Twenty-five years ago, it didn't exist. Today, 20 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 1960s, 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 computers. Taking listeners behind the scenes, Where Wizards Stay Up Late captures the hard work, genius, and happy accidents of their daring, stunningly successful venture.
©1996 Katie Hafner (P)2012 Katie Hafner
"Great history of the internet"
First thing you should know is that this book is a history of the origins of the internet that was written in the mid-1990s, so while the internet was sort of a big deal it was still a pretty small place compared to today. Also since this is a history of the origins of the internet, the fact it was written when it was doesn't matter.
This is a history written more of a factual style than a novel style and it explains, in basic terms, a lot of the early technical issues and the resolutions to them. I have computer science degree and I've been creating websites since 1996 and didn't have any issue following what they were talking about, but I could certainly see how someone less knowledgeable on the subject might have a hard time following the terminology in audio format. Note again the author dumbs down most of it, but still if you don't know what they're talking about or don't understand something it might not be very interesting to you.
Still I very much enjoyed the book and it's an amazing story knowing what we know today -- and it's amazing how different the world is since this book was written.