Nerds 2.0.1

Rating:
Summary: Very good history of computing
Review: As noted in previous reviews, the book covers American computer/networking history moreso than the Internet proper. I found the origins of ARPA and the major companies to be fascinating. Certainly the author doesn't go into technical detail into protocols and such, no moreso than a WWII history book has to teach the subject of military strategy. The best thing about the book was the lighthearted style, that did a good job of showing these industry heavyweights as real people.

Rating:
Summary: Better suited to those who saw the series
Review: I am a little more than halfway through this book, and having missed the PBS series, I feel I'm at a slight disadvantage. My instinct tells me that this plays far better as a companion to the series rather than on its own. I would also suggest that an alternate subtitle should be "A Brief Oral History of the Internet," because the narrative excels with its treatment of the people involved and their stories. The author is less adept in his breathless technical language and descriptions that will confuse the layman and infuriate the expert.

As a side note, Segaller's many errors regarding simple facts of the U.S. space program did not inspire my confidence in his investigative abilities, especially since Segaller ties the subject together with the very beginnings of ARPAnet.

Additionally, this book is "obsolete" because Segaller uses contemporary analogies to illustrate the significance of the history (he uses dangerous words such as 'now' and 'present,' which automatically date any history book). Nevertheless, I would not want to attempt a history of the Internet, and it is for his daunting task that Segaller deserves recognition.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent view of the (brief) history of Internet
Review: I love history (Internet/Computer especially) this book present many of the little things that we are not aware of or not many people know since the ARPAnet til' Cisco and Microsoft. An excellent book!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent computing and networking primer for lay readers
Review: Lay readers who really don't understand how they are able to log on to their computers and read this review will benefit greatly from this useful and lucid introduction to the origins and development of personal computing and the Internet. A companion to a PBS series (which I did not see), this "oral history" of the Internet begins with the Pentagon-funded origins of networking, describes the advent of PCs, and ends with the giddy stock market created by venture capitalists and IPOs.

Like the seminal "Where Wizards Stay Up Late," this books debunks the myth that the Internet was created by the Pentagon in order to create a communications network that could survive a nuclear war. (Like most legends, this one has a basis in fact: Paul Baran at the Rand Corporation in the early 1960s proposed the theoretical underpinnings for a creation of such a network, but nothing much came of it.) Since this fiction remains so prevalent, it's worth recapping what really happened. In 1968-69, a division of the Pentagon offered grants to a loose consortium of University-based computer centers to develop network protocols--primarily as a method of saving money, since the government was spending a fortune buying mainframe computers for reseach projects at each university. The first nodes of ARPAnet, which became a linchpin for the development of the Internet, were the mainframes at UCLA, Stanford, UC Santa Barbara, and the University of Utah--hardly the center of the military's defense network. Moreover, the protocols, hardware, and software developed for the network were the common property of the academic community and were never "top secret."

The books also succeeds when recording the voices of the major players in the development of computers, networking, and the Internet: Marc Andreessen, Steve Ballmer, Tim Berners-Lee, Stewart Brand (the ur-tech-hippie), Vint Cerf, Doug Engelbart, and dozens more--they're all here. Regular readers of "Dr. Dobbs Journal" or even CNet won't find much technical information here they don't already know, but that's not the point, Instead, Segaller captures the excitement and passion experienced by those in the middle of it all. Nevertheless, readers who are not tech-savvy will gain a basic understanding of how it all came about--and how it all works.

Written in 1998, when the capitalization of Web-related businesses was at its most irrational, the book is surprisingly level-headed in its analysis of contemporary trends. Segaller has the foresight to admit that it's too early to tell if many of the newly formed dot.coms would even survive the next five years. (The focus of an entire chapter, Excite--later merged into Excite@Home--is one of the more spectacular flameouts.) The book has some unintentionally comic moments quoting programmers and venture capitalists who were so confident they had recreated the world economy that they seemed to believe they were immune from its cyclical pressures. Yet, regardless of the short-term economic prognosis, there's no doubt that the nerds interviewed for this book are responsible for the dawn of a uniquely transformed era in human communications.

Rating:
Summary: Insightful look at the 'Net's history
Review: Several years ago, I knew a man named Larry Roberts and knew he had played a mjor role in the formation of the ARPANET but until reading this book, I had no idea how big a role he did indeed play! Mr. Segaller has written a fascinating book (which goes along with the PBS series) documenting the history of what is now called the Internet.

In addition to the formation of the 'Net, it's also fascinating to trace the rise of many technologies and companies we now take for granted. Items like packet-switching, TCP/IP, Ethernet, as well as companies like Apple, 3Com, Sun, and Cisco to name a few. I found it interesting as well how the 'Net and these various companies worked in a kind of "tandem" to produce the technology we know today. Also fascinating was reading about the visionaries who saw this all coming back in the 1970s.

While Steven readily admits his book is probably already obsolete (given the 'Net's constantly changing state and with one update out already), this book is still an excellent historical look at one of the most amazing sociological phenomenons of our time.

Rating:
Summary: get the video, too
Review: This is the companion book to the PBS video "Nerds 2.0.1" (which is the sequel video to "Triumph of the Nerds"). The book is a nice resource and provides a useful general overview of the history of the internet. I would highly recommend getting the video also - the personalities come alive. Other histories of the internet I would recommend include "Architects of the Web," "How the Web was Won," and "Weaving the Web."

Rating:
Summary: get the video, too
Review: This is the companion book to the PBS video "Nerds 2.0.1" (which is the sequel video to "Triumph of the Nerds"). The book is a nice resource and provides a useful general overview of the history of the internet. I would highly recommend getting the video also - the personalities come alive. Other histories of the internet I would recommend include "Architects of the Web," "How the Web was Won," and "Weaving the Web."

Rating:
Summary: Right from the hip - a favorable preview
Review: You might think that after working with computers and networks for nearly two decades I might have encountered a similar published history somewhere along the way, but I had to wait this long to finally satisfy my curiosity about many matters related to the Internet.

On another note, you know that you're growing old when such an eventful volume covers your life's exact timeline, and when you've watched over half the volume's events unfold before you in the workplace.

Stephen Segaller deserves credit for compiling an exhaustive background of four decades of Internet-related activity, including the major and minor players, their opinions, their backgrounds, thoughts, related feelings, reactions, plans, failures and successes. As a writer and television producer, Segaller originally created a television program titled "Nerds 2.0.1" during which he took a short break from production and adapted his material for this book.

I was pleasantly surprised to be intimately introduced to people I've either heard of - or read about - over the years. It was fascinating to watch the Internet unfold from behind-the-scenes as if I were closely involved in making historic progress with Frank Heart, Tim Berners-Lee, Norm Abramson, Vint Serf, Bob Metcalfe, Scott McNealy, Bill Joy, or my favorites (since I'm a Cisco fanatic) Len Bosack and Sandy Lerner.

It is easy to see the parallel between the television documentary and the book, as the book contains four neatly divided parts consisting of the decades of the 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's, though the book could be divided into parts related more closely to significant events in the development of the Internet. These events would include: the introduction of the modem, the rejection by AT&T, Control Data Corp., and IBM of the original RFP to create a non-modem "Internet", the establishment of ARPAnet via packet switching, the development of routing protocols, the introduction of e-mail and FTP, the international expansion of ARPAnet, the establishment of Ethernet, the start of the continuing proliferation of Intel processors, the entry and exponential growth of microcomputer use, the TCP/IP protocol formally split and defined, the designation of the Domain Name System (.com, .edu, .org, etc.), the replacement of ARPAnet by the World Wide Web, the congressional act to permit commerce on the Web, the unbelievable growth of the Web in the early to mid 90's and thereafter, the continued dominance of Cisco and Microsoft in their related fields, and finally the continued exponential growth of Internet users, sites, traffic and commerce.

In conclusion I would highly recommend this book to anyone with even the slightest curiosity as to how this transforming medium we call the Internet just happened into being. Stephen Segaller's work is comprehensive and written for the reader as an active and interesting novel rather than a dry volume of compiled facts and figures.