[sien]

The Friendly Orange Glow : The Untold Story of the PLATO system and the dawn of cyberculture (2017) is a really interesting book about a system few people here would probably have heard of.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34373814-the-friendly-or...

How the Internet Happened is very good. The podcast that was created while writing the book is also worth a listen.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38212134-how-the-interne...

Accidental Empires is also very good

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27652.Accidental_Empires

[homarp]

on the PLATO book, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15784052 has interesting comments from the author. On PLATO itself, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16615420

While i'm at it, the book 'Minitel, Welcome to the Internet' - https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/minitel is about the history of the french Minitel (previous HN discussion on the Minitel - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14681561 )

[gxqoz]

That Minitel book is okay, but I didn't get too much out of it that wasn't on an early Reply All podcast episode.

[homarp]

this one https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/8whoda ? "In the early 80's, way before the world wide web existed, the French government shipped a $200 terminal to every home with a phone line, and created a service that for decades ran alongside the internet. It was called The Minitel. Producer Carla Green speaks to reporter Jean-Marc Manach, who, in the early 90's, made a living posing as a woman in sex chat rooms on Minitel. "

[Rerarom]

Also read the counterpart to friendly orange glow, "A People’s History of Computing in the United States"