- Paperback: 480 pages
- Publisher: Thomas Allen Publishers (Sep 11 2006)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0887622275
- ISBN-13: 978-0887622274
- Product Dimensions: 22.6 x 15 x 2.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 590 g
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #306,512 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
Product Details |
Product Description
Review
“A brilliant book. I couldn’t put it down.” (Norm Bolen, vice president, programming, History Television )
“…remarkable…a renaissance sweep of imagination…looks deeply into history to find patterns…Spirit of the Web is an engaging hybrid of popular scholarship: part archive, part science textbook, part philosophy, part polemic about the nature of authority and the control of information in all ages.” (The Globe and Mail )
“Rowland constructs a spirited, stimulating and sophisticated network of stories and accounts of technological inventions and advances, their roots and consequences for humanity, and the personalities that created them.” (Winnipeg Free Press )
“Spirit of the Web is an excellent examination, not just of the invention of these technologies, but of their economic, social and cultural impact…fascinating…definitive…highly recommended.” (The Regina Leader Post )
“…remarkable…a renaissance sweep of imagination…looks deeply into history to find patterns…Spirit of the Web is an engaging hybrid of popular scholarship: part archive, part science textbook, part philosophy, part polemic about the nature of authority and the control of information in all ages.” (The Globe and Mail )
“Rowland constructs a spirited, stimulating and sophisticated network of stories and accounts of technological inventions and advances, their roots and consequences for humanity, and the personalities that created them.” (Winnipeg Free Press )
“Spirit of the Web is an excellent examination, not just of the invention of these technologies, but of their economic, social and cultural impact…fascinating…definitive…highly recommended.” (The Regina Leader Post )
Book Description
Newly revised and updated, this new paperback edition of "Spirit of the Web" is an absorbing, dramatic, and comprehensive history of the development of communications technologies over the past 150 years. "Spirit of the Web" provides a fascinating and insightful perspective on the origins of the digital revolution and the history of the Global Village we now inhabit, from vacuum tubes and telegraphs to BlackBerrys and Google IPOs.
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon.ca
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rare insight into the history of the information age, Feb 20 2001
By Peter McMahon - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Spirit of the web: The age of information from telegraph to Internet (Hardcover)
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.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Still relevant, Jan 24 2001
By Jacob C Breeden - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Spirit of the web: The age of information from telegraph to Internet (Hardcover)
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.
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
