Product Description
Combining text with photographs and illustrations, this book provides children with a global view of history, from the creation of the Earth to the beginning of the 21st century. It also includes hundreds of web site addresses for further research. It features easy access to Web sites and free downloadable pictures and maps with test covering events from the Big Bang to the dawn of the 21st century. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (34)

awesome pics but...
This book covers a huge range of time, so I understand some lack of detail.The sheer vagueness is hard to believe.The amount and quality of the pictures is amazing.But...
Each section is so unbelievably short, you can't even use this book to teach an overview of history.Some famous figures get a sentence or two.Anything at all in the last 1000 years is so brief you might as well not bother.Many important historical figures aren't even mentioned.
The sectons are so short, there is no way kids bother retaining any information.Even if a child started to show interest, the chapter ends before it could form enough to want another book on it.

The chapters that are three pages long are enough for very young kids.Any older and it is sort of a waste.

The book is good
1. as a breakdown to keep track of what part of history you are actually studying, whether from stories or other history books.It keeps you from missing important pieces.
2.For the maps.They are very clear about where exactly you are studying, unlike other books that have such close up maps, you can't really tell where you are in the big picture.
3.The pictures.Such good pics they almost make up for the lack of information
4.It really does cover everything.It goes over so much history, I can't believe it all fits.

Very pleased with this book
My daughter is a rising 4th grader at a Montessori school and her teacher requires this book.This is a secular book of World History, not Human History.As a result it devotes a large section to events that occurred before people entered the story, and does so in a manner consistent with prevailing, mainstream, scientific thought, presented at an age appropriate level.

The first section is the Prehistoric World section and there are 2 pages devoted to Evolution, 2 pages devoted to the formation of the Universe and Earth, and 2 pages devoted to Biogenesis.The remainder of the Prehistoric World section is a secular presentation of various prehistoric life forms, extinct animals, and a few pages on the great apes including Australopithecus, Homo habilis, Homo erectus, and Homo sapiens.If this treatment of the prehistoric world offends your religious beliefs then you may want to steer clear of this book.

The remainder of the book addresses the Ancient World through Modern times in a fairly linear presentation.Every couple of pages is devoted to a topic of interest that tends to define the region or time frame of interest.There is sufficient information to provide the student a high level overview of each topic.I expect my child will take an interest in certain topics and then dive deeper on her own, probably reading a topic specific book, writing a short paper, or creating a diorama.

In my opinion this is an excellent book, and I'm glad my child's teacher has selected it.I don't have a problem with the earlier sections in the book, but I am really looking forward to some of the latter sections where I plan to combine the book with History Channel and PBS documentaries.I am very pleased with the secular treatment of the topics. There are, though, 2 pages devoted to the rise of Christianity, as well as 2 pages devoted to the rise of Islam.And of course, it is hard to omit discussion of the historic influence of the Catholic Church.Again, these topics are presented without emotional overtures or bias, which I appreciate and do not find inappropriate.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in a rational and mainstream treatment of world history that is appropriate for 4th through 6th grades.

Okay (the best I have been able to find for the age group)
I wish I had been able to preview the book before purchasing.I went ahead and purchased due to the rave reviews and due to the recommendation found in the Well-Trained Mind forums.

Pros:The pictures are bright and interesting.It is written at a level that my five-year-old can understand the information being read aloud. The pictures are adequate to capture and keep her interest.

Cons:I am disappointed in how little history is actually presented in some areas where evolution receives around 100 pages worth of attention.I don't have a problem with evolution but perhaps it could have received a little less attention and more attention could have been paid in updating at least a little history from the year 2000.I wish the events of September 11th were included but apparently no updates have been made since 2001.My copy has a copyright of 2006, so I find the omission of the events such as September 11th, the wars In Iraq and Afghanistan, etc., to leave a huge gap in our world's history.I am also not crazy about the mention of global warming as being a serious issue (at least global warming has finally been proven to be a hoax), so I will I be skipping over that section.I am also not crazy about how Christians (especially Catholics) are painted to be violent and intolerant of anyone who happened to disagree with them, so I will make sure to point my daughter to different viewpoints on these and other subjects, as well. I understand that this an encyclopedia of world history, but I really wish there had been a bit more attention given to the establishment of Jamestown, Virginia in 1607, not just a scant paragraph that barely even mentions it.

Overall:I am not in love with this text but, in the absence of finding anything better at this point, I am trying to live with it.

Religion aside, this is a useful tool and a great resource
To touch on other comments: there is some religion. There are a few links that don't work anymore. Yes, you can find some of the links yourself.The type is NOT too small.

We used this book AND the kingfisher book for 6 months within our studies of ancient history at a 3rd grade level.Our family of 5 unanimously agreed that this usborn book is far superior to the kingfisher book.

There is a timeline on the bottom of every page for the spatial learner to see where they are within the context of time.The pages are illustrated nicely and appropriately. Items are labeled for the compulsive reader. The index is comprehensive. The breadth of information is appropriate for kids, under the heading of "put it before them and let them feast."If there is something your child wants to know more about it, for all means, look it up online or in other resource books.Many of the links provided will yield endless hours of additional information (and while you can look them up yourself with a search engine, I have three kids and am not interested in searching through pages of links, and I found it very helpful to have a ready-to-go link handy).

The comments about religion vs evolution are interesting... I personally don't think it is possible to provide a comprehensive overview of history without some sort of slant.We are a Christian family who also believes in science and evolution, and I am competent and smart enough to use the information in these books as a tool with my kids to teach them about what OUR beliefs are.People who are blaming the information in this book are perhaps expecting this book to parent their kids for them.

After six months of side-by-side weekly usage between this usborn book and the kingfisher book, this is - in the opinion of our household - a better book, with more interesting illustrations, better written text for kids, and providing in general a better single resource.If you are comparing the two books, this review was for you.

Wow!!!From the very beginning to 2000 AD!!!
What an AMAZING book!While it was a required portion of our history program for our son, I will never hesitate to purchase a Usborne IL Encyclopedia again!The information is accurate and descriptive and the book in your hand is worth it's weight in gold (and it's heavy!)But when you add the internet extensions, it becomes a priceless connection to history through the ages for children to explore and enjoy.I can see this book being a favorite in our home for many years to come. ... Read more

Product Description

On the Way to the Web: The Secret History of the Internet and Its Founders is an absorbing chronicle of the inventive, individualistic, and often cantankerous individuals who set the Internet free. Michael A. Banks describes how the online population created a new culture and turned a new frontier into their vision of the future.

This book will introduce you to the innovators who laid the foundation for the Internet and the World Wide Web, the man who invented online chat, and the people who invented the products all of us use online every day. Learn where, when, how and why the Internet came into being, and exactly what hundreds of thousands of people were doing online before the Web. See who was behind it all, and what inspired them.

You’ll also find these stories of people and events on the way to the Web:

• CIA agents in search of military hardware for sale online.
• The first online privacy scandal, three decades ago.
• The first instance of online censorship in 1979
• How in 1980 the FBI demanded the ID of a CompuServe user who tried to sell 3,000 M16 rifles online
• Early con artists
• Online romance scams
• Identify theft
• Who really created AOL. (Hint: it wasn’t Steve Case.)
• The wireless Internet that was built in 1978.
• Why the @ sign is used in email addresses.

Customer Reviews (12)

A BetterAlternative
I have read only the first chapter of this book (available online) and am not impressed. If you're interested in a book that has morein it than (as another reviewer put it) "Some university guys in the 50s started networking military computers, then Compuserve and AOL figured out how to get people dialup, then the internet came." then I would like to highly recommend M Mitchell Waldrop's "The Dream Machine: J.C.R. Licklider and the Revolution That Made Computing Personal".

Waldrop's book, although purportedly about one man, is in fact a brilliantly done, "hard to put down", fascinating explication of the ideas, concepts, social interactions and people that built the world of computing and networking as we know it.Waldrop covers the what, when, where and more importantly, the who of the early days of computing - detailing not only the technologies but the personalities and social networks of those early days. Highly recommended for readers from the hard-core technologist, to the avid social-networker.Get it!

Wait for Al Gore's version
Perhaps this is the"secret history of the internet" because the true history of the internet remains mostly a secret to the reader after finishing this book!

Banks spends a few pages sketching in a bare outline of the early technical roots of the internet in the ARPA/DARPA days, and does an OK job of tracking the history of bulletin boards and the early online giants CompuServe and AOL.But the threads start and remain unconnected in the history, so that my one-sentence summary of the book would read like this:

"Some university guys in the 50s started networking military computers, then Compuserve and AOL figured out how to get people dialup, then the internet came."

Interestingly, in a timeline in an appendix Banks does mention in very short list form some of the key integration points between the technology, business, and content that makes up the internet, but he never tells the full story of most of these!

Skip this one and wait for Al Gore's "How I did it" expose.

Confusing, disorganized history of part of the Internet
Book Review:On the Way to the Web: The Secret History of the Internet and Its Founders by Michael A. Banks

I remember my first CompuServe experience back in the early 80s.We were living in Ohio and my uncle worked in Columbus for some computer company.He had his own computer, which was absolutely amazing to me.I was in middle school at the time and remember being allowed to use the TRS-80 in the administrative offices.The computers were cool and I was hooked.I could chat with girls who didn't take one look at me and walk away.

"On the Way to the Web" brought back a lot of memories about the early days of the Internet and on-line services. I'm not sure people who weren't involved in on-line computing during the 80s and 90s would have that same nostalgic smile. If hearing the words eWorld or AppleLink doesn't ring any bells then you probably wouldn't enjoy this book.Banks assumes you know these services and their place in online history, and more importantly, how their development was parallel to the development of the greater Internet.Having lived through this dramatic time in history I still found myself confused on the relationship between these services and the Internet.

The first few chapters are amazing, and effectively captured the headiness of those early days during the 1970s when TCP/IP was not preordained to be the preferred way of computers talking to each other.After commercial online services entered the scene, Banks focuses primarily on those services and their lineage.While online services were clearly important to get us where we are today, he tells the history in a dry and matter-of-fact manner without explaining what else was going on at the time. The level of detail he went into about how these services was over the top.The book is hard to follow because the author tells too many stories at once.I constantly had to refer to the appendix to review the timeline.I expected more about the people involved, rather than the competing companies and their online strategies.

Overall the book was an enjoyable trip down memory lane, but fails to explain how we got from the origins of the Internet to where we are today.

Pros:Nice historical overview of the Internet
Cons:Hard to follow

Great Insight Into The History Of The Internet!
Michael A. Banks did a great job keeping me interested in reading about the beginning of the internet. The beginnings of the internet were in the government and the universities. When he talks about two universities communicating for the first time cross-country, I could not help but feel it was as monumental as the east railroad line meeting the west railroad line!

It was very interesting to see how some very good ideas failed miserably, while others flourished. The beginnings of community sites like Compuserve were truly the predecessor of many of our social networking sites today.

The in depth coverage of Billy von Meister kept me in suspense with each business venture he conjured up.Billy was truly a pioneering internet entrepreneurial spirit. He was quite an adventurer, and his flamboyant lifestyle went along with his spend, spend, spend business tactics.He was a visionary who knew how to acquire venture capital and how to build a business from ground up. I enjoyed reading about it.

Who doesn't remember getting those AOL floppy disks in their mail?? Although I was never a member, it wasn't hard to see the impact of AOL on my friends and the world at large who were members.While I was busy plunking out COBOL II code on a mainframe at work, my friends were enjoying the ease of use and communities of AOL.

The interactivity available via the internet seemed to take many by surprise in the early days, but not anymore. Today, the best sites provide plenty of engaging interactivity (like this one, letting me give a review that all the world can see!). This book was really engaging to read, I recommend it.

A Good Historical Perspective
This book is in the same vein as the Hackers book by Steven Levy (Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution).For a lot of people, this is a peek under the covers during what a few lived through.This peek gives the backgrounds and some of the ins and outs of what happened during the very heady days of "home-based" internet access.

Being an early user of the internet myself (I had a university account in the mid-80's), and a user of CompuServe, Prodigy, and various BBS's, this was quite the trip down memory lane and explains why they did not survive. ... Read more

Product Description
This encyclopaedia traces the extraordinary history of the Ancient World, from the first farmers, and the early civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Rome to the eventual decline and fall of the Roman Empire. It covers all aspects of life in the Ancient World - from building the pyramids to a day at the Roman Games. There are photographs of glowing treasures in gold, silver and precious stones, 3000-year-old wall paintings with vivid colours, and blackened, shrivelled mummies, combined with reconstructions and cutaways of architecture, to recreate the atmosphere of the time. Internet links are given to a selection of recommended Web sites, containing additional information for school projects and homework. Many of the Web sites include sound, animation or video clips, which bring the subject to life. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Beautiful Book
This book is filled with beautiful pictures and amazing facts.As a homeschooling mother beginning our study of the ancients, it's a must have!I am very pleased with this purchase.The ONLY complaint I have: What about ancient China?!?!?!?!?!

A great resource!
There are two names in English publishing that assure a quality product for children (and adults): DK Eyewitness and Usborne. After Usborne added internet links, they raised their ante on the value of their books. "The Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia of the Ancient World" is a fantastic resource for study of the civilizations of the Ancient World: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome.

For each civilization there are sections on history, government, everyday life, religion, entertainment, maps, and many more topics. At the end of each unit is a fact-finder specific for each civilization: rulers, gods/goddesses, laws, and the like.

The book is not just words. Illustrations, graphs, photographs make each page attractive and educational. For example, seeing for the first time an illustration of the size of the statue of Athena in the Parthenon just takes one's breath away. On the next page are illustrations of prayer positions of supplicants. I've seen each pose before in movies and documentaries and had no idea of the meaning.

Fabulous tidbits of information fill each page. On a page of a photograph of part of Hadrian's Wall separating England from Scotland (an attempt to keep the Scots in their land and out of England) is the brave story of Boudicca and her uprising against Rome.

To really appreciate this rich resource, you need to have it in hand and page through, stopping to read items of interest. Then keep it nearby to take out and read to enhance your own personal education. Very highly recommended!

A Must Have for any Home Library!
This book is a GREAT resource for your family. Your kids will love the pictures and facts scattered throughout the pages. It is well organized, colorful, and full of information. My kids are 9, 8, and 6 and have all benefitted from having this book at home. This book makes reading assignments fun! Great for homsechoolers, and the internet links are terrific. Even as an adult, I have enjoyed reviewing the stuff I learned when I was in school as a child.

The only downside to this book is that some of the pictures cover the page numbers. This makes it a little hard to find a certain page because this sometimes occurs for several pages in a row.

Exactly what I needed.
I am teaching my children ancient history and needed something to give my curriculum some meat. This book does it! Very thorough (100 pages on Egypt), colorful, covers concepts such as government, religion, architecture, and daily life for each civilization. Even mentions a few empires other books don't bother to bring up.

A wonderful resource for the history students library
Not only does this Encyclopedia look impressive on the bookshelf, but it is quite impressive in content as well. On opening this 400 page hard covered book, it oozes tactfully and beautifully layed out illustrations and photographs from start to finish.
This Encyclopedia covers the Mesopotamian World, Ancient Egypt, Ancient, Archaic and Classical Greece and the Roman World giving you historical background along with insight to the every day life that one may of experienced in that time.For Example, in covering Ancient Rome, the major headings are Early Rome, The Roman Republic, the Roman Empire, Everyday Life, The End of Empire, The Roman Word factfinder etc.
If you want to look further into a topic that is covered in this Encyclopedia, it does add an internet link on the same page of that topic so you aren't scouring the back trying to find the link.
My only dissapointment with this Encyclopedia is that it does not cover Ancient China and other ancient civilisations.When I looked at the title of this Encyclopedia, I just presumed that they would be covered, but not so.
Other than this, this is a very user friendly Encyclopedia and glad it is in my home library. ... Read more

Product Description
The Internet is the most remarkable thing human beings have built since the Pyramids. John Naughton's book intersperses wonderful personal stories with an authoritative account of where the Net actually came from, who invented it and why, and where it might be taking us. Most of us have no idea of how the Internet works or who created it. Even fewer have any idea of what it means for society and the future. In a cynical age, John Naughton has not lost his capacity for wonder. He examines the nature of his own enthusiasm for technology and traces its roots in his lonely childhood and in his relationship with his father. A Brief History of the Future is an intensely personal celebration of vision and altruism, ingenuity and determination and above all, of the power of ideas, passionately felt, to change the world. ... Read more

Product Description
Written by two leading social and cultural historians, the first two editions of A Social History of the Media became classic textbooks, providing a masterful overview of communication media and of the social and cultural contexts within which they emerged and evolved over time.

This third edition has been thoroughly revised to bring the text up to date with the very latest developments in the field. Increased space is given to the exciting media developments of the early 21st Century, including in particular the rise of social and participatory media and the globalization of media. Additionally, new and important research is incorporated into the classic material exploring the continuing importance of oral and manuscript communication, the rise of print and the relationship between physical transportation and social communication.

Avoiding technological determinism and rejecting assumptions of straightforward evolutionary progress, this book brings out the rich and varied histories of communication media. In an age of fast-paced media developments, a thorough understanding of media history is more important than ever, and this text will continue to be the first choice for students and scholars across the world.

Customer Reviews (1)

great read
Like other books I've read by Peter Burke, this is a great and informative work.Here he covers the "print revolution in context" showing the who, where, and how of the rise of printing, and discussing it's interaction with the continuing other media types such as oral communication, hand-written documents and visual images (woodcut printing, religious paintings and statuary). He also shows the political and religious conflicts and issues which are locked in a feedback loop with the development of the media.

Fascinating to compare to the rise of modern media types like weblogs in conjunction with the present political discourse. ... Read more

Product Description

A great adjustment in human affairs is underway. Political, commercial and cultural life is changing from the centralized, hierarchical and standardized structures of the industrial age to something radically different: the economy of the emerging digital era.

      A History of the Internet and the Digital Future tells the story of the development of the Internet from the 1950s to the present, and examines how the balance of power has shifted between the individual and the state in the areas of censorship, copyright infringement, intellectual freedom and terrorism and warfare. Johnny Ryan explains how the Internet has revolutionized political campaigns; how the development of the World Wide Web enfranchised a new online population of assertive, niche consumers; and how the dot-com bust taught smarter firms to capitalize on the power of digital artisans.

      In the coming years, platforms such as the iPhone and Android rise or fall depending on their treading the line between proprietary control and open innovation. The trends of the past may hold out hope for the record and newspaper industry. From the government-controlled systems of the ColdWar to today’s move towards cloud computing, user-driven content and the new global commons, this book reveals the trends that are shaping the businesses, politics, and media of the digital future.

Customer Reviews (1)

Great Nut-Shell Information
This book is fantastic for using with Junior High kids on up.The information is clear and the drawings and photos are also well-done.The Internet links provide expansion without you having to search things out yourself.For adults who want a (very) quick review in basic terms, this is the book!I use it with my European History classes.The reading level is mid-range:excellent readers would probably find it too easy.Struggling readers might need some extra help in some parts.Overall, worth having as a source! ... Read more

Product Description
The greatest business communication and cultural phenomenon to emerge in the second half of the 20th century is probably the Internet. It evolved in many places simultaneously, with the contribution of many disparate entities: government, scientists, students, and entrepreneurs. This text examines the complex and intertwined strands of the Internet's origins, evolution and growth from the mid-19th century to the end of the 20th century. Organized into seven chronological chapters, each charts a different era of Internet development. Each chapter opens with an essay and discusses the prevailing themes and trends. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Good General Overview
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.

A thorough reference source
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 openeach chapter and italicsized summaries at the head of each year may befine, but they result in unnecessary repetition for the reader who intendsto read the whole book as a history.

The editors' decision to usepresent-perfect tense on past events seemed, at times, disconcerting; asdid the decision to handle events on a straight chronological basis ratherthan to follow a specific development through a multi-year transistion in asingle section.

The book has an excellent bibliography at the end forfurther reading on key points of interest.It is good to be aware of thisfrom the start, since the book does not use footnotes and, when read as awhole, there were times when I wanted that "hyperlink to moredetails." ... Read more

Product Description
Cyberspace may seem an unlikely gateway for the soul. But as science commentator Margaret Wertheim argues in this "marvelously provocative" (Kirkus Reviews) book, cyberspace has in recent years become a repository for immense spiritual yearning. Wertheim explores the mapping of spiritual desire onto digitized space and suggests that the modem today has become a metaphysical escape-hatch from a materialism that many people find increasingly dissatisfying. Cyberspace opens up a collective space beyond the laws of physics--a space where mind rather than matter reigns. This strange refuge returns us to an almost medieval dualism between a physical space of body and an immaterial space of mind and psyche.Amazon.com Review
In Pythagoras'Trousers, science writer and feminist Margaret Wertheim took anastute look at the social and cultural history of physics. Sheexplored how the development of physics became intertwined with therising power of institutionalized religion, and how both of thesepredominantly masculine pursuits have influenced women's ability tojoin the physics community. Now she has turned her attention tovirtual reality, looking at similarities between how we view it todayand how art and religion was viewed in medieval times. Her assertionis that rather than carrying us forward into new and fabulousother worlds, virtual reality is actually carrying usbackwards--to essentially medieval dreams. Beginning with themedieval view, with its definition of the world as spiritual space,Wertheim traces the emergence of modern physics' emphasis on physicalspace. She then presents her thesis: that cyberspace, which is anoutgrowth of modern science, posits the existence of a genuine yetimmaterial world in which people are invited to commune in a nonbodilyfashion, just as medieval theology brought intangible souls togetherin heaven. The perfect realm awaits, we are told, not behind thepearly gates but the electronic gateways labeled .com and.net. How did we get from seeing ourselves in soul space (theworld of Dante and the late medievals) to seeing ourselves as purelyin body space (the world of Newton and Einstein)? This crucialtransition and the new shift propelled by the Internet areconvincingly described in this challenging book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

Pearly Gates Redux
I am the author of this book and I would like to agree with the gist of many of the reviews here. The first half of the book - which traces the cultural history of Western concepts of space - is the real meat of the text and is by far the strongest part. The final part of the book, which deals with cyberspace, is weak by comparison. Actually when I wrote the book, I only wanted to write the first part, with a final short and tentative reflection on the then emerging realm of cyberspace. But the publisher - who thought cyberspace was a hip topic - pressed me to make cyberspace a bigger part of the exercise. I too feel that these final chapters have to a large degree been superceded by the development of the Net since 2000. But the real story of the book is the first 5 chapters which trace a critical transition in Western culture's conception of what it means to be a human embedded in a wider spatial scheme. It is this part of the book - which the European reviewers especially praised - that stands as the real achievement and that I would still urge apon readers.

Half an interesting read
The first near-half of this books was fascinating: an analysis of how the concept of "space" developed in the West as Europe moved from the medieval era and into the Renaissance.Wertheim examines the concept of space as perceived through the art, science, and philosophies of the era in enough depth have been worth the read, if not as much depth as one might desire.

The second half is something of a loss.The chapters on 20th-century science read like nothing more than a condensed re-hash of most popular physics books of the last 10 years.The final chapters -- where we reach the long-promised "cyberspace" -- say nothing more than her introduction: that there are similarities between utopian visions of the digital future and the Christian conception of heaven. Similarities between a utopia and heaven?Not exactly a shocking thesis and even less shocking as a conclusion.

Virtual Religion
virtual connections to the holy space traced in this historic survey is an interesting perspective worth reading.

Great title, but ...
I certainly enjoyed reading this book, and found some of the material in the earlier chapters very interesting, for example, about the development of the theory of perspective in art.

However,I felt that the bridge into the cyberspace stuff was rather strained and unconvincing. Certainly, the whole internet thing is of great significance to human development, but it didn't seem to fit comfortably into the space that Wertheim wants to put it.

Pearly Gates of Cyberspace full of fuzzy thinking
Even if the world needed a book on this theme, this is not the one!

One thread of this book is the notion of collision between scientific thinking and theology--a collision which in my view is not forced by anything observable or reasonably thinkable.

In early chapters, the author makes dogmatic statements about what was on the minds of numerous famous authors--statements for which no justification is given, and for thoughts which arguably have milder and more flattering interpretations: e.g., that Dante and other mediaevals took a certain spatial view of heaven and hell literally.In this case, the milder interpretation might recognize that writing anything likely to offend certain Churchmen risked persecution--so that what authors expressed might often left out subtle and careful thinking.

The chapters on what's going on since the mid-1980's read like a journalist's hasty pastiche of things written and thought by others, with little acknowledgement and even less discernable new thought.

However, my main objection is that this author has set up a flimsy strawman to knock down with many words, viz., that the coincidence of the syllable "space" in "cyberspace" implies a serious analogy to metric spaces.This analogy might play a roll in hoi poloi minds, but that Wertheim's middle chapters talk of the work of several well-known scientists seems to imply that serious scientists take such an analogy seriously.In many yearsof listening to scientific colleagues, I heard nothing to suggest such a view.

In contrast, Wertheim ignores all social thinking that is a reasonable precursor to today's views and actions around cyberspace.Recall the notion that "a university is a community centered on a library", and many, many related works about how communities work and about domains of ideas.

Furthermore, in discussing science Wertheim ignores the most important factor that drove philosophical and scientific thinkers to their views of metric spaces--symmetry and simple forms in differential equations.

On the positive side, I learned a few obscure and very interesting names--those of thinkers before their time.E.g., Nicolas of Cusa (13th century), Kaluza (19th century).I'll dig into those.

Summary: for any careful thinker, this book is a distraction and waste of time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Awesome history book
We use this book for history class in homeschooling. My son loves it. You can look up more things in depth on the usborne website. The illustrations are really detailed and makes this book more interesting and fun for the kids.
If you child is not interested in reading complicated history books, this is the book for them.

Roman culture for middle school students
This is an excellent book for teaching Roman culture to middle school or elementary school students.Every parent should have a copy in their home libraries.Every teacher including Greeks and Romans in their curriculum should have it in the classroom.This copy arrived on time and in excellent condition. ... Read more

Product Description
The Internet is here but have we caught up with all its implications for culture and everyday life? This collection of original articles on the development of computer-mediated communications brings together many of the most accomplished writers on the Net and cyberspace.

Cultures of Internet examines the arrival of e-mail and online discussion groups, and considers the prospect of an `online world' - a playground for virtual bodies in which identities are flexible, swappable and disconnected from real-world bodies. The book traces the rise of virtual conviviality and how it supplements the physical encounters between actors in public spaces that are abandoned to the homeless.

The book is distinguished by a critical and social tone. For the first time, it presents systematic descriptions of the development of the Internet, its history in the military-industrial complex, the role of state policies leading, for example, to the creation of Minitel, and the building of information `superhighways'. It also explores the development of this technology as a commercialized leisure form and a forum for underground political organization and critique.

Accessible and lively, the book draws in contributions from Europe, North America and developing countries. It will appeal to students of sociology, cultural studies and computer studies.

Product Description
History teachers and school library media specialists will find this guide a valuable resource for creating technologically advanced, resource-based instructional units in American and World History in grades 7-12. It is filled with 150 recommended primary source Internet sites about history ranging from ancient civilizations to 1998 and is stocked with exciting, interesting, and challenging questions designed to stimulate students' critical thinking skills. Dr. Craver, who maintains an award-winning interactive Internet database and conducts technology workshops for school library media specialists, provides an indispensable tool to enable students to make the best use of the Internet for the study of history. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Wonderful Resource for Social Studies Teachers
Kathleen Craver does a wonderful job in this book describing how to useprimary sources in the classroom. The first three chapters describe theconcept behind using these resources in the classroom.

In the next 200pages, she shares over 150 websites that contain primary sources. For eachweb site she gives a summary of the site and gives five or six questionsfor discussion or activities for students. This book will save you hourssearching the Internet for resources. It is well written and has a goodindex for locating topics. If you are looking for ways to incorporate theInternet in your lessons this is a great way to get started.

This is amust resource book for your professional library. ... Read more

Product Description
Tracing the history from the Big Bang to the Twenty-First Century, this comprehensive encyclopedia includes all the major civilizations, rulers and events in world history, and paints a picture of everyday life over thousands of years. Fabulous illustrations, photos, maps and a 12,000 year timechart and over 200 links to recommended websites this a valuable resource tool that is guaranteed to add an extra dimension to school work. ... Read more

Product Description
These colorful volumes present history of life on planet earth with excellent color illustrations, photographs, maps and information to create a visual feast! History is presented according to civilization geographically (rather than jumping from nation to nation chronologically), making it so much easier to follow and remember. Another incredible feature is that it is internet-linked! You can visit age-appropriate internet sites from reputable universities and museums throughout the world and get up-to-date information and exciting activities such as printing out your name in hieroglyphics or actually listening to a famous speech online. Usborne reviews all links and keeps them up-to-date. Paperback, ages 11 to adult. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

thank you excellent resource
this was a book that my curriculum required as a source for our study. It was very helpful for the middle ages and the many facets we are studying. A broad overview. I have not tried the internet pictures yet as we are only in the first few chapters. I will use them to make quiz review pages and timeline figures. Great Idea!

Fifteen Hundred Years of World History in Ninety Six Pages
I plan to spend the next six months reading books set in the Medieval period to my seven year old son.I thought Usborne's "Medieval World" would be a good place to start.Right off the bat, it is absurd to think that any 96 page illustrated book can do 1,500 years of world history any justice.There is just too much history to be covered in such a short format.But as an introduction, "Medieval World" gave my seven year old a pleasurable hint of what lay ahead in the next six months.My only wish is that Usborne had narrowed its focus and only concentrated on Europe for a shorter period of time.

Great Resource!
My son thoroughly enjoys the pictures and information. Easy to read and entertaining. Lots of value.

Great Overview of Medieval Period
Simple, straightforward text and pictures give a terrific overview of what was going on in the Medieval World. A jumping off place for getting more in depth. Maps and graphics are beautiful. The internet links are very helpful as well. ... Read more

Product Description

Twenty five years ago, it didn't exist. Today, twenty million people worldwide are surfing the Net.Where Wizards Stay Up Late is the exciting story of the pioneers responsible for creating the most talked about, most influential, and most far-reaching communications breakthrough since the invention of the telephone.

In the 1960's, when computers where regarded as mere giant calculators, J.C.R. Licklider at MIT saw them as the ultimate communications devices. With Defense Department funds, he and a band of visionary computer whizzes began work on a nationwide, interlocking network of computers. Taking readers behind the scenes, Where Wizards Stay Up Late captures the hard work, genius, and happy accidents of their daring, stunningly successful venture.Amazon.com Review
Considering that the history of the Internet is perhaps betterdocumented internally than any other technological construct, it isremarkable how shadowy its origins have been to most people, includingdie-hard Net-denizens!

At last, Hafner and Lyon have written a well-researched story of theorigins of the Internet substantiated by extensive interviews with itscreators who delve into many interesting details such as thecontroversy surrounding the adoption of our now beloved "@"sign as the separator of usernames and machine addresses.Essentialreading for anyone interested in the past -- and the future -- of theNet specifically, and telecommunications generally. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (66)

Just buy it!
This book is great, nice storytelling and has such a great depth in historical facts. As a book that tells how the internet was invented it does an excellent job on building all the historical foundations (like the cold war, creation of NASA and the American space program) presenting them in such a nicely and ordered fashion that makes everything down to Earth. It's a blessing that shows how the world society influenced such radical changes into human communication and it's immediate impacts on the American society. The book goes the extra mile and provides how the inventors envision the future of the internet and what are it's challenges.

Who should buy it:
- Anyone who is passionate about technology
- Anyone that likes good adventure stories
- Anyone that studies history and wants to better understand the impacts and origins of the internet.

Who should not buy it:
- Anyone who hates American history/society
- Anyone who does not care about technology

Great read! ARPANET!!!
This book was a great read. I loved it. It was extremely informative about how the Internet was first created and how it grew and expanded from the small, with only 15 nodes, ARPANET, to the world wide web that links millions of computers around the globe.Hafner and Lyon have created a great read that captures the history and the awesomeness of the origins of the Internet. These men will forever be remembered of the fathers of the web, they have changed technology forever and have greatly bettered the world by doing so. This book takes readers behind the scenes of all the hard work, long hours, genius, and the "happy accidents of the successful ordeal. Some of the characters are great too.Some of them are even college students when they first created the ARPANET. I think that is amazing, but it just goes to show you that anyone can do anything no matter how old. Everyone in the world ho cares about where the @ symbol comes from on email addresses, or the "www" in front of a website, should definitely go out to there local bookstore and purchase this book! It's no surprise it was "one of Library Journal's picks for best Sci-Tech book of the year."

great book
I recommend this book to whoever is interested in the history of internet. The author delivers good jokes and brings you into the office of the creators of internet!

where wizards stay up late
Where wizards stay up late is the definitive history of the development of the Internet from the scientific research network called ARPAnet.A convergence of coincidental discoveries by brilliant minds from various branches of science and math caused this phenomenon that we now use daily and take for granted.The fact that e-mail was initiated primarily from one of the computer geniuses in Los Angeles asking his buddy in London through a brief message to find and return his electric shaver is just one fascinating bit of trivia.I loaned my book to a regional Panasonic sales rep some years ago just after I began reading it.I never regretted the 'loan' and I can see why he wanted to keep it! But I had some time this summer to catch up on belated reading.The author, a noted print journalist, explains the history with wonder and admiration in layman's terms. The writing shows the humorous and human side of very serious and very intelligent engineers and technologists of the highest order.If you want a great story that is also true, read this one!

Fascinating but dry
Fascinating history of Arpanet and evolution of the internet, with glimpses of the personalities of the founders.

It gives you an appreciation of the challenges that had to be overcome and the brilliance required to create a smoothly functioning network of networks. People who grew up after 1980 may not have a sense of how amazing it is, because the internet has always been in their lives, like radio was for us Boomers.

The authors tell the story in terms of the people and relationships involved, not just in terms of the technology. Still, the writing is dry. I would like to know more about the personalities, which John Markoff accomplished in "What the Doormouse Said: How the 60's Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer". ... Read more

Product Description
The Internet Revolution presents the complete history of the Internet - from its original design and engineering to its initial form as the world's first packet-switched computer network (the ARPANET) to its transformation into a privatized, commercial network and its emergence as today's international networking infrastructure. This book also presents a detailed explanation of how the Internet's technology works, why it works so well, how it is being used, and how it is managed. It also answers the question of why the Internet succeeded in bringing computer networking into the lives of so many people across the globe. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Very good book about the Internet's origins and factors, technical and non technical, that helped its evolution
Very good book about the Internet's origins and factors, technical and non technical, that helped its evolution.

I strongly recommend it.

Helpful to have on your bookshelf.
My daughter approached me recently needing help with her computer homework.She was stumped by the teacher's question, what is the difference between the internet and the world wide web?Neither of us knew the answer, but fortunately I had a copy of The Internet Revolution.We both looked up this question in the book, and found out that there was so much to learn about the internet, communication, and how this system we use every single day actually works.I highly recommend it for parents, teachers, and students (college and high school).Written in a straightforward and well organized fashion, The Internet Revolution is a valuable tool to have on your bookshelf.If there's one technology to learn about, it should be the internet - we use it constantly!If there's one book to buy to understand the internet, it is definitely the Internet Revolution Not For Dummies Guide.

Excellent and accessible book on the internet
The tongue in cheek subtitle of the book, "the not for dummies guide ..." is actually quite accurate- this is a book for smart people who want to understand the ins and outs of the internet in a sophisticated and thorough manner.That being said, it is extremely accessible to any reader, no matter what their previous level of computer knowledge.This book provides the history of the internet along with descriptions of how it actually functions.Likewise, this history probes questions about communication - its design, its future, and how the internet has revolutionized human communication on a global level.I find these questions fascinating, and this book provided me the history and technological explanations to explore them more deeply.People in the computer technology industry will find this book invaluable - it's a must read for technology students and professionals.Lay people, merely interested in knowing more about a technology they use every day, will find the book equally illuminating.
-Jessica Teel

A fascinating tour ideal for closely familiarizing oneself with the digital institution continues to transform the modern world
The Internet Revolution: The Not-For-Dummies Guide to the History, Technology, and Use of the Internet is both a modern history lesson and a practical how-to guide combined into one exciting exploration of the technological marvel of the Internet. Chapters address how the network was created, etiquette on the net and common jargon, the basics of email, internet mechanics such as packet switching and protocols, and much more. A fascinating tour ideal for closely familiarizing oneself with the digital institution continues to transform the modern world.

accurate and readable
The long subtitle is of course a jibe at the Dummies [and Idiots] books. Okin offers a more indepth explanation of what the Internet is, and how it grew. At a level very accessible to the general reader.

He traces its development from the ARPANET and the early days. When email was the first "killer app". Though the term is an ananchronism, and would not be invented till over 20 years after email. Email catalysed the first growth of the Internet, helping it spread to many universities and a few computer companies.

Okin then explains how, and still very recently, in 1991-2, the development of HTML and HTTP and the writing of the first browsers became the second killer app. This gave rise to the World Wide Web and the exposure of the Internet to a mass audience.

He offers a technically accurate and readable narrative of a still growing Internet. ... Read more

Product Description
How are media born? How do they change? And how do they change us?

Media Technology and Society offers a comprehensive account of the history of communications technologies, from the printing press to the internet. Brian Winston argues that the development of new media, from the telegraph and the telephone to computers, satellite and virtual reality, is the product of a constant play-off between social necessity and suppression: the unwritten law by which new technologies are introduced into society only insofar as their disruptive potential is limited. Winston's fascinating account examines the role played by individuals such as Alexander Graham Bell, Gugliemo Marconi, John Logie Baird, Boris Rozing and Charles Babbage, and challenges the popular myth of the present-day "information revolution." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Read the Back Cover, Folks
I loved this book. I first read it shortly after it was published, and since then it has stuck with me as the definitive and useful explanation for how and why media technologies are embraced by the general public. I'm writing largely because I find the two negative reviews annoying. Giving a book a bad rating solely because it didn't contain what you thought that it should contain is not useful to anyone. This book is a social history of media technology, something that it very clearly spells out both in its title and in the blurb on the back cover. And of course it's an academic book! It was written by an academic, published by an academic press, and intended for an audience familiar with the linguistic theories of Noam Chomsky (who's more than just a cranky critic of US foreign policy).

A Fantastic and Informative History of Technology
Very highly recommended for anyone with keen interest in the history of technology, society, and business.I love this book. Let me list a few of its many virtues:

First and foremost, it is a learned and fascinating account of the history of many key technologies of the past two hundred years.It is rich with detail about the technologies, their invention process, the people involved and both the scientific and societal contexts into which they emerged.Second, it burts the popular myth of the singular invention arising out of the mind of one genius -- and replaces it with the story of how most of these technologies were in some way inevitable once the scientific ground had been prepared -- and how in many cases, there were many fathers of the "inventions." It also sheds very interesting light on the roles of both societal and commercial inhibiting and accellerating forces on the development and profusion of technologies.

For someone who makes his or her living in the business of new technologies, this is an unforgettable if slightly challenging read.It will change the way you view invention and technology and how they enter and move through our societies.

Unreadable except by communications academics
This book is targeted at an academic audience and not at the general reader - and the academic area is not networking but human communications.If you're looking for a readable history of networks (including the Internet), look elsewhere.

useful nuggets, but a lot of mud
This book is written for an academic audience, and is only of limited relevance to telecom professionals looking for historical perspective on their industry. A sample quote: "Utterance is, for Saussure, thesurface expression of a deep-seated mental competence.In Chomskyanterms..."

The book's thesis - that today's "informationrevolution" is actually the result of a long-standing evolutionaryprocess - should hardly be controversial to anyone versed in telecom or thedevelopment of new technologies.However, Winston is so set on proving histhesis that it becomes a real chore to follow the historical narrative. There are useful nuggets in here, but you've got to sift through a lot ofmud to find them.

EXCELLENT PIECE OF RESEARCH & ANALYSIS
This book won the 1998 Best Book Award by the American Association for History and Computing. It not only provides a comprehensive account of the history of electronic communications from telegraphy to the Internet, butalso offers a model with which to understand the processes of change in thetechnologies of communication.

The purpose of book is not only toexplicate a fuller account of what actually occurred in thetelecommunications past but also to offer an interpretation, necessarilysynthetic and revisionist, of those occurrences. The model offers anunderstanding of the history and the current position of communications inour culture. This understanding is not solely dependent on the performanceof technology, but is also heavily dependent on an examination of theoperation of the social necessities and constraints.

Brian Winston'sfascinating account challenges the popular myth of a present-day`information revolution' in communications technology by highlighting thelong histories of such developments. The fax was introduced in 1884.Digitalization was demonstrated in 1938. Even the concept of the `web'dates back to 1945.

In Part I, the author applies the model to theelectrical systems of communication, the telegraph and the telephone. Then,in Part II, radio and television are dealt with. Part III is concerned withcomputing while Part IV looks at the whole development of electrical andelectronic networks from the telegraph to the Internet. The conclusionsuggestions, via a consideration of the current state of research intoholography, that the model is still valid.

This book is essential readingfor anyone interested in the social impact of technological change.

BrianWinston is Head of the School of Communication, Design and Media at theUniversity of Westminster, the world's leading school of media andcommunication studies. He was previously Dean of the College ofCommunications at the Pennsylvania State University, Chair of CinemaStudies at New York University and Founding Director of the GlasgowUniversity Media Group. As a television professional in the UK, he has wonan Emmy for documentary script-writing.

Reviewed by Azlan Adnan. FormerlyBusiness Development Manager with KPMG,Azlan is currently ManagingPartner of Azlan & Koh Knowledge and Professional Management Group, aneducation and management consulting practice based in Kota Kinabalu. Heholds a Master's degree in International Business and Management from theUniversity of Westminster in London. ... Read more

Product Description
The world's most fascinating cultures in history are examined in this series which covers everyday areas of life from medicine and education to festivals and entertainment. This volume looks at the Greeks. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Ancient Greece - The Usborne Internet Linked Way
I like the Usborne Internet Linked books.They are very informative and it is nice to access the website for more information.The Greeks are very popular now because of the movie 300.Kids are more interested in Greece than they used to be and very excited about Ancient Greece as a topic.This book allows them to access more information about Greece and dispel some of the falsehoods in the movie.

Fantastic
This book's depth and care with research blew me away.This was far beyond my expectations!There is an overview of Greek history, but the true wealth lies in the descriptions of Greek civilization, from pottery to seafaring to athletics.You can find other books that treat the timeline as well for the age group, but this is the first I've seen with such a fantastic in-depth look at the culture.

An excellent historical guide for young readers.
This educational, informative and handsomely illustrated book, from the Usborne Illustrated World History series, is an excellent visual reference for young readers.
It offers an in-depth look at Greek civilization, from its first settlers to the Minoan to the Myceneans to the great empires of Alexander and the Ptolemies. Topics such as history, sociology, politics, economy, culture and religion are covered. This book is also packed with colorful pictures, detailed diagrams, realistic drawings, accurate reconstructions, and handy maps to help illustrate the points being explained and give the reader a vivid look into Greek history.
As a bonus, this book has a wonderful appendix that contains:
* A complete map of ancient Greece.
* A summary of the most important Greek myths and legends, complete with detailed explanations.
* A collection of mini biographies of key figures in Greek history.
* A date chart from 40,000 to 146 BC outlining relevant events and significant historical developments that took place both in Greece and elsewhere in the world during this period.
* A glossary that explains Greek and Greek-derived terms used throughout the text.
* A thorough index for quick check-ups and specific consultations.
Although this book was published in 1990, so some of the information in it may no longer be completely accurate, it is still a beautiful, entertaining and complete reference for children, and a fun, effective teaching tool for adults.
Other recommended titles from this series: First Civilizations and The Romans.
--Reviewed by M. E. Volmar ... Read more

Product Description
Much of the world's Internet management and governance takes place in a corridor extending west from Washington, DC, through northern Virginia toward Washington Dulles International Airport. Much of the United States' military planning and analysis takes place here as well. At the center of that corridor is Tysons Corner—an unincorporated suburban crossroads once dominated by dairy farms and gravel pits. Today, the government contractors and high- tech firms—companies like DynCorp, CACI, Verisign, and SAIC—that now populate this corridor have created an "Internet Alley" off the Washington Beltway. In Internet Alley, Paul Ceruzzi examines this compact area of intense commercial development and describes its transformation into one of the most dynamic and prosperous regions in the country.

Ceruzzi explains how a concentration of military contractors carrying out weapons analysis, systems engineering, operations research, and telecommunications combined with suburban growth patterns to drive the region's development. The dot-com bubble's burst was offset here, he points out, by the government's growing national security-related need for information technology. Ceruzzi looks in detail at the nature of the work carried out by these government contractors and how it can be considered truly innovative in terms of both technology and management.

Today in Tysons Corner, clusters of sleek new office buildings housing high-technology companies stand out against the suburban landscape, and the upscale Tysons Galleria Mall is neighbor to a government-owned radio tower marked by a sign warning visitors not to photograph or sketch it. Ceruzzi finds that a variety of perennially relevant issues intersect here, making it both a literal and figurative crossroads: federal support of scientific research, the shift of government activities to private contractors, local politics of land use, and the postwar movement from central cities to suburbs. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Explaining the Explosion of Tech Companies in Tysons Corner & the Dulles Corridor.
"Internet Alley: High Technology in Tysons Corner 1945-2005" is a catchy title, if a little confusing. "Internet Alley" refers to the concentration of computer service companies along the Dulles Corridor, not Tysons Corner, where technical service firms with big defense contracts are concentrated. Paul E. Ceruzzi, who is the Curator of the National Air and Space Museum, discusses the explosion of high-tech firms in both areas and makes the occasional foray to Reston, Bailey's Crossroads, and Ballston too. "Internet Alley" is about where and why so many high-tech industries make their homes in Northern Virginia in general, with perhaps a concentration on Tysons Corner, an area of nearly 4 square miles just outside the Capital Beltway, 10 miles west of Washington, DC. Those buildings in Tysons Corner are divided between McLean, Falls Church, and Vienna addresses.

But they are all in Tysons Corner, regardless of what city they're in. Tysons Corner does the second-highest retail sales in the Eastern United States -second to Manhattan- a fact that Ceruzzi does not mention. That's because this book specifically addresses the growth of the tech industry(s) in Northern Virginia. Retail and residential growth are tangential. If you're looking for information about the history of development in Tysons Corner, "This Was Tysons Corner, Virginia: Facts and Photos" by Connie and Mayo Stuntz looks at the area since the 18th century. But it doesn't say who created the need for so much office space or why they chose Tysons Corner. That is where "Internet Alley" comes in. It's short on history of the physical development but explains why these areas came to be packed with tech companies in the latter half of the 20th century.

As any Northern Virginian knows, it's the federal government. "Internet Alley" follows the alliance between scientists and the military that began during World War II and continues today in the form of high-tech defense contracts for firms in Tysons Corner. Ceruzzi contrasts that situation to the more independent and entrepreneurial culture of Silicon Valley, and he mentions some ways in which developers have adapted to meet the needs of sensitive government agencies. I found the most interesting discussion to be in chapter 5, where Ceruzzi talks about the unique qualities of for-profit companies that do government work and exist on federal dollars. There are chapters on the construction of major roads, retail centers, and the Tysons Corner economy as it coincides with changes in defense spending, though they do not offer a lot of detail.

I live just inside Tysons Planning District, on Tysons Corner's outer, less-dense edge. I wouldn't want anyone to get the impression that Tysons Corner is a nice place. All that federal money creates a lot of jobs and insulates Northern Virginia somewhat from economic downturns. But the quality of life is poor and gets worse with every new building or road. I mention this because "Internet Alley" has a pro-growth slant. If you're looking for in-depth information about development in Tysons Corner in the past 50 years, that book hasn't been written yet. Ceruzzi writes about the tech companies, not the buildings they occupy. It's not comprehensive. For example, he doesn't mention Amazon's presence in Ashburn. But "Internet Alley offers insight into why Tysons Corner and the Dulles Corridor filled with tech firms, which books and articles on development do not.

Excellent Book, Engagingly Written
I picked up this book with not the highest expectations.There would be so many ways to do it wrong.Concentrate on corporate egomaniacs.Leave out the history and politics of the physical development of Tyson's corner.Make it so highly technical that only a network engineer could understand it.

Happily, Paul Ceruzzi avoided all these pitfalls and wrote a truly holistic history of Tyson's Corner and the Dulles corridor.The dairy farmers and gravel pit operators who originally owned most of the land are discussed.The complex origins of the internet are laid out well, including a few enduring mysteries (how *did* Network Solutions get that contract?).The rise and struggles of Tyson Corner's malls are discussed.And so are the origins of government contracting, which Ceruzzi rightly points out was actually an innovative response to the logistical demands of WW II.

In other hands, this might have been dry stuff indeed, but Ceruzzi writes in an engaging, friendly, conversational style.I picked it up to read for 20 minutes before going to sleep and ended up going through 5 chapters.

While not an expert in this field, I have worked for more than a decade in the IT business in and around "Internet Alley," know some of the players involved in the pre-web internet world, and live in the Dulles Corridor.The highest compliment I can pay as a reader with some special knowledge is to say that I found no mistakes and learned plenty of stuff that I didn't know -- including the fact that I once unknowingly worked only 100 yards from MAE-East, then the most important internet node in the world.And I finally learned who built that weird radio tower across the street from my office - and why.

This book will be of strong interest to anyone involved in the IT industry -- especially if their career has been in on the East coast -- but more broadly to anyone living in the DC Metro area or with an interest in urban history.You'll not only learn a lot, but it's also a fun read.

A Superb History
No question about it, Tyson's Corner and the Dulles corridor in northern Virginia just outside of Washington, D.C., is a high-technology powerhouse. Living off the federal government, especially the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security, several corporations have grown fat on government spending.

"Internet Alley: High Technology in Tyson's Corner, 1945-2005" by Paul Ceruzzi, my colleague at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum, is an extremely useful and well-crafted account of the many ways in which expanding government requirements, technological developments, growing regional transportation needs, and commerce have come together in the growth of areas surrounding Washington since World War II.

The book clearly has value to readers interested in the history of the federal government, the relationship between technology and society, and those of us that reside inside the beltway. But it is much more; it represents an outstanding case study of the effects which the combinations of these economic, political, and social factors have had on the United States over the past sixty years. ... Read more