Inspired by another recent HN post about subsea cables, I'm currently reading The Victorian Internet by Tom Standage which walks through the history of the telegraph. It blows my mind that North America and Europe were connected by undersea cable before the start of the Civil War.
I got into the Internet with their 93 article by William Gibson where they sent him to Singapore.
It was a really neat place to have articles by people like Stephenson and Gibson.
It was what wired was inspired by...
Also since we are on the topic: 2600 was a great phreaking resource back in the day... 2600 may still be going though...
2600 is still going last I checked, along with monthly meetups in my mall.
https://www.wired.com/1993/04/gibson-2/
Another article which left a mark on me is Bruce Sterling's 'The Future? You don't want to know':
https://www.wired.com/1995/11/wired-scenarios-future-dont-wa...
In the original print edition, this was a tumult of mad typography, as well as an essay, which was a very Wired thing but taken to extremes. Appropriately for a cyberpunk writer, it may not entirely hang together logically, but it delivers a thrilling stream of eyeball kicks. I still remember the conclusion:
Real futurism means staring directly into your own grave and accepting the slow but thorough obliteration of everyone and everything you know and love.
Does this sound like fun? It can be.
Just don't expect it to move a lot of product.