWARE being the part of the computer that doesn't work after you spill beer on it.)
This is a great book!
February 2, 2020
I first read parts of this book a couple of years after it came out (I think I was around 12), because several excerpts (the chapter “How Computers Work” and I think some other parts) were used as training texts for an old version of Dragon dictation software that my parents had, and we thought I could use the software too (I have cerebral palsy, and especially as a young kid I had a hard time typing) so I tried to do the training. I never was able to actually use the software, mostly because old dictation software was terrible at recognizing kids’ voices, but also because I was laughing so much from how funny this book was that I kept messing up the training. I read Barry’s new book (LESSONS FROM LUCY, which I highly recommend) around Christmas and was reminded of this, so I decided to look for it at the library.
I really enjoyed the first 60% or so of this book, because I remembered reading it or because I remember using or being familiar with the aspects of computer culture that it talks about, such as old versions of Windows, Bill Gates, etc. The rest of the book, though, is much more focused on the Internet, which I was not as active on at the time (we didn’t have internet access as soon as we had a computer, and even when we did my parents strictly limited my use), so most of the internet-specific jokes (about emoticons, chatting, etc.) were lost on me. Also, a fairly large chunk of this section consisted not of Barry’s jokes or observations, but of a list of funny or interesting websites (with descriptions, but none of them are that funny) that don’t exist anymore. So this wouldn’t age well even for people older than me who did a lot of net surfing back in the day. So overall this was fun to revisit but certainly not my favorite Barry book.
I really enjoyed the first 60% or so of this book, because I remembered reading it or because I remember using or being familiar with the aspects of computer culture that it talks about, such as old versions of Windows, Bill Gates, etc. The rest of the book, though, is much more focused on the Internet, which I was not as active on at the time (we didn’t have internet access as soon as we had a computer, and even when we did my parents strictly limited my use), so most of the internet-specific jokes (about emoticons, chatting, etc.) were lost on me. Also, a fairly large chunk of this section consisted not of Barry’s jokes or observations, but of a list of funny or interesting websites (with descriptions, but none of them are that funny) that don’t exist anymore. So this wouldn’t age well even for people older than me who did a lot of net surfing back in the day. So overall this was fun to revisit but certainly not my favorite Barry book.
September 5, 2007
Picked up Dave Barry in Cyberspace over the weekend at the used bookstore for Scott - ended up skimming thru it myself.
Written in 1996, a good chunk of the material is a bit dated -- Microsoft's latest & greatest was Windows 95, the Internet and chat rooms were just starting to take off and COMDEX was still more or less the refuge of nerds, such as Mr. Barry. I didn't realize he had such a long history of being frustrated with computers!
However, much of it is still applicable. His step-by-step instructions on how to buy a PC holds true in many cases, and the Internet romance between MsPtato and RayAdverb is surprisingly touching. The humor is typical Barry, with the addition of computer geekiness. The list of bizarre websites is mostly outdated - but a few of the sites (remember Mr. T Ate My Balls?) live on in the Wayback Machine or on Geocities.
Recommended to those of us who have been floating around on the 'Net for a decade or longer - try to find it used or at the library.
Written in 1996, a good chunk of the material is a bit dated -- Microsoft's latest & greatest was Windows 95, the Internet and chat rooms were just starting to take off and COMDEX was still more or less the refuge of nerds, such as Mr. Barry. I didn't realize he had such a long history of being frustrated with computers!
However, much of it is still applicable. His step-by-step instructions on how to buy a PC holds true in many cases, and the Internet romance between MsPtato and RayAdverb is surprisingly touching. The humor is typical Barry, with the addition of computer geekiness. The list of bizarre websites is mostly outdated - but a few of the sites (remember Mr. T Ate My Balls?) live on in the Wayback Machine or on Geocities.
Recommended to those of us who have been floating around on the 'Net for a decade or longer - try to find it used or at the library.
October 12, 2010
Although dated, as Dave Barry himself predicted, this book recalls some of the more delightful problems with buying, installing, choosing software, and getting on the internet in the early days. The humor is definitely LOL, which I did, much to my embarrassment, while reading it in public spots. I kept wanting to excuse myself by announcing, "Well, it's Dave Barry. What do you expect?" I am definitely going to have to do some internet research to see how many of the sites mentioned still exist, if they ever did. Being a computer programmer myself, I was often asked by friends to take a look at their computers to see what they had done wrong. I still cannot understand how they could mass delete files but hey, I wasn't there when they did it. But sure enough, the files they said they once had were gone. I can count on one hand the number of times I was actually able to help fix a problem but I cannot count the number of problems I was unable to reproduce. Part of the fun of the computer generation!
June 6, 2019
From Dave Barry you expect books that make you laugh out loud. This one won't disappoint you. The computers he uses are obviously older than the ones we're using now; for some that may make DB's account of using them even funnier.
I want to know in which typefont he got the squirrels. I've used several computers that had Word, and none of them, so far as I ever learned, had a squirrel image, even in Zapf Dingbats.
I knocked off a star (would've preferred to knock off only half a star) because I did not like the cyber-romance of "rayadverb" in the last chapter. I don't like that Internet chat has provoked real people to abandon real spouses and children in favor of someone whose online chat they find more novel. Maybe I like that DB admitted what sort of thing was going on in his life around the time he wrote this book, rather than trying to lead his fans to believe the mother of his son defected to Cuba or went insane, but I'm just too auntly to like that that sort of thing goes on--in cyberspace, or anywhere else.
I want to know in which typefont he got the squirrels. I've used several computers that had Word, and none of them, so far as I ever learned, had a squirrel image, even in Zapf Dingbats.
I knocked off a star (would've preferred to knock off only half a star) because I did not like the cyber-romance of "rayadverb" in the last chapter. I don't like that Internet chat has provoked real people to abandon real spouses and children in favor of someone whose online chat they find more novel. Maybe I like that DB admitted what sort of thing was going on in his life around the time he wrote this book, rather than trying to lead his fans to believe the mother of his son defected to Cuba or went insane, but I'm just too auntly to like that that sort of thing goes on--in cyberspace, or anywhere else.
October 14, 2014
I constantly smiled through funny man Dave Barry's trademark hyperbole and comic exaggerations of the complexity and futility of computers as well as the Internet. Some of the passages even made me laugh out loud. And Dave Barry's style is so light-hearted that I finished the book in a single day which is not something that I do very frequently.
But what really stood out for me in this book, what made me bump up the rating of this book from 'good' to 'very good,' was an unexpectedly moving, heart-warming short story disguised as just another chapter in this book called 'MsPtato and RayAdverb - A Story of Love On-Line.'
Ruefully funny, painfully realistic, and disturbingly plausible, this is the story of a middle-aged housewife, a mother of three, with a stable and loving family, who falls in love with a total stranger in an online chat-room. The book is worth reading just for this poignant piece alone. Good work, Mr. Barry.
But what really stood out for me in this book, what made me bump up the rating of this book from 'good' to 'very good,' was an unexpectedly moving, heart-warming short story disguised as just another chapter in this book called 'MsPtato and RayAdverb - A Story of Love On-Line.'
Ruefully funny, painfully realistic, and disturbingly plausible, this is the story of a middle-aged housewife, a mother of three, with a stable and loving family, who falls in love with a total stranger in an online chat-room. The book is worth reading just for this poignant piece alone. Good work, Mr. Barry.
July 12, 2009
Don't mistake Dave Barry as someone who is only funny. He can be quite thought-provoking when he forgets himself. I found this book lying around a relative's house and gave it a look-see. I was belly-laughing by page two and couldn't put the book down. This is a fairly quick, light read. But since it's a book, not just a series of essays, Mr. Barry is able to expand into things like subplot and visual aids.
Mr. Barry also crafts a story arc involving a Web-novice mother who finds herself inadvertantly drawn deep into online culture. It's a great story.
You'll laugh. I don't think you'll cry. But this book will become a part of you. Are we the servants or the masters of technology? I don't know any more. Still, I'm up for any excuse to chuckle at how strung out we have become on computers in general, and the internet in particular.
Mr. Barry also crafts a story arc involving a Web-novice mother who finds herself inadvertantly drawn deep into online culture. It's a great story.
You'll laugh. I don't think you'll cry. But this book will become a part of you. Are we the servants or the masters of technology? I don't know any more. Still, I'm up for any excuse to chuckle at how strung out we have become on computers in general, and the internet in particular.
January 4, 2021
(Audiobook) Don't know if this one of his best works, but it was amusing to see his take on cyberspace and how he navigated computer technology even back in the late 1990s/early 2000s. Some aspects are still quite amusing and humorous. However, it would not register quite as much with a younger crowd. Still, an amusing audiobook that can help you escape or laugh, especially when facing various cyber issues that plague folks here in 2021.
April 4, 2021
I think I read this book when I was 10, and man this nostalgia and timing is so on point. Realized how much I love his humor and will likely be tearing through his catalog in the near future.
The e-romance tale towards the end has far less poignance than I remember, but for the rest of the book, the account of computing and The Internet in 1996 is just continuous hilarity.
The e-romance tale towards the end has far less poignance than I remember, but for the rest of the book, the account of computing and The Internet in 1996 is just continuous hilarity.
September 15, 2019
An older book (mid 90's), and most of the technology in it is long out dated. However the way we relate to our computers and devices hasn't changed all that much, and Dave Barry finds the humor in the way we do it. A quick, fun read.
December 26, 2020
Dave Barry has a book that is funny as when it was produced 24 years ago. That's a amazing thing, especially when he's making fun about the cyberspace world of 2020. By the way, I hope we can do a book about 2020.
November 21, 2016
Gets weird
February 23, 2017
Ahhh memories. Very funny look at past technology (current technology at the time the book was written).
August 24, 2017
Most of the things covered in this are still pretty true.
July 13, 2018
This book is outdated in the most fun sort of way. I’d recommend it to anyone who was around when the internet was first becoming a thing.
November 27, 2018
Very Dave Barry. He pretty accurately captures what computers were like at the beginning of the Web. I especially liked the chat room story at the end.
March 17, 2022
My coworkers came over to see what I was giggling about (read audio version).
January 19, 2020
The funniest thing about this book is that it was written around 1995. Big difference compared to today.
March 22, 2020
Still crazy and funny after all these years.
Very funny and relevant even if the book was written almost 25 years ago. Its amazing how much computers have changed.
Very funny and relevant even if the book was written almost 25 years ago. Its amazing how much computers have changed.
November 13, 2020
Dated, but still humorous.
April 2, 2021
It's quite novel reading this in 2021.
Read
April 10, 2023***See bottom for Links***
I guess after willingly reading three books by him, I have to admit it: I am a Dave Barry fan.
And perennial bathroom read favorite Dave Barry has done it again, sending me into stitches on the john over and over again- or LOLing, to use a term I learned in this book.
From the glory days of computing, when you actually had to sort of know what you were doing and how the things worked. Especially interesting was an expose on a cyberporn convention that ran concurrently with a more mainstream computer convention in Las Vegas. The bizarre Internet links chapter was also a gem- I used to use the exploding whale as an example of a bad solution making in a technical writing class I taught.
Less good? The Instant Message romance novella that takes up the last 40 pages of the book. Barry's fictional portrayal of a lonely middle-aged mom is cringe-worthy and straight out of the very worst Lifetime movie.
***LINK$***
I used the wayback machine to look up some of the websites Barry mentions in Ch. 11. Some stie are still in operation, like "Viola jokes." I didn't look them all up and maybe some I didn't find because of typos. You can find "ate my balls" sites easy enough on your own.
https://web.archive.org/web/202002041...
https://web.archive.org/web/199902090...
https://web.archive.org/web/199812030...
https://web.archive.org/web/199812051...
https://web.archive.org/web/199707130...
https://web.archive.org/web/199901170...
https://web.archive.org/web/199902090...
And here's a wikipedia article on the Trojan room coffee pot: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_...
I guess after willingly reading three books by him, I have to admit it: I am a Dave Barry fan.
And perennial bathroom read favorite Dave Barry has done it again, sending me into stitches on the john over and over again- or LOLing, to use a term I learned in this book.
From the glory days of computing, when you actually had to sort of know what you were doing and how the things worked. Especially interesting was an expose on a cyberporn convention that ran concurrently with a more mainstream computer convention in Las Vegas. The bizarre Internet links chapter was also a gem- I used to use the exploding whale as an example of a bad solution making in a technical writing class I taught.
Less good? The Instant Message romance novella that takes up the last 40 pages of the book. Barry's fictional portrayal of a lonely middle-aged mom is cringe-worthy and straight out of the very worst Lifetime movie.
***LINK$***
I used the wayback machine to look up some of the websites Barry mentions in Ch. 11. Some stie are still in operation, like "Viola jokes." I didn't look them all up and maybe some I didn't find because of typos. You can find "ate my balls" sites easy enough on your own.
https://web.archive.org/web/202002041...
https://web.archive.org/web/199902090...
https://web.archive.org/web/199812030...
https://web.archive.org/web/199812051...
https://web.archive.org/web/199707130...
https://web.archive.org/web/199901170...
https://web.archive.org/web/199902090...
And here's a wikipedia article on the Trojan room coffee pot: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_...
November 22, 2018
Whenever I've picked up a Dave Barry book, I've always been surprised. You never know what to expect with Dave Barry, and it usually works in his favour. This book was no exception. But unlike all the other books of his that I've read, this is surprisingly disappointing.
Since it was written in the 90s, when Windows 95 promised to be the greatest thing since sliced bread, the material certainly feels dated. But it still felt promising given the plethora of hardware problems and internet infancy for those times. Even then, Barry's humour seemed very laboured, to the point of becoming plain weird. Clearly the book was merely meant to be an outlet to his tech frustrations.
But the book has its moments. His step-by-step instructions are a good parody of all the thick tomes that came along with your assembled PCs. There are some occasional moments of rib-tickling humour, but it's quite an effort for the reader before he arrives at those laughs.
Dave Barry in Cyberspace is only recommended if you've never read Dave Barry before. Otherwise it'll fall woefully short of your expectations.
Since it was written in the 90s, when Windows 95 promised to be the greatest thing since sliced bread, the material certainly feels dated. But it still felt promising given the plethora of hardware problems and internet infancy for those times. Even then, Barry's humour seemed very laboured, to the point of becoming plain weird. Clearly the book was merely meant to be an outlet to his tech frustrations.
But the book has its moments. His step-by-step instructions are a good parody of all the thick tomes that came along with your assembled PCs. There are some occasional moments of rib-tickling humour, but it's quite an effort for the reader before he arrives at those laughs.
Dave Barry in Cyberspace is only recommended if you've never read Dave Barry before. Otherwise it'll fall woefully short of your expectations.
March 10, 2025
Yeah... no. I love Dave Barry but this did nothing for me. I think I saw another reviewer say that it deteriorated toward the end and I agree.
The book is somewhat dated like Windows 95 is dated, but the basic principles are the same. We all have the same problems with a "full-featured" [new-computer-program] that we think will save us time and effort, but takes a lot more time and effort to make it work. We also wonder if we need a new computer and beat ourselves up when we learn that we could have bought twice the computer power at half the price if only we are waited... oh... 20 seconds after we bring the computer home.
That was all still funny.
It sort of died when he got into examples of what you can do with the Internet. It often became sexual in nature. Although he managed to not become overtly vulgar, it was gross in places. Adultery was also suggested.
So... I doubt I will be reading/listening to this book again. I still love Dave Barry, though. (Don't tell my wife. :-) )
The book is somewhat dated like Windows 95 is dated, but the basic principles are the same. We all have the same problems with a "full-featured" [new-computer-program] that we think will save us time and effort, but takes a lot more time and effort to make it work. We also wonder if we need a new computer and beat ourselves up when we learn that we could have bought twice the computer power at half the price if only we are waited... oh... 20 seconds after we bring the computer home.
That was all still funny.
It sort of died when he got into examples of what you can do with the Internet. It often became sexual in nature. Although he managed to not become overtly vulgar, it was gross in places. Adultery was also suggested.
So... I doubt I will be reading/listening to this book again. I still love Dave Barry, though. (Don't tell my wife. :-) )
Displaying 1 - 30 of 115 reviews