How the Internet Happened, Brian McCullough
How the Internet Happened, Brian McCullough
List: $22.95 | Sale: $16.07
Club: $11.47

How the Internet Happened
From Netscape to the iPhone

Author: Brian McCullough

Narrator: Timothy Andrés Pabon

Unabridged: 13 hr 29 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/23/2018

Synopsis

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.

About Brian McCullough

Brian McCullough is an eighteen-year veteran of the Internet industry and the founder of various web-based startups. Host of the biweekly Internet History Podcast and the daily Techmeme Ride Home podcast, he was named a 2016 TED Resident. He lives in Brooklyn.

About Timothy Andrés Pabon

Timothy Andrés Pabon is an English- and Spanish-speaking voice-over artist who has had acting roles on House of Cards and has also been a costar on HBO’s acclaimed series The Wire. As a stage actor, he has worked off-Broadway at the June Havoc Theatre, and his regional credits include Center Stage, the Shakespeare Theatre, Arena Stage, the Hippodrome, Olney Theatre, Rep Stage, and GALA Hispanic Theatre.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Pete

How the Internet Happened (2018) by Brian McCullough is a really excellent look at how the commercial internet grew from the early 1990s until the launch of the iPhone. While writing the book McCullough recorded the interviews he did with people and released them as 'The Internet History Podcast'. C......more

Goodreads review by Jonathan

4/10 This is not a book about how the internet happened. It's a book about several internet startups and the internet stock bubble of the early 2000's. Part of the issue is expectation, as I naively assumed this would be a book that covered some aspects of the actually creation of the internet that A......more

Goodreads review by Ian

Really entertaining history of the internet from ARPANET up to the launch of the iOS App Store. The wildest section being the dotcom bubble days. The one idea that jumped out at me the most was how wrong people often were about, well, everything. From Berners-Lee not seeing the value of images on th......more

Quotes

“In his story, the internet didn’t happen only because of wizardly coding and cheaper computers. It also happened because of serendipity, failure, friendships, and blood feuds…Such historical tidbits help us see that today’s tech titans didn’t arrive on the scene as superhuman.”

Wall Street Journal

“[A] lively narrative of an era that utterly transformed everything we thought we knew about technology…[that] chronicles the whole fascinating story for the first time.”

BookRiot

“A tasty, educational treat for tech heads and other web denizens.”

Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Tech enthusiasts and students of business, marketing, and ecommerce will benefit from the detailed chronicling of the early Internet days. Readers will delight in being reminded of long-forgotten platforms and in understanding how Internet evangelists, Wall Street, and the moneyed elite have shaped our online lives.”

Library Journal (starred review)

“An entertaining and informative technological history which computer geeks and readers interested in everything from sociology to business and media will relish.”

Booklist

“Narrator Timothy Andrés Pabon’s voice provides a sense of wonder and enthusiasm, which capture the overwhelmingly sunny tone of McCullough’s prose.”

AudioFile

“Brian McCullough vividly recounts the brilliant hunches, happy accidents, and fortuitous timing that converged to create the first twenty-five years of the internet era.”

Chris Anderson, owner of TED

“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.”

Richard Munson, author of Tesla

“Destined to become the definitive text on how the web became big business―and came to dominate every facet of our lives.”

Brian Merchant, author of The One Device

Awards

  • Audible.com Bestseller
  • Library Journal Best Book of the Year
  • BookRiot Pick
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