A Brief History of the Future: Origins and Destiny of the Internet by John Naughton

by John Naughton

The Internet is the most remarkable thing human beings have built since the Pyramids. John Naughton's book intersperses wonderful personal stories with an authoritative account of where the Net actually came from, who invented it and why, and where it might be taking us. Most of us have no idea of how the Internet works or who created it. Even fewer have any idea of what it means for society and the future. In a cynical age, John Naughton has not lost his capacity for wonder. He examines the nature of his own enthusiasm for technology and traces its roots in his lonely childhood and in his relationship with his father. A Brief History of the Future is an intensely personal celebration of vision and altruism, ingenuity and determination and above all, of the power of ideas, passionately felt, to change the world.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Science, Internet, Computers, Technology, Computer Science

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

John Naughton is Senior Research Fellow at Cambridge University’s Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH), where he co-directed the 'Conspiracy and Democracy' and 'Technology and Democracy' projects; Director of the Press Fellowship Programme at Wolfson College, Cambridge; Emeritus Professor of the Public Understanding of Technology at the Open University; an Adjunct Professor at University College, Cork; and the Technology columnist of the London Observer newspaper.

Reviews

[Caity · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an assigned book for a comms class that was never completed due to Covid. I was slightly worried as it's a book about technology written 20 years ago, surely it's out of date. I was actually pleasantly surprised, due to much of it going over the history and the internet in it's infancy, it's not too bogged down in what it considers current.

Naughton goes over the hugely collaborative process of establishing the connectivity we now take for granted. It is very thorough in listing all the main figures involved. This is probably where it gets weighted down by the details. With so many players it feels very much like you are reading so much of the same information over and over again. It did help to emphasise the sheer amount of work that went into it but felt overly repetitive.

It also flits between quite difficult concepts to explaining basic principles, which made it slightly unclear who the audience of this book was supposed to be. If it is for the general public then the basics should be explained first before building up to anything more complicated.

Definitely interesting to see the creation of interconnectivity as we know it. It was cool to see the origins of terminology, especially since much of it has been absorbed into our vernacular. Would definitely recommend this but it needs to be know it is a dense read.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

My husband has been after me to read this book for several years so I finally bit the bullet and got it done. It was published in 2000 so it was interesting to read the history of the Internet and WWW up to that date and think of how it has evolved since then. I learned lots of things but also discovered that one can't be married to a software designer for over 30 years without picking up a lot of knowledge along the way. I knew of almost all the technical innovations and programming languages discussed, and because we had network access and email very early on, I felt like a pioneer in cyberspace. I enjoyed the book and its look at the movers and shakers of networks and how collaboration made the Internet what it is today.

[Tony Lawrence]

(c.2012) I picked this up some time ago and was not sure whether to register or keep ... but have now read it and will pass on to someone else to enjoy. However, be warned this is quite an in-depth, dare I say geeky (or 'nerdy' - both have definitions in the book's glossary!) tome. Naughton does what he sets out to do, in a lot of detail, unpicking the technologies, people, and developments that bought the internet and the world wide web to, well, the world! Sometimes its hard to follow the names and various chronological links ... maybe a hypertext web-based version of the book would be useful ;) I did however like the bits about the early PC days, the way that Linux and UNIX came about, the 'browser wars', and some of the philosophy about human-computer interaction (and interfaces), information retrieval and overload etc.

[Magda · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Licklider] had two overriding convictions. The first was that time-sharing was the key computing technology; the second was that the best way to make progress in research was to find the smartest computer scientists in the country and fund them to do whatever they wanted.

[Duncan Maccoll · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a set book for the UK Open University's T171 module - You, your computer and the net. I was one of many tutors on this module. The book is worth reading.

[Andrew Daniels · Rating 2 out of 5]

All books about the internet are generally obsolete, and its hard for them to say anything of value, merit or real insight. This book is less terrible than some, and has a few points to make, but the author is weakened by the narrowness of his perspective, limited understanding and poor writing style. It was a sincere effort, and not the worst out there, but that still didn't really make it a good book.

I do not recommend

[Deborah J Miles · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a set book in an Open University course I was taking at the time. My version was published in 2001. It is about the beginnings of the internet - how it all started and developed up to about 1999. It has a really useful glossary at the back which helped my understanding of the subject.
It complimented my learning and I found it easy to read.

[Todd Kushner · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are two other overlapping books on the subject, Where the Wizards Stay Up Late and The Dream Machine. This has more details but those give a more general discussion of the history. I would not read all three of them (I did). As mentioned, they are all dated and more for those who have an interest in the distant past (40s to 90s) of this technology. I do.

[Paddy McKeating · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much like Magna Carta this book seems to have increased with importance over time. It takes good patience with science to read. So what it may lack in fluidity it makes up for with quaintness.
This history of the internet written a decade before the smartphone really is something!

[Musa Ahmed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Naughton does a great job recounting the story of the inception of the internet, personal computing, the web, UNIX, and much much.

While this book is primarily focused on the internet, it paints a detailed picture of the state of computer science through the early years of the internet.

[Brad Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dated for sure; many parts are quite skippable, however interesting history explaining the evolution of the internet.

[Murari Srinivasa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of the books I read as a college kid studying computers and Information Technology in the early 2000s and has been one of my childhood favourites, and continues to be so.

The history of computing is laced with these wonderful stories and how the Internet came about is typical. John Naughton comes across as a reader's delight in the way he picks up the diverse events over time and space, and pieces them together to tell the story, without boring the reader with jargon and science. It is more history than a technical narrative. The focus on the briliant individuals who made the Internet possible - Bush, Licklider, Von Neumann, Stallman will certainly spur the a curious reader to go into greater depths on the lives of these visionaries.

A great book and one students must definitely read, especially in a world where daily life is going to be dominated by Social Media and AI.

[Mark Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is perhaps one of the most eye-opening books I've ever read, dramatically dispelling the layers of ignorance I've plastered over the technology I use daily... The internet is far more than a medium of communication or a tool... It is a set of ideals embodied in some kind of social medium, and something that comments profoundly on those involved in its creation... This book reads in places like a story, a historical novel perhaps, and in others like a typical piece of non-fiction writing, but with more poetry and humour than usual... This book is brilliant!

[Steve Chilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brilliant telling of the history behind the coming of the internet. It was a pickup in a secondhand shop and I didn't realise it was so old (10 years). This meant that the later chapters were rather out of date. The whole social media thing hadn't happened. I am sure an updated version would be an even better read. Nevertheless, it does give prominence to some of the early players who often get forgotten by people who can't see past Tim B-L

[Lyka Rhodes · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is loveling writen. I would recommend it to anyone interested as technology.

One of the main appeals of it is that it old so it existing to see the young of the internet.

This book saved my reading after a difficult start to the year. I am thankful it existing.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many good points about the future, but this guy has some serious issues.

[Gopi Krishna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enlightening

[Antonio Gallo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story in progress ...