Book Review | How the Internet Happened: From Netscape to the iPhone

Rating ⭐⭐⭐

I typically love books like this, how technology has come to be what it is today. I vividly recall the days up dial-up, waiting impatiently to connect, tying up the phone line all night because MSN chat rooms and groups were the place to be. Netscape was our portal to the world and we dove in every chance we got.

Unfortunately the beginning was a bit rough for me, and not because Mosaic is boring or anything, but maybe because I knew a lot of the information already? I'm not sure, honestly. It was definitely a dry read for me for quite a while. Things picked up a bit more when we got about 1/3 of the way in, which is odd I know, writing styles don't just change mid-book. Either way, it became much more readable and maybe I just have to accept the fact that the beginning is just kind of boring, considering where the technology has gone today.

The book is an easy read and not at all technical, so it does its job as more of a popular history. I am of the Xennial generation that grew up learning the technology as it developed from an early age, so that could also be why this one did not exactly WOW me. The trip down memory lane was great, especially when it came to the products and services I used most. I think the generations after mine, who grew up never knowing the world any other way, would definitely either really love to see how far things have come, or on the other end of the spectrum think it is all incredibly boring because none of the technology would impress them.

The focus here is also on US companies in the technology game, so it is not all-encompassing of how this worked out around the world. Believe it or not, tech advances happened in places BESIDES Silicon Valley, but those are not given any mentions here.

Overall if you are someone like me who grew up as the technology grew too, you might enjoy it as a trip down memory lane. I would definitely recommend it more for the generations who have never known life without smart phones and WiFi.

The Game Console: A Photographic History From Atari to XBox

Rating: 4 Stars

This book is gorgeous. Beautifully, stunningly, GORGEOUS. With a cover like that, so simple but effective, could the contents have been anything but? Unlikely. The whole slew of photographs are on-point.

I can in no way be mistaken for a serious gamer. I don't have the newest systems, I don't wait outside a store until midnight to get a particular game, and I don't even play the systems I do have very regularly (this will definitely change when my daughter is a little older and can play too). What I do have, however, is a deep appreciate for older systems that allowed me to play the games I do love so much. I remember well playing Pitfall on the Atari with my mom and one of my uncles, until my uncle sold it and I was heartbroken. That would have been late 80s, very early 90s. Then I received an original NES for my birthday, again very early 90s, and IT STILL WORKS! None of that nonsense with having to blow on the cartridges, or stick a ruler into the game slot with the game just to hold it down. I also have a still working SNES, which I really only wanted for the original Sim City. I have a PS2, because of The Godfather game (and all the Guitar Hero editions - Eleanor wants to play this one so badly, any day now). I also have a Wii, which I almost got by accident. Mom had some last minute Christmas shopping to do, gosh maybe a decade ago now (has it really been THAT long?!?!) and I didn't want to go along. Seriously last minute, we are talking December 23rd. I whined and complained, as any mature 26 year old would do, and she said if I went along with to help, she would get me a Wii. I even got a pink controller out of the deal, so in the end it was worth braving the crowds - and I then got Super Mario World and The Godfather: The Blackhand Edition. Sadly, my original Gameboy no longer works, though I can not bear to part with it. When my mom moved while I was in college, the Gameboy (inside its carrying case of course) must've have had something heavier placed on top of it by accident, because the A button is permanently pressed in. Such a sad discovery, that was. It still turns on and would work otherwise, but somehow I don't think customer service would help me get it repaired now, even if I did call the 1-800 number.

Anyway, you might be wondering what I am doing reading and reviewing a book about a subject that seems ill-suited for me, given my singular focus when it comes to what games I am interested in. I love the nostalgia and seeing these systems - plus so many that I never even knew existed. I love history, and even if I did not have or use all the systems, growing up my friends did - not to mention two of my guy friends/former roommates who - combined with an ex-boyfriend who was best friends with them - literally had every system ever crammed into the living room in our apartment.

The author did not set out to write a book. Initially he began this little project as a way of improving the Wikipedia articles he came across that had some very poor quality photos. He took it upon himself to find so many of these systems, photograph them, and improve their pages. This passion project of his turned into what we have now, and isn't that cover gorgeous? I was very happy to see an NES control on the cover. I recall having arguments in elementary school over the NES and SNES vs. the Sega Genesis and though I thought Sonic was pretty neat, I was always firmly in the Mario camp. I don't even know why we argued about it then, I have no recollection of the actual arguments, just the feeling of these arguments being intense.

The book is broken up into generations of consoles, which I found helpful, as I was not familiar with so many of the systems. I of course knew to which generation my own belong, but there was much I learned from this book, even when its focus was not so much on the words as it was the pictures. Each console presented is given two pages, sometimes more, to showcase not only the exterior, but all the interior pieces as well. Controllers and accessories were also included where applicable and I loved seeing how those evolved over time. The text was helpful, especially when detailing the pros and cons of consoles and why some worked well and others failed miserably. There are specs tables included that give information about where it was manufactured and when, any memory it might have, the year it came out, how many were made, how many games were manufactured for it, and so on. The focus is strictly on the hardware here, aside from the mentions of how many games went with the console, though of course the very most popular systems and their flagship characters were given a few lines in most cases.

Obviously this book will be of interest mostly to those who love video games and play them regularly. Or, someone like me who loves the older systems and enjoys the nostalgia and good memories that these older systems conjure up.

Review Bomb: Pop Culture/Social Media

Time for another review bomb. I am liking this format much better, especially for books that I did not really care for/weren't for me. This time around the topic is, as you probably guessed by the title, about pop culture and social media. Two of the books focus directly on social media, and one is about paparazzi/celebrities. Unfortunately none of the books were that great, but perhaps you will see something in them that I did not.

 2 Stars (for me), 4 Stars (for its actual target audience)

This book was poorly placed. I found it while browsing in the adult non-fiction section of my fave Christian bookstore. Had it been in the teen/young adult section, no problem, I would not have purchased it. But even reading the back did not indicate right away that it was geared toward a younger crowd. I am 35, and while Facebook and I have been together now for thirteen and a half years, I am beyond the age of needing something like this.

That being said, this would be a fantastic book for a youth group to read (and as such, I have given my copy to our youth pastor so he can look over it and use it as he needs it. There are a lot of great discussion questions scattered throughout and plenty of Scripture as well. In looking at it from a parental perspective, it would also be a great one for parents to read WITH their teen. I think it would open up some really honest lines of communication to help these young adults and teens trying to navigate this completely tech-saturated world we now live in. That's something they don't seem to understand, once you put something online, it loves forever. Even if you delete it, it is never really gone.

The author makes another great point that nothing online is really as it appears. One of my pastors also talked about this in a sermon a couple weeks ago - you don't see anyone posting pictures of their dirty kitchens or their perfect little angels turning into demons and having meltdowns in the grocery store. It is a harder concept I think for teens and even young adults to grasp - you see what people want you to see and a lot of time it is just a mirage. The author discusses this and encourages her readers to really think about this and why that social media presence is so important to them.

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 3 Stars

For being such a slim volume, there was a lot more research included than I thought there would me. My initial assumption was that this would be another quasi-celeb (Stolz was a contestant on America's Next Top Model, then a host for MTV) memoir about ridiculous social media-related anecdotes. It was that, completely, but not as shallow as I anticipated. Stolz backs up much of what she is saying with research. It was not terrible, and she is a decent writer. It is also a fairly quick read. Her addiction to social media is a little alarming though. Like, slow down. Seriously. On the other hand, it was great that Stolz was so honest about her own addiction to social media and the technology we have at our fingertips. She started the book by trying to go a week without her phone. I don't think I could do that, but not for social media reasons. I only have one single app on my phone - Goodreads. But I need my phone for things like driving directions and talking to my family, as I do not have a land line. I will be the first to admit that I was seriously addicted to Facebook, especially when it first came out (I have had an account since 2005, way back when it was only for specific colleges' students). But now I am a mom and I spend most of my time on Facebook posting pictures of my daughter and I and our various adventures, as our family is two states away and we only get to go home twice a year. I have considered more than once deleting social media accounts, but then that kind of puts the kibosh on my blog. I mainly use Twitter to talk about books I am reading, to interact with authors and fellow bloggers, and harass Dan Jones (which I also use Facebook for). When my laptop was out of commission for a week not too long ago, it was MAGICAL. I could still access Facebook and Twitter on my phone, but I did not really want to. A social media break would do everyone a lot of good every so often - Stolz included!

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 2 Stars...and that's being generous

I have to be honest and admit that I went through a celeb-obsessed phase. I would read all the weeklies - US Magazine, In Touch, etc. That time also coincided with my eating disorder so I was also pouring over the pages filled with 'thinspiration' actresses who always seemed to be a kind of thin that I could not attain.

This though...is different. For three years Buhl became the one taking the photos, and getting them sold to those magazines I needed each week. And her thought process is kind of...warped.

The tidbits about the celebs she covered was really interesting and in that aspect this was a perfect summer read that requires no real thought or effort to think - except for the occasional 'Did she really just think/say that?' - and is a quick read. It was when Buhl's personal life began weaving in, as always happens with careers/jobs, and that was less interesting to me. It was obviously important to her own story, and her pregnancy provided an exit from being a paparazzi, but still.

The weirdest thing about this was to me was her perception of the celebs she covered regularly. Celebs and the Paparazzi are not friends; they can't be, based on their actual relationship of one person making gobs of cash off photos of the other. That part came across as really delusional, specifically in her interactions with Katherine Heigle. "Katie" was nice and polite to Buhl, but seriously, they were not friends. It was weird that she even thought that, for the briefest of moments. And don't even get me started on the whole weird thing with Adrian Grenier.

Despite my disdain for people who make a living off invading the privacy of others (I'm talking about the celebs out grocery shopping with their kids, not those tipping off the paparazzi about their location), it was kind of interesting to get a look at the job from the inside. Buhl discusses the tools of the trade and all the tips/tricks she learned on the job. Example: If you are in an elevator with a celeb, don't you dare snap a single picture. Once you're out of the elevator though, the celeb is fair game. Can you imagine how awkward that elevator ride would be if they knew you were to take a zillion pictures of them? Yeesh. She is also kind of contradicting of herself at times. Buhl goes on about all the things a celeb can do in order to diminish their appeal to the paparazzi, but then also discusses the lengths she personally went to in order to get shots of certain celebs who very much liked to keep their private lives private - case in point, Jennifer Aniston. The whole thing with Kate Bosworth was pretty bullshit too. Bosworth is apparently very protective of her privacy, as she has the right to be - she (and any celeb) doesn't owe anyone anything, especially in the comfort of her own home. Yet Buhl recounts a story of spying on Bosworth at home, using binoculars and states, "We relish how infuriated Kate would be, if only she knew." Are you kidding me? You're kind of an awful human for that.