README! ascii culture and the revenge of knowledge

Nettime is an internet mailing list which for the last few years has been a crucial meeting point for a diverse range of people working on and with the net. This diversity means two things. One, that in order to keep the artists, writers, hackers, theorists, technologists and multitudinous others coming back to the list it has to be something that isn't worth missing. The Nettime list has become the most inspired conduit for ideas and information on the culture politics and influence of the net. The second thing is that having got such a range of writing together in one place, the idea of making a book out of it was too good to miss.

Over one hundred articles ranging from essays to rants to interviews and plenty of the general madness that makes life worth living are collected here for the first time. Thankfully, it's no longer avant garde to have a modem. Both the doom gurus and the boom gurus have started to close up shop. The internet has even in many ways become 'normal'. That this normality is home to such a torrent of excitement, daring, innovation and depth of thought makes READ ME! a book which is itself completely extraordinary.

publisher Autonomedia
publication date Spring 1999
ISBN 1-57027-089-9
pages 556