[atonse]

Mother Earth Mother Board is one of my all time favorite articles, which chronicles the laying of a cable.

https://www.wired.com/1996/12/ffglass/

[dgritsko]

Another recommendation in this vein is Arthur C. Clarke's "How the World Was One", it provides some fascinating historical context for how we got to where we are today (or rather, where we were in 1992).