On August 27, 1858, the first words sent by transatlantic cable were received on the shores of Trinity Bay, Newfoundland. The message destined to herald in the “noblest symbol of our generation,” a technology of “metaphysical roots and relations” that would “whisper to the four corners of the earth the lordly behest of lordly man,” was: Emperor of France returned to Paris Saturday.

Although seemingly arbitrary news (though perhaps not surprising to anyone who’s been in an Internet chat room) the event marked a significant precedent in the way society adapts even the most reticent technology to suit its own devices, as illustrated in Ontario writer and Web developer Wade Rowland’s enlightening new history, The Spirit of the Web. By exploring the forces behind the invention of the telegraph, telephone, radio, television, computer, and Internet, Rowland provides a useful context to help readers understand “where their sometimes bewildering world comes from.”

The story that emerges is one of a public that is historically “anything but submissive in the presence of technical advances,” but which unknowingly and persistently subverts the motives of the key players in communications development – the inventors, engineers, bureaucrats, and businessmen. Over time, the telegraph, the telephone, and now the Internet, ceased to conform to the practical needs of government, and succumbed to the pressures of our collective human desire for connection.

At its worst, the book threatens to crumble under the difficulty of concisely articulating the complex technical mechanics at work. At its best, it provides a colourful and compelling picture of the personalities and circumstances involved in a machine’s evolution from conception to domination in the social sphere. Without hype or hyperbole, The Spirit of the Web provides its readers with an informed context with which to understand the implications of their actions in the Age of Information.