Some recommendations:

- Weaving the Web by Tim Berners-Lee: https://www.amazon.com/Weaving-Web-Original-Ultimate-Destiny...

- Founders at Work: https://www.amazon.com/Founders-Work-Stories-Startups-Early/...

I always felt that Tim Berners-Lee was not respected enough in both the computer science and programming communities. I felt it especially after working for over a decade at Google, which literally built its entire business on TBL's architectural concepts.

For example, Google and other search engines would not work without the principle of least power [1], which a lot of people, including Alan Kay [2], somehow don't understand. That is, if the web language was a VM rather than HTML, there would be no Google.

It would also not have been possible for the web to make the jump from desktops to cell phones as the #1 client now. You know the handler in iOS and Android that makes boxes usable? That's an example of the principle of least power.

I recommend reading his book "Weaving the Web" [2] if you want to learn more about the story behind the web.

I'm very glad that TBL is getting this recognition. He is a genius and also has a very generous personality.

People in the programming community seem to talk about Torvalds or Stallman a lot, perhaps because of their loud styles, but I don't see that much about TBL.

Ditto in the CS community. "HyperText" used to be a big research area but I guess TBL solved it and people don't talk about it anymore.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_least_power

[2] http://www.drdobbs.com/architecture-and-design/interview-wit...

[3] https://www.amazon.com/Weaving-Web-Original-Ultimate-Destiny...

mulletboy · 2014-08-20 · Original thread

If you're interested in the history of the Web and its inception, I highly recommend you this (non-technical) reading [1] by Tim Berners Lee. Really inspiring.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Weaving-Web-Original-Ultimate-Destiny/...