This book was written by a former professor of mine, and given to me by my dad as a gift. I really loved this professor’s class on computer security - he was so much more interested in teaching us about the nature of computers — and people — and how to think about vulnerability and protection on a broad scale.

This book, fittingly, takes a broad look at computers and online culture, starting from the beginning of the internet, and even drawing on examples from further back in human history to analyze the nature of story telling and the different roles communication plays.

This book is bursting with good ideas and creative energy. Reading it, I was inspired to see the internet not as the homogenous, commercialized, moderated place it sometimes seems to be; but rather as the space for creativity and collaboration that it was first envisioned. It made me excited and re-inspired about my own work as a programmer.

I think the book suffers from being published through an academic press. The ideas Dr. Schierer presents very much stand on their own, but in the stylistic custom of academic books, these ideas are grafted onto existing (often irrelevant) ideas from other academics. I just want to read about what you think - no need to prove anything to me!