|
| This book is an attempt to set the record straight concerning the history of the
Internet. There are some misconceptions - primarily that the distributed nature of the Net
was designed to give it redundancy in the event of a nuclear attack. While that certainly
would be an advantage, the designers of the original ARPANET were not so much concerned
about nuclear bombs as they were about simple reliability. Interestingly, almost as soon as the first network of four machines was up, e-mail was generating most of the network traffic. E-mail continues to be one of the strongest benefits of the Net. There are some interesting tales of the trials and tribulations of getting the project started, and insights into the people who were driven to make the system work. Toward the end the book lapses into "then this happened, then this happened..." mode. Still, it's an easy read, and worth the couple of hours to read through it. |
Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet