2020-12-04 - The Cuckoo's Egg - Clifford Stoll

Maybe a year ago Eric Weinstein "advertised" Cliff Stoll's Klein bottle business on his podcast. I got interested and bought one. The purchase was and is a joy. I sent Mr. Stoll a jar of Tupelo honey in gratitude and he in turn sent me some "bottled sunshine" (i.e., some homemade plum jam).

I had read The Cuckoo's Egg many years ago following a popular TV documentary describing its content. After my Klein bottle purchase I bought a used copy of the book off Amazon and read a couple chapters. The events took place in 1986 on the early Internet after the military lost control, but before commercial interests took over. The writing is as good as any I can remember for explaining the computer world to a wider public.