A brilliant story about the origin of the ARPANET, precursor to the internet.

I read this book before the end of 2021, it was an excellent read and I'd reccommend this to anyone. Students, expectant mothers, people interested in sailing, and everyone in between.

Ok, not really, but it was enjoyable for me. I personally have a lot of interest in networking, and internet protocols. If that's not your thing, I'd probably skip this one.

Pre-reqs

For exactly the same reason it's good to know where you're going before you leave, I recommend skimming the wikipedia page for the ARPANET before jumping into the book.

Praise

The tone is set perfectly for the political climate at the time, the current state of technology, and the pains felt by being the first to build the network. This could easily have been a boring setup or painful slog, but the author managed to keep it focused and interesting.

Once the setup is done the book moves on to assembling the team and outlining the philosophical challenges before them. These pioneers built IMPS, which are essentially routers. What's most notable is what they didn't have. They didn't have an OSI model. There was no TCP/IP protocol. In fact, all the computers used different hardware, with differing ideas of endianess, with different operating systems. Getting two computers in the same room to talk to each other is a major puzzle. Trying to talk cross-country looks impossible.

The author does a great job in taking the reader on the problem solving journey facing this team. Each step is outlined clearly and highlights the troubles they had when making their first versions, and how they fixed it when it broke. There's a pervasive background noise hinting at the uncertainty in the task before them.

All throughout the book are hidden gems, which answer questions I've had for a long time such as 'Where did this protocol come from?'. For example, I loved learning about how Email was born from sending files. It was basically the driving force for new sites to join the network. How it had no real specification to start with, and how it morphed and mutated constantly. Which explains so much about the current abysmal state of email.

Criticism

The second half of the book, as the ARPANET begins to change shape into the internet, is a bit more boring. Lots of name-dropping which doesn't feel intended for the reader. Feels more like a nod from the author to people they respect. Also the growth of the network into the internet feels lackluster. Here it is, the inernet is finally here, but the embrace feels dull.

Rating

4/5 - I'd definitely enjoy reading this book again. I'd probably skim the back half now that I've read it once.