Review by Choice Review
The Internet of Elsewhere presents four stories of the Internet that diverge from the stories people are used to reading. Rather than looking at the development of the Internet in the wealthier Western countries, Farivar (technology journalist) looks at four countries that do not immediately spring to mind when one thinks about the Internet: South Korea, Senegal, Estonia, and Iran. These countries share one thing in common--trying to leap forward into the information age in spite of innumerable roadblocks and hardships. But after that, their stories diverge, and the book documents some of the successes and failures of each. The tone of the work is somewhat personalized by the focus on some key players in each chain of events; at times, this results in the loss of some of the big picture that might have been available in a more abstract work. The subtitle is also a misnomer in that, except for Iran, the emphasis is more on the circumstances that led to the development of the Internet in those countries than on the results of such development. Overall, an interesting work that breaks the history of the Internet out of the history of Silicon Valley. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Academic and general audiences, all levels. P. L. Kantor formerly, Southern Vermont College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
