In the five years that I have been running The Book Report Network, I have been surprised at the scarcity of women running Internet businesses. Many times I have been the only woman to come to the table for a meeting. For all the "equality" of the Internet it's still been one tough road for women to travel. Being a new medium I assumed that this would be different, but I have been at many high-level corporate meetings, seminars, and panels where the numbers of speakers were so skewed male that there actually was criticism from the audience.

As a result, discovering Carlassare's book was a pleasure. Some of the female entrepreneurs profiled I know personally; others I have long admired. Eugenie Diserio from Astronet and Candice Carpenter and Nancy Evans from iVillage were originally funded by AOL's Greenhouse, just like The Book Report Network. It's been interesting to track where we all have gone along the way.

The book is well-organized in sections that discuss portal, content, and community ventures like iVillage, Astronet, and ThirdAge Media; web-based service ventures like NetCreations and EDGAR Online; e-Commerce ventures like Della.com and Sparks.com; and e-Business applications and web technology ventures like Marimba and RightWorks. As the Internet is a global medium, it's great to see two overseas properties as part of the mix.

For each business, there is a profile that includes the Business Model, followed by Top Three Lessons Learned and Key Strategic Take-Aways from each founder. These three sections are chockfull of enough advice to make the book worth a look. There is nothing in this business like the advice from those in the trenches. Over the past years so much valuable advice has come from my peers, as they know the intricacies of building a business where shifts in strategy happen weekly.

Carlassare has managed to take a very diverse group of businesses and tell a great story about them. Each chapter is succinct, and they need not be read in order. After reading the sections of people I know, which proved the credibility of the book to me, I found myself exploring the others in random order.

The volatility of the market has taken its toll on many of these businesses, just as it has on the rest of the dot.com sector. But for having been in the space, these entrepreneurs have a snapshot of the industry unlike any of those still hanging on the outside looking in. In fact, a headhunter called a few weeks ago looking to fill a high-level job and was quick to tell me that they eagerly would entertain a candidate from a failed dot.com, just for his or her experience.

The best part of any conference is hearing the heads of companies talk about what worked --- and what did not. The stories in this book are very upbeat, and I wish there had been one more section --- "the one big mistake I made" or "what I would have done differently." Every entrepreneur has a story like that, and often the best lessons come from those moments.

Carlassare has assembled a terrific appendix of resources, as well as a list of Net Biz Buzzwords that will ensure that even a casual reader will have a better take on the medium once they finish the book. While the advice here is very Internet-related, much of it is applicable to any number of entrepreneurs out there.

Do note that I quibble with the title of this book --- no definition that I found of diva defines who these women are. They are not prima donnas --- this business cannot tolerate an extremely sensitive, vain, or undisciplined person. If anything, these women are more like cowgirls kicking their boots through a lot of muck, often trying to tame some pretty wild horses who buck and toss. Over the years I often have joked that I am going to buy myself a pair of cowboy boots. This is one tough business that absorbs a founder 24/7, and every one of these 20 women knows the risks when you take your eye off the ball. Not one of these women should be taken lightly, and their advice is not to be dismissed.