Rating:  - Enthralling History of the Internet's Origin
This book gives you the complete story behind the conception and birth of the internet. The story focuses on the work done by BBN to pioneer and develop all of the protocols and designs that are the internet. The book does a good job of laying the foundation of where the state of computing was when these initial developments were being made and what outside social and economic trends effected and encouraged the internet's development. The authors do a very good job of focusing on the personalities, anecdotes and larger issues without getting bogged down in minutiae. At 265 pages, the book is packed and makes for a very quick read. The writing style of Ms. Hafner and Mr. Lyon is outstanding, which greatly increases the quality of the book.
There are some very interesting aspects of the development that are related. I was very interested in the origins of BBN, their background in acoustics, and the zeal with which they pursued the original DARPA contract. Of equal interest was the method in which the teams were managed, and the way that the development was not pursued with large teams and brute force, but rather with smaller teams that were headed by the best possible people and given all of the resources that they needed. The creation of the internet is an awe-inspiring event, and the text offers several subtle management lessons that are too important to be overlooked. The book also does a splendid job of showing some of the theory that was used in the development of the necessary software and how the developers did such a good job of bridging theory and practical engineering development. In this light the book does a much better job discussing theory than two other recent books on the history of the Computer, "Engines of the Mind" by Shurkin and "Computer" by Campbell-Kelly and Aspray. These are just some of the interesting stories told, the whole text is packed cover to cover with similar stories.
I highly recommend this book.
Rating: - Excellent history
This is the history of the Internet, from the beginning. There's not a lot of technical detail, just exposition about the major players and how they went about things. Well worth reading for the reading interested in a deeper understanding of how the Internet got started.
It also clears up the myth about how the Internet was designed to facilitate communications after a nuclear war. It wasn't. So read this book and understand where the myth came from.
Rating: - How it all began -- from those who were there
After reading book after book about technology, it was wonderful to find this gem about the people behind the technology. This fast-paced book brings you into the lives of the developers of the ARPA-net (precursor to the internet), and shares their struggles, ambitions, failures and successes as they develop a bold new way to use computers to share information. Despite knowing where it would lead, I still found myself drawn into the excitement, wondering 'is it going to work?'
Not only is it an exciting read -- I found it invaluable in dispelling tall tales of the internet from those who 'know it all' (I'm sure you work with a few of these people).
Rating: - A Fascinating Story Well Told
In the beginning ....
This book does a terrific job of explaining how it all began. The accidental meetings, the breakthroughs, the mistakes and the luck which all came together to create the Internet -- its all here.
The authors do a great job of including the details that make the Internet human. For example, why is there an '@' in all e-mail addresses? The answers in this book.
If you work in an Internet company, are fascinated by the Internet, or just enjoy a reading a good story, well told, this book is a worthwhile buy.
Rating: - Quite good--fills a need that was there
When I started working at an ISP (Internet Service Provider), I did a lot of reading to bring myself up to speed on a variety of subjects. Whether the book's topic was routing, software, or even AOL, the first three paragraphs were always, "A Brief History of the Internet." Inevitably there was too little information, too general to be of any use.
Well, _Wizards_ does a great job with its subject matter. Pioneering names like Frank Heart, Vint Cerf, and J. C. R. Licklider all come to life. The book does cover some technical ground, but all on a very palatable level. Two things made the book so enjoyable: first, the authors do a good job of describing the brilliance of the Internet's creators. I was amazed that the basic concepts of networking were developed in a day and age when it took entire rooms to house the computing power of today's calculators. Second, the book does a good job not getting bogged down in the details. Instead, Hafner and Lyon concentrate on the people behind the ARPANET's creation, their quirks, collaborations and occasional conflicts; there's a lot of humour captured along the way. This wouldn't be the sole book I'd recommend as a purely technical history of the Internet; however, as a history of the underlying forces that brought the Net into being, such as BBN, the Dept. of Defense, and so many universities, I can't think of another book that's anywhere near as descriptive. Or interesting.
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