A history of the Internet traces its rise from a technological novelty to the essential utility of the Information Age to consider how society takes for granted a basic component that it barely understands, distilling the Internet's evolution into nine essential areas of understanding to lend insight into the information economy and how it can be more effectively used.

Take the long view -- The Web is not the Net -- For the Net, disruption is a feature, not a bug -- Think ecology, not just economics -- Complexity is the new reality -- The network is now the computer -- The Web is evolving -- Copyrights and "copywrongs," or, Why our intellectual property regime no longer makes sense -- Orwell vs. Huxley : the bookends of our networked future?.