Review: Nerds 2.0.1

Like Where Wizards Stay Up Late, Nerds 2.0.1 attempted to provide a history of the internet. It was filled with interviews, information, and stories. As a referance source its not the best because it goes off on multiple tangents, making little to no effort (in my opinion) to keep the story continuous.

The general story is continuous, however the author had the habit of telling a story, skipping to somewhere else, going back to the original story and then telling yet something else, expecting you to relate it all together. If this was on the Internet I'd have no problem with it, but he does a poor job of keeping the book together in a linear fashion.

Almost completly ignoring the contributions of other nations and people, the author, Stephen Segaller, focused primarily on the deveolpment of the Internet in the United States. When he did mention another country, it was on a tangent. An example would be how in the second last chapter he goes off on a large tangent about the number of programmers available in India.

While reading books like Where Wizards Stay Up Late, or Soul Of A New Machine I was genuinely touched by the story and wished the book hadn't ended. In this book I spent the latter half counting the pages until it was done.

Keep in mind that my conflict with the book is with Mr. Segallers writing style. You might enjoy it.

One of the redeeming features of this book was how it told many more "people stories" than other books I've read. Almost ignoring the technical aspects, it concentrated on telling everything from the garages companies started in, to the difference in tech companies management styles.

A good read, but only if you've nothing else to read.

Buy on Amazon: Nerds 2.0.1