Book Review

[Marloth _at__ t-online.de (Heinz Marloth)]

Liebe KollegInnen,
ich leite die folgende buchbesprechung mit meiner empfehlung
an sie weiter:

> Netizens: On the History and Impact of Usenet and the Internet
> by Michael and Ronda Hauben
> Published by the IEEE Computer Society
> Review by Mark Horton
>
> Netizens describes the history of the Internet, focusing especially
> on the formation of the Usenet bulletin board system.  For me it was
> a trip down memory lane.  The social and political implications of
> opening up communication among a group of academic philosophers was
> groundbreaking, and Netizens is there to give us the play-by-play.
> The book includes interviews with the founders of Usenet and with the
> pioneers who contributed to its character and growth.  The story of how
> Tom Truscott's summer job at Bell Labs, volleyball, chess, and "rising
> at the crack of noon" turned into the seed of Usenet is inspiring,
> especially in this age of cost-cutting and disposable computer software.
> The authors make good use of an archive of the first few years of Usenet
> postings.  Those of us who were there remember much, but the archive is
> like putting history on videotape.  Quotes from the formative days remind
> us of the issues of the time, such as the unwillingness of the ARPANET to
> talk to Usenet; censorship; and how the high cost of getting Usenet to Europe
> was overcome.
> Chapters of the book tell the history of many of the building blocks of
> the Internet.  The early days of the ARPANET are chronicled, from the
> selection of the first four sites in 1968 to the people involved and how
> they solved the early problems of the net.  Netizens also tells the story
> of the UNIX operating system, how it came about, the key contributors,
> even how the grep command got its name.
> Photos from the 1950s showing computer center machine rooms with IBM 704
> components taking up the entire room, key researchers at places like MIT,
> computer chess tournaments, and the founders of Usenet add to the sense
> of history.
> This is an excellent book.  The academic style means you'll have to think to
> read it.  This book is a vital element in any Internet historian's library.
>
> Mark Horton was a very important early Usenet pioneer. He co-authored the
> software called B-News. He was an advocate of the early democratic governance
> of Usenet and has often been callled Mr. Usenet. He recently posted a review
> of the book Netizens to some Usenet newsgroups. I think members of NetzForum
> will value his review and the book he has reviewed because they capture some
> of the best of the culture and principles of the Net. His review follows:

> P.S. Netizens is avialable online at 
> http://www.columbia.edu/~hauben/netbook/
> other reviews are availabale at 
> http://www.columbia.edu/~hauben/netbook/reviews.html

mfg   H.M.
--
Heinz Marloth, Seehofstrasse  15, D-60594 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Telefon: 069 - 61 23 94       eMail: marloth _at__ t-online.de
~~
Nur wer gegen den Strom schwimmt, gelangt zu den Quellen.