The Bookshelf: January
February 01, 2019
For 2019, I’m trying something different. At the beginning of each month (or thereabouts), I’m sharing the books I read the previous month.
How the Internet Happened
Brian McCullough is the host of the Internet History Podcast. On the pod he interviews employees from companies that shaped the internet.
How the Internet Happened uses his podcast interviews to create an engaging narrative of, well, how the internet as we know it happened.
The book is a fascinating read. From learning the humble roots of eBay to how Amazon was no accident. It ends with entertaining insights behind the scenes of the famous iPhone Macworld keynote.
The Expanse: Nemesis Games
I have a love/hate relationship with The Expanse. The series is some of the most fun I’ve had reading Sci-Fi (outside of the Foundation series). But some books in the series fall flat for me.
Nemesis Games is one that missed the mark for me. The scope of the book started interesting. Our heroes separate from each other across the solar system… Only to find each other at the same place when it’s convenient. I’m hoping it was to tee-up to a great follow-up.
The Taking of K-129
In 1968, a Soviet submarine (K-129) is lost at sea and presumed lost forever. Through some incredible deep-sea technology, the US is able to determine the resting place of the sub… 3 miles (4.83 km) underwater.
In a daring and classified project under the guise of a deep-sea mining operation (and $800 million in funding), the CIA went to work to retrieve take the sub.
The task at hand was so difficult the CIA described the work this way:
Imagine standing on the top of the Empire State Building with a 4-by-8-foot grappling device attached to one end of a one-inch-diameter steel rope. The task is to lower the rope and grapple to the street below, snag a compact-sized car full of gold (for weight simulation, not value) and pull the car back up to the top of the building. And the job has to be done without anyone taking note of it. Mission impossible? One might think so.
Extensively researched, author Josh Dean dives into how the US kept the operation a secret.