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Book Reviewed by:
Chris Fredrick
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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 Netscape's Marc Andreessen and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, McCullough also reveals surprising quirks and unknown tales as he tracks both the technology and the culture around the internet's rise. Cinematic in detail and unprecedented in scope, the result both enlightens and informs as it draws back the curtain on the new rhythm of disruption and innovation the internet fostered, and helps to redefine an era that changed every part of our lives.
To Come.
McCullough tells the human side of the Internet story, the blind rush toward the next big thing and the rapid successes and failures along the way. This well-researched and well-curated history provides just the right amount of detail to keep the reader engaged and connected to the stories of those involved...continued
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(Reviewed by Chris Fredrick).
Brian Merchant, author of The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone
How the Internet Happened is destined to become the definitive text on how the web became big business - and came to dominate every facet of our lives, from communication to commerce. Painstakingly researched and deftly written, McCullough gives us a comprehensive guide to the startups and CEOs who ushered in the internet age. Chris Anderson, head of TED
Brian McCullough vividly recounts the brilliant hunches, happy accidents, and fortuitous timing that converged to create the first 25 years of the internet era. Even for those of us who lived through it, it's astonishing to step back and realize the scale of the changes in human habits, communication, and society as a whole that have occurred in just one generation. Richard Munson, author of Tesla: Inventor of the Modern
For those of us who've grown up with computers and the Internet, McCullough offers an insider's look at the unplanned and undirected romp that enabled the web to infiltrate our lives....How the Internet Happened is a fast-paced and enjoyable perspective on our lives, as well as a compelling exploration for how humanity and computers came together in profound ways.
In How the Internet Happened, author Brian McCullough provides details about the visionaries and startups that created the modern iteration of the Internet, giving his account character and dimension and providing a more complete picture of Internet-era history. Here are a few such details:
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