Each of these books is very different. Our first, Degunking your email, spam, and viruses is much more what you'd expect. It tells you about tools and techniques you can use to protect yourself and "degunk" your email. Our second book, Spam Kings is much more of a journalistic expose on some of the worst purveyors of electronic junk mail. The third book, The Spam Letters is simply weird -- showcasing one man's rather silly fight against those who invaded his email box. And, returning to the world of useful, our fourth book, SpamAssassin is a detailed O'Reilly book about using one of the most ubiquitous server-side spam-fighting tools out there.

Let's get started...

Degunking your email, spam, and viruses
Degunking your email, spam, and viruses, shown in Figure A, wins our award for the most creative book title in this month's library.

FIGURE A

There's a lot of gunk in your email and this book aims to get it out. Click picture for a larger image.

Written by Jeff Duntemann and published by Paraglyph Press, this 334 page book is chock full of tips and techniques for removing the bad from your box. One of the things I like most about this book is that it explains the various types of "gunk" you're bound to find in your in-box and helps you understand the differences between them.

Then, the book helps you understand various strategies for managing your mail and keeping your in-box gunk free. Duntemann shows you some tools you can use, including spam-filters and anti-virus programs. I didn't necessarily agree with all his recommended products (he missed some of my favorites, like the open source SpamBayes), but since he does describe the way you should approach choosing tools, he's given you a good foundation of knowledge.

This book is ideal for a knowledgeable end-user. If you're finding yourself overwhelmed with gunk and junk, and you've got the skills to install and configure some helpful programs, this book will give you a strong understanding of what's happening. If you're a network administrator, this book will give you a light background, but you're better off looking at some serious server-side solutions or our SpamAssassin review later in this article.

Without a doubt, this is one of the best overall books explaining the problem and providing some solutions. We give it a gunk-free 4 out of 5.

OUR RATING: 4 of 5