Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet by Katie Hafner and Matthew Lyon

Reading about the early history of the Internet – from the origins of the ARPANET in the 1960s until it was decommissioned in 1990 – was fascinating. It’s amazing to realize that even the people who built the foundation of the Internet had no idea what it would become. I was also struck by the way ARPA functioned – it had lots of government funding and almost as much freedom to choose its research directions – and by the persistence required for each innovation that led to the Internet of today. All in all, Where Wizards Stay Up Late was an interesting, inspiring read.