Rating: 
Summary: ?Wizardry? is an apt term
Review: "Wizardry" is an apt term to describe the work of the many who laid the foundation for what we now know as the Internet. Katie Hafner and Matthew Lyon weave together the talents, personalities, idiosyncrasies, obstacles, and triumphs into a compelling and -- given the complexity of the Internet's development -- intelligible history. Hafner and Lyon tell of the work of engineers and researchers of Bolt Beranek and Newman (BBN), a Cambridge-based computer company backed by the Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), which ultimately connected computers across the country.Readers of this book are spared excessive technical jargon and are instead are kept amused by the many lighthearted moments in the midst of perfectionism and high pressure to produce. This book gave me the context for understanding the hard work behind and rationale for distributed networks, packet-switching, and TCP/IP. I was intrigued by the "accidental" start of E-mail, which is one networking function I cannot do without. I was also inspired by the teamwork, passion and work ethic displayed by those involved, particularly because their intense focus often flew in the face of many detractors and disinterested parties who failed to appreciate the possibilities and usefulness of a distributed network. The authors also describe the open culture that resulted from the collaborative work, which we see today. In contrast, the reluctance of BBN to release the source codes of the Interface Message Processors (IMP) was a harbinger of the intellectual property issues that would emerge in decades to follow. So many players were involved in the creation of the Internet, that I found myself needing to back track to keep each person and his (all were men) contribution straight. Not a problem, though. The information in this book was fascinating. I found myself wanting to take my time to absorb as many of the details as possible.
Rating:
Summary: ¿Wizardry¿ is an apt term
Review: "Wizardry" is an apt term to describe the work of the many who laid the foundation for what we now know as the Internet. Katie Hafner and Matthew Lyon weave together the talents, personalities, idiosyncrasies, obstacles, and triumphs into a compelling and -- given the complexity of the Internet's development -- intelligible history. Hafner and Lyon tell of the work of engineers and researchers of Bolt Beranek and Newman (BBN), a Cambridge-based computer company backed by the Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), which ultimately connected computers across the country. Readers of this book are spared excessive technical jargon and are instead are kept amused by the many lighthearted moments in the midst of perfectionism and high pressure to produce. This book gave me the context for understanding the hard work behind and rationale for distributed networks, packet-switching, and TCP/IP. I was intrigued by the "accidental" start of E-mail, which is one networking function I cannot do without. I was also inspired by the teamwork, passion and work ethic displayed by those involved, particularly because their intense focus often flew in the face of many detractors and disinterested parties who failed to appreciate the possibilities and usefulness of a distributed network. The authors also describe the open culture that resulted from the collaborative work, which we see today. In contrast, the reluctance of BBN to release the source codes of the Interface Message Processors (IMP) was a harbinger of the intellectual property issues that would emerge in decades to follow. So many players were involved in the creation of the Internet, that I found myself needing to back track to keep each person and his (all were men) contribution straight. Not a problem, though. The information in this book was fascinating. I found myself wanting to take my time to absorb as many of the details as possible.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent from beginning to end
Review: "Where Wizards Stay Up Late" is an excellent book on the history of what is now the Internet. It is a very well researched book and I recommend it to Windows newbies as well as to Unix gurus. Of all of the computer books that I have read, this one is a favorite that will be read many times over again.
Rating: 
Summary: Good detailed history of the early years
Review: A good choic
Rating:
Summary: Histories and Myths
Review: A superb history of the Internet, dispelling many a myth, such as "The Internet was designed in order to survive nuclear war." As a policy wonk pondering Internet policy, this book is must read material. It is difficult to truly understand today's policy conflicts, such as the DNS wars, unless one has adequate reference to the origins of the Net and the history of US Government support. This is not something that magically emerged from the ether but rather was a deliberate USG project dating back decades. An excellent history.
Rating:
Summary: Histories and Myths
Review: A superb history of the Internet, dispelling many a myth, such as "The Internet was designed in order to survive nuclear war." As a policy wonk pondering Internet policy, this book is must read material. It is difficult to truly understand today's policy conflicts, such as the DNS wars, unless one has adequate reference to the origins of the Net and the history of US Government support. This is not something that magically emerged from the ether but rather was a deliberate USG project dating back decades. An excellent history.
Rating:
Summary: An exceptional recording
Review: A visual record, and a very similar book, is the documentary: Nerds 2.0.1 by Stephen Segaller who credits Katie's book. Both of these books give an excellent, if a tiny bit incomplete feel for what the ARPAnet was like. Minor typographic errors make me want to rate it 4.5, but I'm not allowed a fraction, and giving Katie the benefit of rounding, and I am a tough editor, she gets 5 stars. If you do not have a chance to thumb through this book in a store or a library, this book is not a technical book; there are no really technical observations. This book will not tell you how to send email but will tell the story of the @-sign (not easily available on some foreign keyboards). There are no photos or maps (see Segaller's book for those but buy both). The value of Katie's book is the perspective of the computer communications community. I was there as a college freshman, and Katie has really captured much of the sense (as it can be written); specifically the frustration, but also the excitement of the early net. I really think the world needs a working ARPAnet (running NCP, not TCP/IP) to give a feel for what this was all like. The Net changed my perspective on life (I was one of those who pulled all nighters), and this book will give some of the sense of why all those on the early net did those. The treatment on the Usenet and on the Bitnet are a tiny bit thin. I can think of 1-2 people who really deserved mention in the book [Frank Kuo @SRI and U. of HI being one], these are minor slights which are the limitations of paper. The chronology and the resources are as I remember them from my time during that period (1973-1975) of exposure. My biases: I know Katie and he ex-, and helped promote by posting to Usenet the announcement for this book and her earlier Cyberpunks book. When this book came out, I was stunned how her writing captured the experience from a person on the sideline. I find myself now working with many of people in this book. The ARPAnet was precisely the kind of experience people send their children to college to experience. It's too bad that more people could not have similar exposures.
Rating:
Summary: How it all began -- from those who were there
Review: After reading book after book about technology, it was wonderful to find this gem about the people behind the technology. This fast-paced book brings you into the lives of the developers of the ARPA-net (precursor to the internet), and shares their struggles, ambitions, failures and successes as they develop a bold new way to use computers to share information. Despite knowing where it would lead, I still found myself drawn into the excitement, wondering 'is it going to work?' Not only is it an exciting read -- I found it invaluable in dispelling tall tales of the internet from those who 'know it all' (I'm sure you work with a few of these people).
Rating:
Summary: An Inspiring Book
Review: An extremely good book on the history of the Internet. It conveys to the reader the energy and the excitement of the people involved in the enterprise of creating the internet. It is but humbling to think of the men/women involved in an enterprise that has changed the face of computing and the book does a great job in acknowledging these facts. However where I felt the book lacked was it doesnot convey how the Internet has evolved from what it was, ARPANET to what it has become today reaching people who barely use a computer to what will eventually be the heart of the NETWORK COMPUTER, with the same enthusiasm.
Rating:
Summary: Engrossing history
Review: I devoured this book in one day, fascinated by the background of the net's early days. I've been hooked into these computers since the early 1980s but never before appreciated the development and creativity that went into "just another tool." Great fun if you want to know about the ancient history of the internet's inner workings.
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