Booknotes 4.13

Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet, by Katie Hafner & Matthew Lyon, published 1996, nonfiction. A delightful history of early networking, about things like ARPANET, email, FTP, TCP/IP, Ethernet, SMTP (distinguished from the earlier email iterations), DNS, the Internet proper, etc. Loved it. (Computing history is very much my jam.) Also fun to read this after reading Hafner’s novel The Boys not too long ago.

Antony and Cleopatra, by William Shakespeare, published 1607, play. It didn’t strike me as much as Julius Caesar did, but still worth reading, with lines like “My heart was to thy rudder tied by the strings” and “Wars ’twixt you twain would be / As if the world should cleave, and that slain men / Should solder up the rift.”

Titus Andronicus, by William Shakespeare, published 1593, play. Wow, that was violent.

Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius (translated by Gregory Hays), published around a.d. 167 (translation published 2003), nonfiction. While I didn’t agree with everything, overall I loved it. It’s one of the rare books I can see myself rereading every few years. It’s studded throughout with memento mori and reminders to accept what happens and to not let outside things be the rudder for your happiness. A passage I liked: “The things you think about determine the quality of your mind. Your soul takes on the color of your thoughts.” And another one: “Whereas humans were made to help others. And when we do help others—or help them to do something—we’re doing what we were designed for.” Recommended.