Tom Standage's "The Victorian Internet"

This was a fun read but the title is a bit misleading. You would expect more comparison of the mid 19th century telegraph to the late 20th century Internet, but on summary comparisons are made at a few points in the book. Mainly this is a history of the development and commercial spread of the telegraph. As a history it is a quick romp over the 40 years of the heyday of the telegraph. The technology lingered for another 120 years then died in January 27, 2006 when it was finally shut down.

For me the most interesting bit was the comparative history of technologyical utopianism briefly surveyed in the last chapter of the book:

Because of its ability to link distant peoples, the telegraph was the first technology to be seized upon as a panacea. Given its potential to change the world, the telegraph was soon being hailed as a means of solving the worls's problems. It failed to do so, of course -- but we have been pining the same hope on other technologies ever since.

In the 1890s, advocates of electricity claimed it would eliminate the drudgery of manual work and create a world of abundance and peace. In the first decade of the twentieth century, aircraft inspired similar flights of fancy. Rapid intercontinental travle would, it was claimed, eliminate international differences and misunderstandings. (One commentator suggested that the age of aviation would be an "age of peace" bdecause aircraft would make armies obsolete, since they would be vulneralbe to attack from the air.) Similarly, television was expected to improve education, reduce social isolation, and enhance democracy. Nuclear power was supposed to usher in an age of plenty where electricity would be "too cheap to meter." The optimistic claims now being made about the Internet are merely the most recent examples in a tradition of technological utopianism that goes back to the first transatlantic telegraph calbes, 150 years ago.