The Friendly Orange Glow

“The Friendly Orange Glow” by Brian Dear was a fascinating tech history by a master storyteller. I knew nothing about PLATO when starting the book, as most of the events and innovation took place before I was born, but now feel as if the technology, along with people and places that built and ‘hacked' and enriched the community surrounding it, are my old friends and familiar haunts. Some readers may be put off by the long-windedness of some of the personal stories and anecdotes, but I found that they added a surprising richness and cohesiveness to the book and a offered a delightful buildup to some mind-blowing revelations of this lost technological history. I was given a free ARC from Penguin's First to Read program, but my opinions are my own, etc.