How the World Was One: Beyond the Global Village (1992)

I picked this up after reading "Mother Earth Mother Board" by Neal Stephenson. The first two parts were very interesting overviews of telegraph and radio development and the cast of characters involved. The latter three portions were mostly excerpts of speeches Stephenson gave and some general fiction he wrote. Overall an interesting book with lots of predictions that turned out to be quite accurate. ( )

Anyone with a passing interest in communications (electronic or otherwise) should read this book. Although it's a little dated when talking about 'now' and 'the future', it's a well paced description of the evolution of telecommunications including (but not limited) technical and business difficulties encountered along the way. Well worth the read so one does not repeat the mistakes of the past. In fact, I'd go as far to say this is the 'last' book on telecommunications published before fully commercial internet arrived, and as such is near essential reading for any businesses or technicians looking to upgrade infrastructure from 19th or 20th century tech for the 21st. ( )

There is really some fascinating history here. I wonder what he would have thought of twitter.