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Summary: Such a nice guy
Review: "Weaving the Web" gives the overwhelming impression that Tim Berners-Lee is basically a Regular Guy who was in exactly the right place at the right time. He comes across as a relentlessly enlightened person, beneficent toward all, earnest to the point of humorlessness.The book tells the story of the past and present of the Web, and Berners-Lee's ideas about the future, at a very high level. It's not a Techie's History of the Web; there are a few annoying technical gaffes, and not much about the bits and bytes. I was surprised to read some non-technical reviewers opine that it was *too* technical. No pleasing everyone, I guess! I'm not convinced by Berners-Lee's idea that, if only we hook everything together well enough, we will then be able to make computers that understand, that reason, that figure stuff out for us. I think the hooking-together is the easy part, and we'll still be far from real understanding. On the other hand, maybe I would have been a skeptic back in 1989, too, when he was telling people about this crazy thing called the World Wide Web... *8)
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Summary: Should Be Required Readng For All Netizens
Review: I had the pleasure of reading Tim's book at about the time I was working with a non-profit group which produced a free two-hour webcast of Tim's Q&A. The book really filled in the gaps in my knowledge of the creation and evolution of the Internet. His play-by-play description of his days at CERN truly painted a picture of the times and places. His unselfish comments about Marc Andreessen, Bill Gates and the other Internet billionaires truly speaks volumes about the founder of the Internet. The Phrase "What's Past is Prologue" (as etched in the National Archives Building in Washingtn,D.C.) truly encapsulates Tim's optimistic view of where the Internet has come as well as where it is going in the future. His ethical and moral musings in the latter part of the book force all of us who are participating in the evolution of the Internet to stop and think about why we do what we do.
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Summary: Could there be a better history of the web
Review: I have heard so many stories of the beginnings of the web, but for the first time, here is how it really happened. Tim Berners-Lee, the man who developed the 'World Wide Web' now tells the tale of how all this hypertext-hoopla began. Berners-Lee writes in plain english, allowing non-programmers to share in his vision and goals for a universal (or should that be uniform?) way to share information across the internet. Especially interesting is the history of the browser market itself, without all the 'browser-war' hype. Best of all, this book does not read like a technical specification -- but is full of warmth and humor as we see Berners-Lee bring his brainchild to light. I read "Where Wizards Stay Up Late: the Origins of the Internet" by Katie Hafner and Matthew Lyon, and desperately wished someone would do similar justice to the history of the web. Not only has someone now done just that, but that someone happens to be the inventor of the web! What more could you ask for?
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Summary: Mandatory Reading For Anyone Interested In the Web
Review: If you work on the web, use it frequently or derive your livelihood from it in some way, this is an outstanding work that presents the history and thinking that went into the development of the web. Tim details the early days of conceptualization of the web followed by the evolution to a research tool and onto the multifaceted web of today used for commerce, entertainment, research, communications and any number of other activities. He begins with the early days of the web as a project at CERN, the difficulty getting people to conceptualize a worldwide network of hypertext, (how long did it take you to "get it" when you were first introduced to the web?) its tremendous growth and commercialization in recent years, and his vision of the future. The book discusses the various interests that pull the web in different ways and the possibility of the development of a future "semantic web" in which a variety of standards and technologies combine to enable search engines to respond more intelligently to queries when people search for information on the web. The case is made that research, commerce, communication, and any number of other activities has its place on the web and all serve to enrich the web as a worldwide network of communication and knowledge. In order to continue to grow and thrive, there must be basic standardized protocols. In addition, no one party should be vertically integrated and grow large enough to be able to control access, technology, and content such that it inhibits the free flow of information and global communication. It would be tough to find a better figure to pioneer and contribute so profoundly to the development of the Internet and World Wide Web. Had it been pioneered and developed on proprietary patented protocols and technologies; access, usability, and overall usefulness of the web would be nowhere near what they are today. To gain an understanding of where the web came from, where it's headed, and how various companies, technologies and other interests may affect the future development of the web; pick up a copy of "Weaving the Web".
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Summary: An absolute must-read for Internet professionals
Review: Mr. Berners-Lee (in 2004 he became "Sir Tim") created the World Wide Web. He also created the first Web server and the first Web browser, both in 1990. In addition, Berners-Lee is the Director of the World Wide Web Consortium. That pretty much sums up his qualifications for writing a book about the Web! I bought the audio book and have listened to it to and from work. It's a little more personal because Tim is actually reading it to you. This book is for any HTML author or professional working in an Internet-related profession. I recommend it greatly to those working on browser-based applications; it's important to recall the original intent of HTML and the browser. The World Wide Web can become so much more, and reading this book will cause the reader to wonder and dream of new possibilities.
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Summary: From the Mouth of Sir Tim
Review: Pro: A recount of the history of the world wide web from the creator himself. Second pro, buying the book of the guy who gave us this really cool thing, and letting him reap a bit of financial reward. Okay, that's about it. If you are looking for a hard historical account of the web or the Internet's origins, you will only get a little bit of it here. Sir Tim recounts the internal tribulations of working at CERN and developing his hobby project in the first few chapters. After that, it becomes scattered and superficial. For a while he talks about DNS. Then he talks a bit about privacy. Then he wanders into ecommerce. The style is chatty and scant on solid information. Read the book; it's by Sir Tim. But buy another book to get the whole story.
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Summary: From the Mouth of Sir Tim
Review: Pro: A recount of the history of the world wide web from the creator himself. Second pro, buying the book of the guy who gave us this really cool thing, and letting him reap a bit of financial reward. Okay, that's about it. If you are looking for a hard historical account of the web or the Internet's origins, you will only get a little bit of it here. Sir Tim recounts the internal tribulations of working at CERN and developing his hobby project in the first few chapters. After that, it becomes scattered and superficial. For a while he talks about DNS. Then he talks a bit about privacy. Then he wanders into ecommerce. The style is chatty and scant on solid information. Read the book; it's by Sir Tim. But buy another book to get the whole story.
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Summary: Interesting look at history of web and future by its creator
Review: Since Berners-Lee played such a critical role in developing the web, his view on the history of it is definitely worth reading. Some of the history is a little bit mundane, but the outcome of the transformation of the Internet to the World Wide Web as we know it is not mundane. His view of the future of is worth thinking about, but just because someone creates something does not necessarily mean that they have particularly special insight into how will evolve.
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Summary: Others get rich but Tim Berners-Lee deserves to be famous
Review: The world (us) is not recognizing enough Tim Berners-Lee's contribution, extraordinary insight, and relentless behind the scene efforts. If one has any doubt that a few individuals with a vision and a participative belief system can change the world, this book is a Must Read. The first part of the book is a say-it-as-it-is account of how Tim's vision and belief system (global connectivity, keep it simple, open-source, no control, etc.) brought the WorldWideWeb into being. The last part of the book will leave you with the impression that we're just at the beginnimng of the journey and that there is much more in Tim's vision than today's web. Our computers are the neurons of a mega-super-global brain under construction. For most tasks, these neurons still need us to decide what to do. If Tim's vision is being implemented, in a few years (5-10?) these "neurons" will act independantly, decide by themselves what to do, understand and make sense of the vast amount of information that they will have collected. When he presents that vison, TBL says "I get the same distant look in people's eyes as I did in 1989 when I tried to explain how global Hyprerttext would work." That didn't stop him then. Buy this book and support his efforts to make the web OUR common intuitive brain.
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Summary: Inside scoop
Review: This book that tells the amazing story of how Tim Berners-Lee conceived of the Web and brought it into being. I've read many brief accounts of the early history of the Web, and could never believe that Berners-Lee managed to put together all of the necessary pieces, HTML, HTTP, client software, and server software all in one year. Yet in this book, Tim Berners-Lee recounts not only how he pulled it off (and who helped him), but also his motivation, which was even more interesting than how he did it. Berners-Lee covers not only the development of the Web, but also the browser wars and why they were fought. On the other hand, I found it a little surprising that he never mentioned JavaScript and its role for the Web. Occasionally, the prose gets a little technical for general audiences, but for the most part, it is extremely readable.
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