The Internet is one of the greatest human creatioins of all time,
and yet for most of us it appeared overnight. As with all great
constructions, many years of work went into its development. What
makes the Internet unique is that there was no master plan, or even
a simple vision. It started out as a basic connection between two
computers and has evolved into the World Wide Web. Naughton, a
Senior Lecturer at the Open University, has set out to document and
preserve the history of the first few years of the Internet. He
gives credit to the people who deserve it: far-sighted prophets
such as Joseph Licklider, Robert Taylor, Douglas Engelbart, Norbet
Wiener, Vannevar Bush and Ted Nelson; as well as the technologists
and engineers who made it happen: Paul Baran, Donald Davies, Larry
Roberts, Bob Kahn, Vint Cerf and Tim Berners-Lee. By its very
nature this is a technological book, but it is not necessary to be
a technologist to read it. The title alludes to Stephen Hawking's A
Brief History of Time and, like that book, this presents a very
readable offering on a very involved subject. Every chapter has
intriguing anecdotes and Naughton's insights into the thinking
behind the technology are fascinating. He is very concerned aboaut
the negative view of the Internet put forward by a sensationalist
press and is concerned that the real facts are well documented, so
that we do not have to wait 50 years before we all realize what an
incredible achievement the Internet is. (Kirkus UK)
The only book that tells the whole story of the internet from its
origins in the 1940s to the advent of the worldwide web at the dawn
of the 21st century The Internet is the most remarkable thing human
beings have built since the Pyramids. John Naughton's book
intersperses wonderful personal stories with an authoritative
account of where the Net actually came from, who invented it and
why, and where it might be taking us. Most of us have no idea of
how the Internet works or who created it. Even fewer have any idea
of what it means for society and the future. In a cynical age, John
Naughton has not lost his capacity for wonder. He examines the
nature of his own enthusiasm for technology and traces its roots in
his lonely childhood and in his relationship with his father. A
Brief History of the Future is an intensely personal celebration of
vision and altruism, ingenuity and determination and above all, of
the power of ideas, passionately felt, to change the world.
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