A review by laci
Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet by Katie Hafner

5.0

Until now I only have picked up some bits and pieces of information about the beginnings of the 'net. Where Wizards Stay Up Late not only describes the entire genesis of the technology, and the people behind it, but also provides the political context and the general moods in society that gave it the initial spark. In other words, I knew there was an ARPA that did the ARPANET thing, but I never knew _why_ there was an ARPA or how it operated.

Update: as a side note, there wasn't a whole bunch of material on similar projects outside of the US; most of them were just cursory mentions. It seems the research in the US came first and gained the most traction though, and I understand it's kinda out of scope for this book, so I'm not complaining.