Where wizards stay up late
the origins of the Internet
by Katie Hafner, Katie Hefner, Matthew Lyon · first published 1996
78% recommend21% neutral1% critical
Why HN recommends it
Detailed, readable history of ARPANET and the early Internet, covering packet switching, the BBN team, email and Ethernet. Suits anyone curious how the Internet came about; compared to Soul of a New Machine.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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 comput
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…http://www.amazon.com/The-Soul-A-New-Machine/dp/0316491977 - Show Stopper! : http://www.amazon.com/Show-Stopper-Breakneck-Generation-Micr... - Dealers of Lightning: http://www.amazon.com/Dealers-Lightning-Xerox-PARC-Computer/... - Where Wizards Stay Up Late: http://www.amazon.com/Where-Wizards-Stay-Up-Late/dp/06848326...
on “Ask HN: How to learn about the history of computing?” ↗Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet By Katie Hafner and Matthew Lyon https://www.amazon.com/dp/0684832674 -- I read the Audiobook version of this book. It presents a narrative of the development of the very…
on “Ask HN: Where can one learn about the history of the internet and the protocols?” ↗I highly recommend reading the book “Where Wizards Stay Up Late”, which covers much of the history that this article touches upon. Great book. https://www.amazon.com/Where-Wizards-Stay-Up-Late/dp/0684832...
on “Larry Roberts has died” ↗If you're not too familiar with the story, Where Wizards Stay Up Late is a good history of the beginning of the internet. https://www.amazon.com/Where-Wizards-Stay-Up-Late/dp/0684832...
on “Bob Taylor Has Died” ↗…bunch of computer history books last year, and these were all more interesting IMO: - John Gernter, The Idea Factory - T.R. Reid, The Chip - Stephen Levy, Hackers - Katie Hafner and Matthew Lyon, Where Wizards Stay Up Late - Michael Hiltzik, Dealers of Lightning - Susan Lammers, Programmers at Work (Actually I read Levy & Lammers a long time ago, but they're both better than SotNM too.) Those were full of themes like…
on “Windows NT and VMS: The Rest of the Story (1998)” ↗…and history. Here are some good books: "The Jargon File", Eric S. Raymond (ed.) http://www.catb.org/jargon/ "The Cuckoo's Egg", Cliff Stoll "Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution", Steven Levy "Where Wizards Stay up Late", Katie Hafner
on “Ask HN: What are the books to learn the hacker culture?” ↗“Where Wizards Stay Up Late” is a fantastic book that has some good insight on Lick’s imagination and contributions to technology. And LOADS more! https://www.amazon.com/Where-Wizards-Stay-Up-Late/dp/0684832...
on “Who Is This “Licklider” Guy? (2008)” ↗…Coming of Steve Jobs", Alan Deutschman - "Revolution in The Valley: The Insanely Great Story of How the Mac Was Made", Andy Hertzfeld - "Masters of Doom", David Kushner - "Idea Man", Paul Allen - "Where Wizards Stay Up Late", Katie Hafner >> Entertaining stories, but less historical value: - "Ghost in the Wires", Kevin Mitnick - "Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley", Antonio Garcia Martinez…
on “Ask HN: What are more books like “Masters of Doom” or “Showstoppers”?” ↗The book "Where Wizards Stay Up Late" by Katie Hafner has a nice overview of this battle of standards. Here are some of my favorite quotes from the book: "the Internet community—people like Cerf and Kahn and Postel, who had spent years…
on “The Battle Between Standards: TCP/IP vs. OSI (2003) [pdf]” ↗Then if you really want to get into the details you could begin working through the RFCs: https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc-index.html in contrast to this, a brief and lively history is the book Where Wizards Stay Up Late by Katie Hafner and Matthew Lyon.
on “Ask HN: Where can one learn about the history of the internet and the protocols?” ↗…& Painters by PG Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman by Feynman What Do You Care What Other People Think by Feynman The Cathedral & The Bazaar by Raymond Novels: The Soul of a New Machine by Kidder Where Wizards Stay up Late by Hafner
on “Ask YC: What would you put on a hacker's bookshelf?” ↗If you are interested in the early history of the Internet, and would like a lot more detail than provided by this paper, I cannot recommend the following book enough: "Where Wizards Stay Up Late - The Origins Of The Internet": http://www.amazon.com/Where-Wizards-Stay-Up-Late/dp/06848326...
on “A Brief History of the Internet (1999)” ↗You should go read about the history of the Internet. AT&T was a major barrier to early efforts in creating the Internet. See, e.g., http://www.amazon.com/Where-Wizards-Stay-Up-Late/dp/06848326... In my view, the breakup of the Bell System laid the groundwork for the Internet to thrive. For that matter, read about the origins of antitrust law. Monopolies and oligopolies neutralize…
on “We’re About to Lose Net Neutrality” ↗"Where Wizards Stay Up Late"[0] is a fascinating account of the invention of the internet (Licklider a major player). I found it to be _much_ more interesting than I expected from the subject material. Highly recommended. [0] http://www.amazon.com/Where-Wizards-Stay-Up-Late/dp/06848326...
on “J.C.R. Licklider on the History of Personal Workstations (1986) [video]” ↗…technical subjects. I think some good examples of CS audiobooks might be: - "The Information" by James Gleick, which discusses a lot of mathematical theory and the physical nature of information. - "Where Wizards Stay Up Late" by Katie Hafner, which chronicles the creation of the internet, but revels in some of the engineering details and technical challenges the team encountered. - "How The Mind Works" by Steven Pinker (tangentially…
on “Ask HN: Can you recommend any good computer science audiobooks or podcasts?” ↗