446 sats \ 8 replies \ @k00b 30 Sep 2023 \ on: Weekend Book Recommendations meta
I'll be reading Broken Money for @elvismercury's book club.
I recently picked up When Old Technologies were New at @arbedout's recommendation. He said it was his second favorite non-fiction read this year after Designing an Internet which I also read this year and is fantastic.
@arbedout is such a king -- that guy has the most eclectic reading taste and thoughtful takes. I recall once he alluded to the fact that he was working on a book, but I'm not on Twitter anymore so I lost track. Hopefully he finishes it, instabuy.
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He's a reader's reader for sure. One of my favorite follows if only for finding great stuff to read.
I had forgot he mentioned he was working on a book. That was maybe a year ago. First books have got to be the hardest.
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Now there's a dude we need to do a SN book club :)
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Requesting tl;dr / your insights from reading Designing an Internet since it looks interesting! If you feel like it. I'll zap you 5k for any attempt.
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It examines what made the internet successful, its history, what prevents it from getting better, and how it could get better if it could get better ... as told by "The Architect of the Internet." It's an autobiography of the most significant and successful decentralized computer/communication system ever created.
I probably won't be able to load it from cold memory in detail for the next few hours but here's a google talk around the time of its release from Clark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX-ojw1gLmE ... which is probably a fuller vibe anyway.
We reject: kings, presidents and voting. We believe in: rough consensus and running code. - David Clark
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he said to me, “the internet’s about routing money. Routing packets is a side effect, and you screwed up the money routing protocols.” And I said, “I didn’t design any money routing protocols…” And he said, “that’s what I said.”
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Love it. Thanks!
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True story: this book was recommended to me in a dream (which is a dumb title in isolation so I dismissed it). Then a week later I was researching system design and found it in a reference and it turned out to be amazing.
It could be a mind trick but if so my mind has an interest in making me believe this book is important.
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