That screeching sound your computer made while connecting to the internet carried the seeds of a revolution that would reshape human civilization. "A Short History of the Internet" tells this story through Quick Dives—focused tales that capture the pivotal moments behind our digital world. The first internet message crashed after just two letters—"LO"—but opened the door to a connected world. A programmer spotted a forgotten @ symbol and accidentally invented email. A physics student wanted to share research papers and created the World Wide Web instead. Garage startups became global empires through happy accidents and obsessive tinkering. Russian operatives learned to game Facebook algorithms from a nondescript building in St. Petersburg. College students built social networks that connected billions. AI systems now write their own code, pursuing goals we don't fully understand. The stories behind our digital world involve more coincidence, failure, and human weirdness than the polished corporate histories suggest. A military experiment designed to survive nuclear war became the backbone of modern life. The same networks that brought us together also attracted those trying to pull us apart. These Quick Dives reveal how the internet's greatest achievement was never technological—it was human. In connecting computers, we connected ourselves.