Books like The Internet Galaxy — picked by fans

If you want an introduction to DARPA and how it has managed to play such an outsize role in the creation of the technologies of the future, start with this book on its best-known and most influential project, ARPANET. ARPANET went online way back in 1969, when, for the very first time, two computers of disparate types connected over a dedicated phone line to exchange data.

This book tells the story of how the project came together and how it birthed the internet, offering a book-length case study of how DARPA creates wizardry on a relative shoestring. There are lots of great details here, such as the poor soul who kept getting harassed by one of the first dial-up modems calling the wrong number. 

This is a classic. The book provides an early assessment of the impact of new communications tools on freedom of expression. Pool observed how electronic networks were emerging and transforming the nature of print, arguing that we need to learn how to live with technology and make the most of it. Electronic technologies, Pool envisaged, will become the dominant mode of communication. Pool further envisaged that electronic technology would allow a great degree of diversity, more knowledge, easier access, and freer speech. He provided a lucid and perceptive analysis of the relation of American law to technology and its regulation. Pool was concerned with the negative consequences of new technology and feared its excessive regulation. It is not computers but policy that threatens freedom, he warned. This seminal work encapsulates many of the questions we face today. The challenges Pool described came to life as the pressures on government to… show more.

Due to its global nature and reach, some people think that because the internet knows no borders, it also does not have limits. This concept is wrong. Goldsmith and Wu tell the fascinating story of the internet's challenges to governmental rule. They ask: who is really in control of the internet? And does the internet liberate us from government, borders, and even our physical selves? In a lively prose, the authors peppered their arguments with real-life examples concerning disagreements between giants of the internet and democratic and authoritarian governments. They show that governments have been asserting their power to direct the future of the internet.

Internet intermediaries have to filter content geographically to comply with local law for a small fraction of their communications. This imposes costs on them, and forces them to adjust to this cost of business. But in light of the internet’s many advantages, the authors argue… show more.

For me, every book by Clifford (Cliff) Christians is always a celebration. I met Cliff in 1996 and we kept in touch ever since then. Christians has contributed to the field of media ethics more than any other scholar I know. In this book, Christians explores the fundamentals of ethics and justice in moral theory. In addition to “the usual suspects,” i.e., Aristotle, Immanuel Kant, Rene Descartes, John Stuart Mill, Auguste Comte, and Max Weber, Christians explores modern liberal philosophy, feminist philosophy, African philosophy, Latin American liberation theology, Confucianism, and Islam. He does this in his usual dazzling and most comprehensive style, exhibiting wide knowledge of the literature and brilliant analysis that adds layers upon layers of sharp insights. As in his previous books, Christians invokes an ethics of care and humanity in order to alleviate poverty, homelessness, and unemployment, issues that trouble Western and non-Western societies, albeit in different… show more.

Although published several years ago, this book is a timely investigation about the power of big tech on so many aspects of our lives.

The book focuses to a great extent on the impacts on the music, book, and newspaper industries that have been significantly disrupted by the tech industry. But it also alerts to the larger implications, especially as tech becomes increasingly dominant in our economy, democracy, and lives. 

Lessig lays out his vision for how the Internet should and should not be regulated in easy-to-understand prose that belies a powerful ideology. This book really helped me frame in my own book how new technologies, like the Internet, are approached by regulators and governments. The idea that code cannot be owned, lest it be manipulated, as Lessig states, unlocked a way for me to think and write about how blockchain should be approached as well. 

Selling on Amazon For Dummies is essential practical reading when it comes to selling on Amazon. It walks merchants through the process of building a business on Amazon almost anywhere in the world, as long as you have access to a computer and the internet. It covers the basics of selling on Amazon, from getting started to using its fulfillment services, Fulfilled By Amazon.

One of the first things I learned when I started to study the topic seriously was that there is a great deal of confusion between payments and banking. Of course, money has different functions; we all understand that, but we live in a time when those functions are, in a way, jumbled together.

There is no fundamental economic reason why banks provide payment systems on such a large scale, and indeed, one of the major impacts of new technologies in the space may be to separate them. This is a timely and well-written book about payments and the extent to which the unbanked problem should be reinterpreted because most people in most of the world want payments, not banking. 

As a Digital Strategist, after hundreds of meetings with clients, I noticed that the lack of digital marketing strategy is the real reason that some retail companies do not manage to grow and some grow successfully. I went on a search for a book that will be a step-by-step framework on how to plan, integrate and measure the effectiveness of each digital platform. I discovered this book that covers many subjects of digital marketing strategy that are absolutely crucial in successfully managing the strategy of digital marketing retail or eCommerce business.

If you are an expert at something and you want to build a business around your expertise, then Expert Secrets is your guide. Russell Brunson has several other very successful books, but for me, this is the starting point on your expert journey. Once you have mastered how to package and talk about your expertise in a way that enrolls others, then you are well on your way to the success you are seeking. Russell shows you how to simplify your message, address resistance, and develop what he calls “unlimited free customers”. He shows you exactly how to bridge your customers from their current situation to where they want to be using your expertise. If done correctly, your target customers will be banging your door down to hire you for your expertise to accelerate their own personal goals and elevate your income!