Andrew Blum

A travelogue of a different kind. Looking at the geography of the internet requires physical travel and the ability to apply metaphors to that which can't be seen. Andrew Blum travels the route of the internet to discover how much it still relies on the old geography of past trade routes. His story benefits from the willingness of internet companies and engineers to show him the guts of internet. Google is the one exception--his visit to their data center is by his own admission a "farce" where he shown nothing more interesting than their lunch room. Written at a level that the non-technical audience (me) can understand. Recommend it.… (mais)

Man, did I want to love this book more than I did! Despite my lack of video gamer cred, I am fascinated by the Internet and how it has developed and evolved over the years. The premise of this book seemed so promising: "a journey to the center of the Internet", where the actual cables and network connections are made? Sign me up!

Alas, either I am not intellectually equipped to understand the science-y stuff (very possible), or Andrew Blum is not literarily equipped to explain the science-y stuff to non-science people. I was lost a great deal of the time as I tried to understand his explanations of how computers connect and send data hither and yon in a vast web of wires and tubes.

The subject continues to interest me, so I'll be on the lookout for another book that does for me what I had hoped this one would.… (mais)

Part memoir, part travelogue, part history, this book provides insight into the physical infrastructure of the internet. The author went on a personal quest to understand its physical presence. He visits locations around the world and takes the reader along for the ride. It is not for techies. It is more for everyday people who think of “the internet” as ubiquitous presence that has no physical reality. In fact, it includes many tangible pieces and parts – tubes, wires, fiber optic cables on the ocean floor, servers, routers, buildings that house a multitude of connection points, and much more. Recommended to those who enjoy books on “how things work.”… (mais)