Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet by Katie Hafner and Matthew Lyon.
Twenty-five years ago, it didn’t exist. Today, sixty million people worldwide are surfing the Net. Where Wizards Stay Up Late is the exciting story of the pioneers responsible for creating the most talked-about, most influential, and most far-reaching communications breakthrough since the invention of the telephone. In the 1960s, when computers were regarded as mere giant calculators, J.C.R. Licklider at MIT saw them as the ultimate communications devices. With Defense Department funds, a band of visionary computer whizzes he inspired began work on a nationwide, interlocking network of computers. Taking readers behind the scenes, Where Wizards Stay Up Late captures the hard work, genius, and happy accidents of their daring, stunningly successful venture.
This book is a must read for anyone curious about the history of computing, hardware and software hackers, or pretty much anybody with an interest in technology.
The blow by blow account of crazy ideas and sheer determination is documented expertly by Hafner and Lyon.
Doing what many considered to be the impossible, building a network of computers changed human history forever. I, like countless others, use the internet everyday and yet I still marvel at its very existence. Reading this book gave me a greater appreciation for the technology we have become so reliant on.
I cannot recommend this book enough.