Tubes

Entertaining and illuminating. Excels at rooting the Internet in real-world locations. Full of memorable images that make its complex architecture easier to comprehend

Observer

An engaging reminder that, cyber-Utopianism aside, the Internet is as much a thing of flesh and steel as any industrial-age lumber mill or factory ... An excellent introduction to the nuts and bolts of how exactly it all works and a timely antidote to oft-repeated abstractions about "cyberspace" or "cloud computing"

Economist

Makes hard-to-grasp concepts easy to understand, even obvious. The history, in particular, is one of the best and most memorable I have ever read

New Scientist

A Quixotic and winning book with a knack for bundling packets of data into memorable observations. This valuable book leaves you with its share of unsettling visions, but there are comic ones too

The New York Times

For a full understanding of the Internet on every level, this book is a must-read

Techzone

A great, playful, wondrous read

ArsTechnica

Blum is perhaps the millennial generation's John McPhee, chronicling an arcane journey of deep relevance to everyday life. For non-techies, the book is a very accessible revelation

Forbes

All too awesome to behold. Andrew Blum's fascinating book demystifies the earthly geography of this most ethereal terra incognita

Joshua Foer, author of Moonwalking with Einstein

A brilliantly smart idea executed with investigative skill and flair. Readers will never send an email so carelessly again.

Independent Books of the Year