How the Internet happened
by Brian McCullough · first published 2018
64% recommend36% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Narrative history of the internet from the dot-com era through the rise of the iPhone, told through the people and companies involved; suits readers who want tech history rather than technical detail.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
"Tech-guru Brian McCullough delivers a rollicking history of the internet, why it exploded, and how it changed everything. The internet was never intended for you, opines Brian McCullough in this lively narrative of an era that utterly transformed everything we thought we knew about technology. In How the Internet Happened, he chronicles the whole fascinating story for the first time, beginning in a dusty Illinois basement in 1993, when a group of college kids set off a once-in-an-epoch revolution with what would become the first "dotcom." Depicting the lives of now-famous innovators like Nets
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…PLATO system and the dawn of cyberculture (2017) is a really interesting book about a system few people here would probably have heard of. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34373814-the-friendly-or... How the Internet Happened is very good. The podcast that was created while writing the book is also worth a listen. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38212134-how-the-interne... Accidental Empires is also very good https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27652.Accidental_Empires
on “Ask HN: Computer Science/History Books?” ↗How the Internet Happened (2018) by Brian McCullough https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38212134-how-the-interne... The 'Internet History Podcast' that was made while writing the book is also excellent. The Friendly Orange…
on “The Birth of Unix with Brian Kernighan” ↗Factfulness (2018) by Hans Rosling is fantastic about the real state of the world. How the Internet Happened (2018) by Brian McCullough is a fantastic read about the history of the internet from first internet bubble to the iPhone. Educated (2018) by Tara Westover is an amazing autobiography. Enlightenment…
on “Ask HN: Favorite nonfiction books of 2018?” ↗…said, I think you can learn a ton by learning about the history, trends, and other software companies. Here are some of my favorites: The Dream Machine Hackers: Heroes of the Computer a Revolution How the Internet Happened The Soul of a New Machine AI Superpowers Platform Revolution The Everything Store
on “Ask HN: Do you know any good audio books for developers?” ↗"How the Internet Happened" by Brian McCullough covers the early years of the internet through the dotcom bust. He has a podcast consisting of some of the chapters for the book and interviews he did while writing.
on “Ask HN: Computer Science/History Books?” ↗A few books that I enjoyed: * How the Internet Happened: From Netscape to the iPhone * Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet * Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture
on “Ask HN: Book recommendations about the history of the internet” ↗…States - https://www.amazon.com/Peoples-History-Computing-United-Stat... Fire In The Valley: The Birth and Death of the Personal Computer - https://www.amazon.com/Fire-in-Valley-audiobook/dp/B071YYZJG... How The Internet Happened: From Netscape to the iPhone - https://www.amazon.com/How-Internet-Happened-Netscape-iPhone... Steve Jobs - https://www.amazon.com/Steve-Jobs-Walter-Isaacson/dp/1451648... The Idea Factory: Bell Labs…
on “Ask HN: Material on early computing history and innovation?” ↗A History of Modern Computing is great Would add: - How The Internet Happened (history of the internet) - To The Digital Age (transistor history)
on “Ask HN: Best way to learn about computing history?” ↗Two good ones: 1) Where Wizards Stay Up Late and 2) How the Internet Happened: From Netscape to the iPhone
on “Ask HN: Greatest books about the history of computing” ↗…great real life was at getting stuff done. The computer was supposed to assist them and for a time it did. That is until we forgot what it was for and made it replace life altogether. I read the book how the internet happened (great book btw) and I would politely like to refuse this claim :) Or perhaps there could be a separation between the computer and the internet (or more accurately the browsers) When only computers…
on “Why I Am Not Going to Buy a Computer” ↗…webvan.com, kozmo.com and many others. Amazon.com (during 1998) in some sense is the exception, not the norm from the bloodbath in stock markets during the dot com bubble. (I highly recommend the book How the internet happened for more knowledge about things before, during and after the dot com bubble.)
on “Alphabet's cash burn raises alarm for Big Tech as AI spending climbs” ↗…Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley", Antonio Garcia Martinez - "Hatching Twitter: A True Story of Money, Power, Friendship, and Betrayal", Nick Bilton >> On my to-read queue: - "How the Internet Happened", Brian McCullough [just started; very promising] - "Troublemakers: Silicon Valley's Coming of Age", Leslie Berlin - "Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of WWII", Liza…
on “Ask HN: What are more books like “Masters of Doom” or “Showstoppers”?” ↗Brian McCullough's book How the Internet Happened (https://www.amazon.com/How-Internet-Happened-Netscape-iPhone...) angles this in terms of the centralized digital superhighway versus the open distributed internet. (Where thin clients, set top boxes,…
on “Got an old Raspberry Pi spare? Try RISC OS. It is, something else” ↗…Network Geeks: How They Built the Internet by Brian E Carpenter The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires by Tim Wu Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet by Andrew Blum How the Internet Happened: From Netscape to the iPhone by Brian McCullough Maybe someone else here has read them and can comment.
on “US weighs Google break-up in landmark antitrust case” ↗…were just lucky they launched at the right time. But they definitely were not there first to do this(abuse advertising), they just happened to join a game and they excelled at it. Here is a quote from How the Internet Happened “The first genuine advertisement on the World Wide Web was published by Global Network Navigator, which, in 1993, sold an ad to a Silicon Valley law firm, Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe. It was text…
on “Facebook's Hypocrisy on Apple's New iOS 14 Privacy Feature” ↗