This was an excellent book. I knew nothing about Sarnoff and Armstrong or even the radio industry prior to reading this. The discovery of the technologies is quite a story, not to mention just how old words such as modem and pixel really are.

I was aware of the monopoly that AT&T had on the phone lines, but I was unaware just how vast that monopoly was. I had no idea that we could have had satellite TV in the early 60's if it wasn't for the lawyers and lobbyists of the fat cats, and the corruption in congress and the FCC.

Sad, but I don't think things have changed much.

I am planning on reading more about this. It certainly peaked my interest. ( )

The Network is the result of five years of research in primary sources by Scott Woolley, a journalist at Forbes. It tells the story of the rise of wireless telecommunications mostly in the first half of the 20th century. The main protagonists are Edwin Howard Armstrong, the inventor of FM radio, and David Sarnoff, the founder of NBC and CEO of RCA. It's like a coda to The Victorian Internet. ( )