[ih] This New Internet Thing: Chapter 1

[Bob Purvy]

Chapter 1 of my new book, "This New Internet Thing." You can read it for
free, Charles Dickens-style, one chapter a week. Or you can buy the book
and binge on it. As I hope you will. It comes out May 29. I probably won't
do this every week, but you can subscribe for free and get it emailed to
you.

===============

1990: Being “online” meant a modem squealing, screeching, and tying up your
phone. Only geeks had even heard of the Internet. Silicon Valley was
flailing for the Next Big Thing.

At 17, Len went alone to New York City in 1942, to discover what happened
to his brother. After many years at Chrysler in Detroit, he is retiring and
moving to California to be near his daughter, Janet. She is a successful
executive, who thinks, “Why would I use a computer at home? I use one all
day at work!”

He dips a toe in the internet waters with Prodigy. Intrigued, he moves on
to AOL, then bulletin boards. A pastor asks him to find the person stealing
money from his charity. “Another mystery to solve!” Janet’s friends help
him crack the case, and a comic street fight lands him on TV. Len sees
something they can’t: the Internet!


https://albertcory50.substack.com/p/this-new-internet-thing-0f7