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Unlike some other authors of books on Second Life, Freedman is neither an acolyte nor an attacker–but rather is a dispassionate professional who’s seen how this social network has impacted his own industry: real estate. (Freedman is a senior editor at Realtor magazine.)

That doesn’t prevent him from bringing a strong, valuable point of view to his account, however. The view is that serious corporate readers seeking more than “game-playing” from a social networking site can find real profit or other promotional advantage from Second Life if they act intelligently. In a way, following Freedman is like having the friendly guidance of your kids in some newfangled electronic world–except that he’s a trained professional observer who is dedicated only to the reader’s wellfare.

He accomplishes wonders by starting with the basics–explaining why people, and companies, use Second Life, in a way that the uninitiated, like me, can get quickly and easily. He then gives eight simple, invaluable rules for using Second Life without becoming either sick of it, or a “convert.” But the greatest virtue of this book is that it approaches the business reader on his or her own terms, with information about currency, real estate and banking on the site. He then takes the reader through test models for making real money, and exposing a real-world company to profitable opportunities in Second Life.

It’s nice to have a “guide” who thinks like you do.

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What the book doesn’t do is explain technical details such as how to move your avatar around or create a bank account. But I’m sure there are plenty of other books about that.

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There is a lot to learn in this book, most of which was new to me. I plan to go through it again, but this time I will make notes and do everything that he teaches. I want to own land, but I don’t want to pay for it. This book has shown me how to get others to pay for land, my yearly membership fee, and have lots of fun also!

If you are thinking about starting an SL business, you should read this book. I liked it so much that I bought it a second time as a gift for my SL girlfriend. She is halfway through it and I can tell she wants to get started on a business also.

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But the main message is that Second Life is quite unlike most massive multiplayer games. It’s not the place for twitch combat. Instead, Second Life lets you and many others explore a fantastical social environment. Where you can heavily customise your persona.

Starting with choosing a gender. The book shows that a nontrivial percentage of gamers choose the opposite sex for their characters. It also discusses the etiquette of whether you tell others that you are doing this. Since in general, unless you do so, there is no way they can ascertain. These gender benders are one way that Second Life has been used by people to experiment with alternate gender roles, in a manner highly unlikely in real life, if they cannot realistically cross-dress.

There is much more available, as the book relates. You can construct buildings, to make an environment conducive to your persona. More generally, you can make other objects. Also, you can perform activities from which to derive real dollars. Hard work, as the book advises. But unlike some other gaming environments, Second Life explicitly lets you garner some real income if you so desire. This monetary interaction with the real world is a compelling and addictive feature to some players.

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The book did have a few useful links and locations, and a fairly detailed history of Second Life that I was previously unaware of. The book was also well constructed and had full color throughout.

If you want technical information and tutorials, skip this book. If you want pretty pictures, player interviews, and a list of places to explore; you’ll enjoy it.

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I’m happy to be a reasonably early technology adopter and I usually practice the “jump in and try it” mode. For example, I figured out my blog in 2004 without any guidance. But as I was thinking about Second Life as a brand new resident a few months ago, I was sort of feeling like this isn’t a new technology metaphor, it’s a travel metaphor. Second Life is a new place that needs to be learned more than it is a new technology that needs to be learned.

I’ve traveled the world a great deal. For example, I lived in Japan for six years and Hong Kong for two as Asia Marketing Director for a big American company. My entire career has been as an internationalist. I’ve visited some 40 or 50 countries on business or pleasure and logged several million air miles. Before departing for somewhere like Bombay or Bangkok or Brussels, I always purchase a travel guide and read it on the plane. I just like knowing the basics like what’s a funky old restaurant to try, how to hail a cab, and how much to tip (or not).

What Second Life: The Official Guide does is act as your travel guide to a new place. The authors got that right. Thanks! Just like a great Frommer’s travel guide, the book is chock full of places to go, people to see, etiquette, currency exchange, what to wear, and more. In fact, the publisher, Wiley, could do a version of this book as an actual Frommer’s guide, to complement the Sybex computer book imprint that Second Life: The Official Guide is published with. Wouldn’t that be cool!?

Yes, there is also a boatload of stuff for Second Life experts including details on the Second Life scripting language. This stuff is beyond me but if it is as well written as the parts that I devoured, than even long time residents will get a great deal of practical information from the book. Several of the authors work at Linden Labs, the company behind Second Life so it must be accurate.

Thanks for doing this book, guys. It is important.

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Mark Wallace’s, Chapter 3: The Grand Tour is fantastic. Before the book arrived I spent hours with a friend yesterday talking about Second Life. He had an account, had logged in, more or less understood what it was but didn’t know where to find cool things. This chapter covers that turf. New and seasoned residents both will find a lot of value in this chapter. It covers everything from The Shelter and Anwr Oil Rig to Something Awful and Gor. I’ll be spending a few hours going back through these places which I’ve toured in the past. This chapter alone makes this a worthy gift for someone you want to become a Second Lifer.

Cory Ondrejka’s LSL chapter is also great. This is the well written, professional introduction to LSL that was sorely needed. Non-programmers will find the examples a great place to start and programmers will be welcomed with the standard sections like “What are types?” that they are used to from other languages.

There is certainly a fair bit of nostalgia for us oldbies. Hamlet has a chapter profiling a number of residents and provides a history lesson in another. The history lesson is a must read for new residents and a stroll down memory lane for the rest of us.

Finally, Wallace closes the book out with a step towards 3PointD.

If you know someone new to Second Life, want to encourage someone to log in in 2007, or otherwise love all things Second Life, you should pick up this book!

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There is very little How TO info in the book if you are not planning to create objects and try to make money in the sim. If you are just a visitor who wants a pleasant time sightseeing and chatting with others, then this book will disappoint.

A large part of the book is a tribute to selected SL residents who have made money in the sim. Nice for them, but who else cares?

Another chapter describes interesting specific locations in SL. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the sites are obsolete and gone.

Even if you are interested in learning scripting language to try to sell products in SL, there have got to be better instructional manuals out there than this.

When I had real HowTo questions, the answer was rarely found in the book.

I truly felt I had wasted my money in purchasing this book. You can learn as much useful info at the initial Help Islands and inworld tutorials once you enter SL.

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All the best,

William F Zachmann, President and CEO, Canopus Research Inc.; Senior Analyst, Enterprise Social Networking, Wainhouse Research; a.k.a. Arifi Saeed, Research Director, SL, Canopus Research Inc.

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BUY this BOOK!

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The content of the book itself starts with a decent introduction to the LSL scripting language. It gives seasoned programmers the information they need to get started and yet at the same time provides detailed explanations of the syntax for beginners to begin to understand.

The book goes on to cover many various examples with detailed explanations, achieving what I feel is a nice balance with the amount of example code to theory. To take one chapter as an example, it explains the settings of vehicle parameters, handling input controls from the user and setting the position and rotation of the viewer’s camera plus example code to get started with. It is enough to get going on scripting a vehicle in LSL. Advancements in this area would come from experimentation by the LSL scripter herself and by reading the book’s tabulated explanations of all the vehicle parameters and functions. The side notes in this chapter include a useful time-saving warning when combining two of the mechanisms for moving objects and also a note on other scripts to look out for in world and even a link to a wiki that hosts complete sailboat scripts.

What I particularly enjoyed about the book was discovering how others have used LSL scripting. I’d fully expect this book to inspire the LSL scripter into creating something that they may not have tried without having had the book to explain the workflow to them.

Overall, a very respectable and professional book. I’m very pleased with the copy I have.