Former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's history of technology is a fun and reasonably fast read. Wheeler's writing is accessible and often humorous, and Wheeler's appetite for the subject matter is palpable throughout. That being said, the book doesn't break much new ground and doesn't provide much new information to anyone interested in these subjects. However, Wheeler includes many minor but very interesting historical anecdotes that make for very interesting reading.
Wheeler traces the development of technology (specifically information technology) from the development of Gutenberg's printing press to the evolution of the modern-day high technology corporation. The book is divided into four parts, each focusing on a different revolutionary technology. These sections concern, respectively, Gutenberg's printing press, the telegraph of the 19th century, the telephone and other electronic exchanges of the mid-20th century, and finally the Internet. Wheeler clearly has both a passion for and expertise in the field of technology. His almost schoolboyish enthusiasm for some of the historical episodes in infectious.
Wheeler makes an interesting observation on page 184. He notes that historically, networks were only capable of relaying information, not digesting or utilizing it. But today's networks not only utilize the information being transferred on them but create additional information about the messages. Wheeler says: “It's as if the Post Office kept a record of every piece of mail you sent or received, and then sold that information.” It's interesting to think about whether the Internet would be possible at all if this turn hadn't occurred. What would the Internet look like (if it even still existed) if digital companies primarily exchanged messages and little else? It's hard to imagine the Internet having the same impact.
There are other portions of the book where Wheeler discusses something that obviously has a personal interest for him. One example of which I was previously ignorant is the role of the scientist John Atanasoff as the inventor of the digital computer. Atanasoff's original design was pilfered by the scientist John Mauchly, who subsequently passed off the ENIAC computer as his original invention, leading him to be credited with the creation of the first digital computer, despite his reliance on Atanasoff's original design. Atanasoff's role as the inventor was eventually resolved in a court case, Honeywell, Inc. v. Sperry Rand Corp. Atanasoff's father was an immigrant from Bulgaria, and later in his life, Atanasoff visited Bulgaria and was given the key to the town of Yambol, near his father's hometown of Boyadzhik. The Bulgarian astronomical authority named an asteroid after him, and a hilariously terrifying monument to him was erected in Sofia. Historical episodes like this are the best part of Wheeler's book, and it's replete with them.
The book does even more to cement Wheeler's place as probably the country's most notable FCC Chairman. After all, how many other Chairmen of the FCC can you name? Probably none. Despite his deep ties to industry which were originally viewed as problematic, Wheeler did appear to serve in his capacity with an eye to effective regulation and consumer protection. And his subsequent book shows more than a financial interest in the history of the field. Hopefully, future FCC Chairpersons can measure up to the good example set by Wheeler.