Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #726726 in Books
• Published on: 1998-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 400 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Nerds 2.0.1: A Brief History of the Internet presents the development of the Web as a product of colliding, dualistic forces: the individuality of the personal computer and the universality of a global network. Along the way, other complementary opposites arise, such as the intersection of the "computer lib" hippie hacker and the IBM or Pentagon bureaucrat. The biographies of these visionaries, and the magnificent changes their ideas induced, make Nerds 2.0.1 compelling reading.

Nerds 2.0.1 is a unique computer history book, in that it is really a history of networking. Author Stephen Segaller covers all the current heavy hitters of the technology industry in depth: Novell, 3Com, and Cisco. In particular, the story of the creation of Cisco--and the ousting of the original founders by the sponsoring venture capitalist--shows the high-level stakes and intrigue this billionaire world holds. Segaller also chronicles the failures of companies who didn't realise what their programmers had made available to them. IBM, Xerox, and, some would say, Microsoft are big players in this part of Segaller's tale.

The author puts technological developments in a helpful context: the infamous 100-hour Silicon Valley workweek, the "dog-year" life span of an Internet start-up, and the managerial shufflings of a sponsoring venture capitalist firm all make sense in the world he describes. --Jennifer Buckendorff, Amazon.com

Customer Reviews

Very readable, a real achievement
Basically, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the internet. OK, so it does miss out a lot, but that is the nature of the subject. If Nerds 201 had been twice as long it could not have covered every twist and turn of the story. The book manages to give the history of computer networks a human face . It's worth it just for the anecdotes and, as far as I know, it's the only book out there that tries to take it all in from the beginning. The only thing I would say is that there are a few typos and you have to concentrate to follow the plot in some of the earlier chapters. Maybe that is all stuff that could be ironed out in the next edition.

Very good history of computing
As noted in previous reviews, the book covers American computer/networking history moreso than the Internet proper. I found the origins of ARPA and the major companies to be fascinating. Certainly the author doesn't go into technical detail into protocols and such, no moreso than a WWII history book has to teach the subject of military strategy. The best thing about the book was the lighthearted style, that did a good job of showing these industry heavyweights as real people.

The "Internet family tree" in word form
Several other reviewers have perhaps missed the subtitle of the book: "A Brief history...". So not everyone got a mention... so what? It isn't a definitive history but a generally chronological collection of intertwined stories revolving around the networking of computers, but not restricted exclusively to that core topic.

I'll be honest: I started reading the book, found the early chapters heavy going and put it down several times in favour of other books. However, once I got into the meat of the book I found it very interesting, telling the personal stories of a number of people who were instrumental in various phases of how we come to be where we are today in the popular world of computing.

Several of the stories told in the book were unknown to me; others filled in little details of which I was not aware; and others still were news to me. The net result is that I close the book being better informed than I was previously.

I feel that the book manages to blend details and anecdotes to good effect and results in an overall entertaining read.

Whether you are a Microsoft-basher or not, whether you think the Altair or VisiCalc really warrant inclusion in a discussion about the Internet, there is no denying they each have their place in the long, winding story that brings us to where we are today, and consequently they have a valid place in this book.

Perhaps Nerds 2.0.2 will include all those missing details which other reviewers have highlighted. ;o)