Weaving the Web

The Original Design and Ultimate Destiny of the World Wide Web

By: Tim Berners-Lee

Narrated by: Tim Berners-Lee

Length: 3 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, has been hailed by Time magazine as one of the 100 greatest minds of this century. His creation has already changed the way people do business, entertain themselves, exchange ideas, and socialize with one another. With new online businesses and communities forming every day, the impact of Berners-Lee's creation has yet to be fully realized.

In Weaving the Web, this low-profile genius tells his own story of the Web's origins - from its radical introduction and the creation of the now ubiquitous "www" and "http" acronyms to how he sees the future development of this revolutionary medium. Berners-Lee offers insights to help listeners understand the true nature of the Web, enabling them to use it to their fullest advantage. He shares his views on such critical issues as censorship, privacy, and the increasing power of software companies in the online world.

©1999 by Tim Berners-Lee (P)16 9; 1999 HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

Critic reviews

"The real reason to read this book... is to get [his] view of what is still to come." (Business Week)
"Anyone who needs to understand the most fundamental change in society since the Industrial Revolution must [hear this]." (Lew Wilks, Quest Communications)

A genius in his own words

Tim Berners Lee is a physicist but sounds like a engineer and discusses engineering issues. I intend to listen to this book at least 3 times, to try remember everything he said.

Good Story Well Told

What did you love best about Weaving the Web?

A concise telling of a complex story by the guy who knows. It's balanced, well edited, informative and enjoyable.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes

A must-read for all Web enthusiasts

One of the handful of audiobooks I've finished. As a longtime Web nerd, I'm surprised it took this long to get to *Weaving the Web*! I'd studied Sir Berners-Lee a few years back, but hearing him lay out his vision for and philosophy of the web was a much more enriching experience. Solid read!

People, this is our society today

What fundamentally is our society today is the World Wide Web. Do you know what it is and why and how it came about? Like me, probably not. Ironically, the purpose of the web is so that we won’t miss little details like this about our own existence. So, read this book and become a modern human.

Sir Tim understands the journey isn’t over by a long shot. We should recognize this as well. In this book we glimpse the potential in the ground we stand upon today.

Half the struggle to proceed is the technology. The other half is people. How people and tech mesh is another book. I can’t wait. Tim, get on with it.

The inventor of the internet was astounded

The inventor of the internet wasn't All Gore but a quiet programmer who wanted to make a phone book available to a community of scientists. The concept took wing with him barely holding on. This story is a play on understated. Like Mastro Geppetto making a Pinocchio to assuage his loneliness, Tim Berrners-Lee makes a way for computers to talk to each other. even play together and SHIZAM the genie appears to answer all our questions. A very important read and a humbling experience you will not regret.

We are the threads holding the world together ...

"Weaving the Web" by Tim Berners-Lee is a must-read not only for computer or Internet geeks but for all of us who explore the philosophical layers of modern culture.

The book has two distinctive, though formally indistinguishable parts. The first one describes the web history, since its inception in 1989 and 1990, through the establishment of W3C consortium, till 1997 - the birth of XML.

This is very deep, fascinating and personal account written by the real creator of the Web.

However, the second part is even more interesting - and this is the best part of the book.
It explores the most important, philosophical tenents of the web - ideas that are fundamental, yet not really well known.

Let me mention only few:

* The principle of least power - the basic motivation behind the design of HTML and XML

* Neutralization of the net - the principle of non-biased services on the net

* Free choice and free speech right - realised by the unlimited right to link to everything

* A Universal space - the web can, in principle, hold ANY data and ANY object

Tim Berners-Lee shows the deep social significance of the web when he writes:
"Link by link we build paths of understanding across the web of humanity".

One of the best part of the book is that about Semantic Web - where in simple words, and through simple examples, Tim, explains this amazing idea of "web of data" or "web of meaning".

Even though, we still do not have Semantic Web in action, and we still do not understand why - Tim Berners-Lee enthusiasm, expressed in these chapters, gives us the hope, for the (r)evolution to come soon, and change the landscape of the net ...

Important for understanding the web

It was total treat to hear Berners-Lee explain his vision of the world wide web and how the early years unfolded. What fascinated me most was how Berners Lee work was self-less, his goal to further undertanding, knowledge and communication. It's clear that the purity of his motive and others that followed him contributed greatly to expansion of the web. In a world where companies are trying to pattern the food supply, human genes etc. it's refreshing to find a scientist that had the vision of giving a gift to all of humanity for everyone to benefit. Listening to this book not only gives you an incite to the authors brilliant mind but also to his soul.

so booooring!!

Had to listen to this for my computer class assignment. The story was just so boring. I couldn't stay awake. The narrator voice was cool though.