History of the Internet: A Chronology, 1843 to the Present

Rating:
Summary: How it all started!
Review: Even though I have only used the internet for the last seven years of my life, I find it hard to imagine my life without this handy tool. This book and title in question, i.e., History of the Internet: A Chronology, 1843 to the Present by Christos J. P. Moschovitis, et al does an excellent job in that it explains the history of this now taken for granted tool. Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Good General Overview
Review: This book provides a good, general overview in the primary inventions, standardizations, and people leading to the Internet as it is today. However, this book does not bother to distinguish or understand the nuances of the technologies. For a non-computer person this will be a great book.

Rating:
Summary: How it all started!
Review: This book provides excellent background, particularly of the various developments of the prior century which bear on the character of the Internet's founding. As a reference book, the style of summaries to open each chapter and italicsized summaries at the head of each year may be fine, but they result in unnecessary repetition for the reader who intends to read the whole book as a history.

The editors' decision to use present-perfect tense on past events seemed, at times, disconcerting; as did the decision to handle events on a straight chronological basis rather than to follow a specific development through a multi-year transistion in a single section.

The book has an excellent bibliography at the end for further reading on key points of interest. It is good to be aware of this from the start, since the book does not use footnotes and, when read as a whole, there were times when I wanted that "hyperlink to more details."

Rating:
Summary: A thorough reference source
Review: This book provides excellent background, particularly of the various developments of the prior century which bear on the character of the Internet's founding. As a reference book, the style of summaries to open each chapter and italicsized summaries at the head of each year may be fine, but they result in unnecessary repetition for the reader who intends to read the whole book as a history.

The editors' decision to use present-perfect tense on past events seemed, at times, disconcerting; as did the decision to handle events on a straight chronological basis rather than to follow a specific development through a multi-year transistion in a single section.

The book has an excellent bibliography at the end for further reading on key points of interest. It is good to be aware of this from the start, since the book does not use footnotes and, when read as a whole, there were times when I wanted that "hyperlink to more details."