Reviews for A practical guide to computer communications and networking

The average rating for A practical guide to computer communications and networking based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-11-10 00:00:00 Matthew Bufis Dated. Campy. Corny. Sexist - and wonderfully, absolutely Heinlein. His 1951 collection of "Future History" short stories, all written in the 1940s, represents some of his earlier works. Fans of his juveniles will especially like this publication. Modern readers will point to stories like "Delilah and the Space Rigger" and "Space Jockey" and will scream that Heinlein was a male chauvinist pig; but progressive for his time Heinlein was carrying Rosie the Riveter into space and expanding her importance in a later, progressive culture. "The Black Pits of Luna" and "It's Great to Be Back!" describe plucky Lunar dwellers with a pioneering soul. "The Long Watch" is an unapologetically homely ode to courage. "'We Also Walk Dogs" is a pragmatic and sanguine exploration of future capitalism and libertarianism; and this story, to me at least, demonstrates what is best about Robert A. Heinlein. In a literary landscape flooded with dystopian and post-apocalyptic nightmares, Heinlein's unabashed optimism about the future is a warm reminder that literature, especially science fiction, can be bright.

Review # 2 was written on 2018-11-02 00:00:00 Mike Hopkins In Robert Heinlein's short story collection, we get to read about a future history that never happened, where the Solar System is colonized by a bunch of ambitious, optimistic, happy-go-lucky space entrepreneurs. They cut corners, break the rules, and quite often get themselves killed. But it works. The American dream reaches the stars, or at least the planets. In the real world, manned space-flight reached its peak around 1970 with the Apollo landings and then stagnated. Reagan went into the blind alley of building the Space Station, ignoring all his science advisers. Under Dubya, the US had a goal to repeat Apollo (more or less) by 2020, but funding has been cut and it's almost certainly not going to happen. No one at NASA is surprised. I made a bet about four years ago with a senior manager there that someone would set foot on the Moon again by the end of the present decade. He said he hated to be so blunt, but he'd already decided how to spend my money. So here's the odd thing. The only manned space program which ended up looking the least bit like Heinlein's vision was the Soviet one. They had totally inadequate money and took a lot of risks, but they are still keeping it going. The US program became mired in a vast, inefficient government bureaucracy, and is slowly thrashing itself to death. Things are so bad that the US will soon have to rely entirely on Russian spacecraft to provide transport to the Space Station, unless there's a last-minute change of plan and the Shuttle is not retired next year. However could that have happened? I really don't blame Heinlein for getting it wrong, and if any SF writer managed to call it correctly I tip my space helmet to him. _________________________________________________ Do you know, I think I spoke too soon. There are suddenly intriguing rumours about "Hundred Year Starship", a one-way trip to Mars which may be partly or even wholly funded by super-rich entrepreneurs. For example, check out this recent article.