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Shop nowHow the Internet Happened
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Learn moreTech guru Brian McCullough delivers a rollicking history of the internet, why it exploded, and how it changed everything.
The internet was never intended for you, opines Brian McCullough in this lively narrative of an era that utterly transformed everything we thought we knew about technology. In How the Internet Happened, he chronicles the whole fascinating story for the first time, beginning in a dusty Illinois basement in 1993, when a group of college kids set off a once-in-an-epoch revolution with what would become the first “dotcom.”
Depicting the lives of now-famous innovators like Netscape’s Marc Andreessen and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, McCullough also reveals surprising quirks and unknown tales as he tracks both the technology and the culture around the internet’s rise. Cinematic in detail and unprecedented in scope, the result both enlightens and informs as it draws back the curtain on the new rhythm of disruption and innovation the internet fostered, and helps to redefine an era that changed every part of our lives.
Brian McCullough is an eighteen-year veteran of the Internet industry and the founder of various web-based startups. Host of the biweekly Internet History Podcast and the daily Techmeme Ride Home podcast, he was named a 2016 TED Resident. He lives in Brooklyn.
Timothy Andres Pabon is an actor and Spanish and English voice-over artist/audiobook narrator from Washington DC. He has over 140 books on Audible.com, one of which was nominated for a 2015 Society of Voice Arts and Sciences Award and another which was awarded an AudioFile Earphones award as part of an ensemble audiobook cast in 2014. His voice-over clients include Gabrielle Giffords, Hillary Clinton, The Sierra Club, NBC, and the 10-episode series Chasing Che on National Geographic. He has been seen on House of Cards seasons 3 and 4 as Mark, a White house press correspondent. He has also been a costar on HBO's acclaimed series The Wire opposite country music legend Steve Earl. As a stage actor he has worked Off-Broadway at the June Havoc Theatre, and his regional credits include Center Stage, the Shakespeare Theatre, Arena Stage, The Hippodrome, Olney Theatre, Rep Stage, and GALA Hispanic Theatre. Tim is a proud father of two children, and a member of AFTRA/SAG and Actor's Equity.
Reviews
“In his story, the internet didn’t happen only because of wizardly coding and cheaper computers. It also happened because of serendipity, failure, friendships, and blood feuds…Such historical tidbits help us see that today’s tech titans didn’t arrive on the scene as superhuman.”
“[A] lively narrative of an era that utterly transformed everything we thought we knew about technology…[that] chronicles the whole fascinating story for the first time.”
“A tasty, educational treat for tech heads and other web denizens.”
“Tech enthusiasts and students of business, marketing, and ecommerce will benefit from the detailed chronicling of the early Internet days. Readers will delight in being reminded of long-forgotten platforms and in understanding how Internet evangelists, Wall Street, and the moneyed elite have shaped our online lives.”
“An entertaining and informative technological history which computer geeks and readers interested in everything from sociology to business and media will relish.”
“Narrator Timothy Andrés Pabon’s voice provides a sense of wonder and enthusiasm, which capture the overwhelmingly sunny tone of McCullough’s prose.”
“Brian McCullough vividly recounts the brilliant hunches, happy accidents, and fortuitous timing that converged to create the first twenty-five years of the internet era.”
“A fast-paced and enjoyable perspective on our lives, as well as a compelling exploration for how humanity and computers came together in profound ways.”
“Destined to become the definitive text on how the web became big business―and came to dominate every facet of our lives.”
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