Customer Reviews

Exploring the Internet: A Technical Travelogue

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Widely available through 2nd hand shops at Amazon, this book provides a comprehensive look into "the internet that once was" in the early 90's of the last century.

This travelogue brings the reader to many nations that were then only at the beginning of the world's largest-ever communications network. Way before commercial breakthrough of the internet, this book is about building the basic infrastructure between computer centers, about getting the technical communications protocols right and about laying the foundations of today's internet.

Suitable for anyone interested in computer science that has a basic knowledge on computer networks, food and travelling places.

Being somewhat of a historian, I gave this book high ranks simply because it goes where few books have gone before. Very little non-technical information about the Internet was available until it became THE Internet.

The author starts with what sounds like a relatively simple goal, publishing various communications standards on the Internet. His philosphy, sensible by today's standards: ¨Standards are laws and laws must be known to be observed."

This was 1991, the days when FTP was still king, before the WWW changed the way we thought about Internet, information access, and just about everything else. Even "old-timers" have trouble remembering the internet before the Web, so it is equally hard to remember the mindsets of the standards organizations of those days. When the ITU cancels online publication after 90 days, they (in typical bureaucratic fashion), also demand a report from him. This book is his report.

Hardcore network types will see how the Internet, as we know it, could have just as easily ended up X.25 and/or OSI based.

There are also precious stories, like why is ElevatorNET* better than X.400 **? Or, where were people using floppy-net to actually deliver email?

* Posting in the elevators of the ITU building. ** An email standard created by the ITU.

It is out of print? I better keep my copy safe!

This is a great book, explaining why the TCP/IP standards killed off the OSI/ISO standards, why so many people don't get the internet, and what it takes to be a technical leader. It is written by somebody who knows networking inside and out, but who also understands politics. He is a very good writer, and has a deep understanding of his topic. You should read the book if you want to understand where the internet came from, and you should also read it if you want to help make the next technological revolution happen, and would like some hints on how to do it.

In spite of the other books that Malamud has written, this is not a technology book, but it is a book about technology. Historians and politicians can and should read it. But it will be enjoyed most by engineers, because it will tell them how to change the world.