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Spirit of the Web: The Age of Information from Telegraph to Internet

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Rare insight into the history of the information age
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Spirit of the Web: The Age of Information from Telegraph to Internet
Wade Rowland
Manufacturer: Somerville House Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Rowland begins his analyses in earnest with Michael Faraday's discovery of the electron. This discovery made the telegraph possible and formed the basis for all real-time communication up through today's worldwide telecommunications systems. Rowland then examines the telegraph in depth, along with the electronic communications systems that followed--telephone, radio, television, and computer networks.

Rowland probes deep beneath the surface stories of inventions and their creators to demonstrate the social forces at work as each new technology became a powerful force. A recurring theme is how new technology appears to be of limited interest to the governments and corporations that lay the groundwork. Yet repeatedly these new technologies explode in the hands of the general population--which the government assumed was not interested--as they discover new ways to exchange information with those who are farther away.

For example, Rowland's stories tell how the telegraph made trivial incidents newsworthy, such as the rapid updates about the state of some princess's health. Compare that to the fascination on the Web with looking at remote cameras that are pointed to something as mundane as fish in an aquarium. Rowland views the growth of communications technology optimistically and regards the Internet--particularly the Web--as a major development in democratizing communication. --Elizabeth Lewis

Book Description

This popular history of the evolution of the ways we communicate gives us fascinating and important perspective in understanding the roots of the modern electronic revolution. It shows how the wiring of our planet for the last one hundred and fifty years has led to the Global Village we now inhabit.

This is a vast and absorbing story about the human imagination and its resourcefulness. It is a dramatic story that includes personalities and inventions; the social, economic, and political consequences of those technologies, as well as a philosophical subtext about communications theory and how it has changed our world.

Spirit of the Web is an optimistic work that points to the extraordinary promise of the Internet as a truly democratic means of communication.

Customer Reviews:

Rare insight into the history of the information age.......2001-02-21

It is hard to think of a topic that has generated so much shallow commentary and narrow vision as the whole information technology revolution in general and the Internet in particular. Everyone with something to sell or a reputation to make has climbed on this wagon, and as a result the noise to signal ratio in relation to this immensely important subject is extremely high. But now and then someone comes along to take another look at things and really puts some meaning back into the discussion. Enter Wade Rowland. Rowland is a Canadian science writer, but what impresed me most about his book is, firstly, he effectively places the whole history of technological development in a wider social context, including some interesting commentary on on the role of philosophy, and second, he is not afraid to remind us of the much ignored human dimension. In particular Rowland's treatment of the Internet is interesting and insightful, and while rightly citical of much of what has ocurred (especially the debasement of popular culture under pressure from commercial interest) he is optimistic about the genuine liberatory qualities of the net (as opposed, for instance, to broadcast TV). In my view this is an extraordinarily successful book, and hopefully raises the bar in an area where both profound thought and good writing have been rare. If you do not read any other book about the information age and the net, read this one.

Still relevant.......2001-01-25

This book remains one of the most relevant accounts of the development of the Web. I teach a Mass Communication course, and assign this as the text to place the Internet into a broader liberal arts context. The students find it an engaging way to understand some of the historical precedents of the Web.

For more recent perspective, magazines like Wired and Business 2.0 complete the picture.

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