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Healthcare Online for Dummies," by Howard and Judi Wolinsky, Hungry Minds, $21.99.

"Dr. Ian Smith's Guide to Medical Websites," by Dr. Ian K. Smith, Random House, $12.95.

As any Web-surfing patient and potential patient knows, the Internet overflows with medical information. Much of it is accurate, clear and reliable, but some is superficial and contradictory and in some cases can be plain wrong.

Or, as the authors of "Healthcare Online for Dummies" put it, "created by dot-con artists who are out to fleece you." How to evaluate the Web sites, and how to find the best and most informative medical resources is daunting. These books make the task easier.

Readers familiar with the "For Dummies" series would undoubtedly choose the Wolinskys' book for its breezy style, cartoons, humorous icons and sample Web pages over Dr. Smith's, a more compact, no- frills, but no less valuable resource.

Each covers essentially the same ground, from Alzheimer's and alternative medicine to women's health issues, and each provides comprehensive indexes and a Top 10 listing of sites.

Dr. Smith, the medical correspondent for NBC's "Today," rates his sites on a 1 to 3 scale (3 representing the highest rating) according to the legitimacy of their sources, ease of navigation, ability to provide personal answers and overall assessment.

DermatologyChannel .net, for example, gets a 3-3-3-3, while Yahoo! Health on Autoimmune Disorders rates a 1-3-1-1. ("It's unclear who is actually providing the original content," Dr. Smith writes of the Yahoo! site, "and consumers would be better served with disclosure.")

The Headache and Migraine Information Site gets a 3-2-2-2, and the comment: "Right off, this site isn't friendly, but it's helpful. Grab a comfy chair because the site is rather slow."

Among Dr. Smith's Top 10 general sites are About.com, "one of the greatest collections of information on diseases and conditions on the Net"; bestdoctors.com; HealthAtoZ.com; a government portal called healthfinder.gov; intelihealth.com, with Harvard Medical School consumer health information tied to the site; and webmd.com, a site divided for different audiences: patients, doctors, physician assistants and health teachers.

"For Dummies" is far broader in scope, going way beyond the diseases with its treatment of how to find "Dr. Right," navigate the health insurance maze, research and buy medicines, research a disease step-by-step and find the best hospital.

The directions for accessing the sites are detailed but clear, perfect for people the authors refer to as intrepid searchers "who love the hunt." For instance, the online medical encyclopedia the authors like the best is Adam at the National Library of Medicine's Medlineplus.com.

Simple steps characteristic of the book provide a wealth of information: open Medlineplus and go to the A to Z index; click the first letter of the name of the disease you are interested in; find the disease and click.

Sections also cover searching for specialists and how to check their certification, how to get a hospital's "report card," how to report Medicare fraud and how to find the best in roots and herbs and hands-on treatments.

The "10 Must-See" health sites cover the well-known, like MayoClinic.com, as well as sites like kidshealth.org, www.goaskalice .Columbia.edu (on health in general), oncolink.upenn.edu (cancer), quitnet.org (to stop smoking) and breastfeeding.com.

The authors also include a "10 Virtual Health Fair Booths" compilation that provides online tests and quizzes created to alert consumers to potential problems and to motivate them to see doctors.

Using these, people can determine how well they are handling stress, and their risk for heart disease, cancer and stroke, among others.

The information in the two books is trustworthy, something that not every health site can boast.

As the Wolinskys write: "Choosing your online health information resource is like choosing your doctor. You wouldn't just go to any doctor, and you may get opinions from several."