If you need to cram for an interview or public exam on computers or the Internet or even if you just want to keep abreast of the breathless developments in Cyberia -- Mohan Sundara Rajan's 400-page book, "The Internet: A Revolution in Progress" is both necessary and sufficient reading. Sundara Rajan is a veteran science communicator and his latest work, published by the National Book Trust, is a steal at Rs 380, covering as it does the vast scope of the subject in a succinct, readable style that encompasses everything from the beginnings of computing with Charles Babbage and Blaise Pascal, through the early mainframes and PCs to the birth and continuing evolution of the Internet, right up to today's pressing issues of Social media, privacy and net neutrality.
I know of no other book that weaves the story of Internet's Indian achievers so convincingly into the fabric of mainstream Net history: Vinod Dham's development of the Intel Pentium chip; Shiva Ayyadurai's "invention" of email; Sabeer Bhatia's launch of free Web-based Hotmail; Vinod Khosla and the launch of Sun Microsystems; Sundar Pichai's development of the Chrome browser and OS...
From Pascal to Pichai, from von Neumann to Satya Nadella; from Babbage to Bhatia, this is a fascinating tale of Information Technology, not forgetting its Indian heroes. Available online from NBT.gov.in.
