The Victorian Internet, Tom Standage. Berkley Press, 1998.
A history of the telegraph, from its creation on. The author relates the initial optimism about the telegraph to the similar hype about the Internet – as a tool for bringing about world peace and changing everything. The story ends with Alexander Graham Bell working on a “harmonic telegraph,” which became the telephone. It’s an interesting and well-written story. (Reviewed Sept., ’05)