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Reviews
Players Ball: A Genius, a Con Man, and the Secret History of the Internet's Rise by David Kushner
smdamm's review against another edition
2.0
Honestly feel like the plot was pretty lackluster and I was just bored the whole time. I think the characters were interesting but not quite interesting to fill as many pages as they did. This could have been a pretty interesting article. I think they just stretched this story too thin.
roqueta's review
informative
medium-paced
3.0
This was an interesting slice of internet history . I didn't know that litigation between Kremen and Cohen led to domains being considered property. I also didn't know how much online porn influenced the development of internet traffic and advertisement. While the facts are interesting, this particular story did become a bit repetitive because Kremen chased Cohen for so long. I guess I was more interested in how their battle shaped the internet than in the details of the battle itself. Overall, and interesting read but it dragged for me toward the end.
victoriac's review against another edition
Thanks to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC of this book. I’ve had this ARC for quite a while, thinking it would be like so many of the other non-fiction titles I’ve read about the early days of the Internet. Once I finally started the book, I was disappointed that I had waited so long. It kept me turning pages and I finished in only a day or two. What a fascinating story, not only about the emergence of the World Wide Web (which I personally remember) but about the personalities of the two main characters. They were very different but yet weirdly similar people, engaged in a furious and all-consuming battle. The book was well-written and researched and engaging.