This Is for Everyone

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What to expect

Narrated by the brilliant Stephen Fry, this audiobook features an inspiring prologue read by the author, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, and a fascinating bonus conversation between Stephen and Tim.

'Visionary . . . Full of warmth and humanity' – Kate Bush
'Profound' – Al Gore
'Compulsive reading' – Lord Norman Foster

The groundbreaking memoir from the inventor of the World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee. This is the story of our modern age.

The most influential inventor of the modern world, Sir Tim Berners-Lee is a different kind of visionary. Born in the same year as Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, Berners-Lee famously shared his invention, the World Wide Web, for no commercial reward. Its widespread adoption changed everything, transforming humanity into the first digital species. Through the web, we live, work, dream and connect.

In this intimate memoir, Berners-Lee tells the story of his iconic invention, exploring how it launched a new era of creativity and collaboration while unleashing a commercial race that today imperils democracies and polarizes public debate. As the rapid development of artificial intelligence heralds a new era of innovation, Berners-Lee provides the perfect guide to the crucial decisions ahead – and a gripping, in-the-room account of the rise of the online world.

Filled with Sir Tim's characteristic optimism, technical insight and wry humour, this is a book about the power of technology – both to fuel our worst instincts and to profoundly shape our lives for the better. This Is for Everyone is an essential read for understanding our times and a bold manifesto for advancing humanity’s future.

'Who is the greatest living Englishman? It would be hard to argue against the merits of Tim Berners-Lee' – Stephen Fry

Critics Review

Tim Berners-Lee stands tall among our greatest inventors, making history not just because of the World Wide Web he pioneered but because he made it available free to everyone. Not only that, but his story of creativity continues: his Solid project seeks to put the control of technology where it should and must be – in the hands of the people
Gordon Brown, former prime minister of the United Kingdom
This Is for Everyone takes us on a journey with this incredibly important man and his work as a visionary. Full of warmth and humanity, he is on a mission to fight for the integrity of the web, determined that his living, evolving creation will bring us all together in harmony
Kate Bush, human
The World Wide Web is only thirty-six years old, but we already take it for granted. However, it did not happen by accident – first it had to be designed by someone. That someone is Tim Berners-Lee, and in This Is for Everyone he describes its creation. It is a great story, and the narrative is full of insights into the world of science and makes for compulsive reading
Lord Norman Foster
This Is for Everyone is more than just an autobiography. This book is an insightful recounting of the development of the World Wide Web and a profound declaration on how humanity should remain at the centre of technology as we move forwards in the twenty-first century
Al Gore, former US vice president
Who is the greatest living Englishman? It would be hard to argue against the merits of Tim Berners-Lee
Stephen Fry
As a company running computer networks before the dawn of the internet age, Bloomberg was an early beneficiary of the towering wave of change that Tim Berners-Lee ushered in with the World Wide Web. His book offers a fascinating look at the origin and evolution of a world-transforming invention and how we can harness its potential as a force for good
Michael Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg and Bloomberg Philanthropies and mayor of New York, 2002–2013
Charming, clever, self-effacing, interesting and thoughtful . . . You finish reading This Is for Everyone wishing that somehow the Cleggs and Zuckerbergs of this world would vanish, and that Facebook and the rest of social media could be run by Berners-Lee
Naomi Alderman, The Observer
Tim Berners-Lee’s invention of the World Wide Web is a landmark event of the last fifty years – and his tireless work to keep the web accessible to everyone is a service to humanity. In this absorbing, entertaining and all-important book, Berners-Lee tells the story of the web’s genesis, reckons with its evolution and offers urgent and visionary guidance for its future
Darren Walker, president of Ford Foundation and author of From Generosity to Justice
Sir Tim Berners-Lee’s powerful memoir takes us on a guided tour through the creation and evolution of the web by the inventor himself with a humble, gripping, inspiring personal story. This is not just a history; it’s an extraordinary personal testament to human and technological potential and a critical reminder that as AI begins to even more dramatically transform our lives, we must work, as Tim does, to ensure that technology is built to nurture creativity, collaboration and compassion for all
Ruth Porat, president and chief investment officer of Alphabet and Google
How lucky we are that the first new major application built on top of the generative internet was Tim Berners-Lee’s brainchild, the web. The web’s affordances reflect Tim’s extraordinary brilliance, his deeply humanistic values and his humble outlook, and this book represents a definitive account of just how it worked. This Is for Everyone is both eye-opening memoir and stirring manifesto: the inventor’s sketch of how we got here and a road map for where we might still go, if we choose wisely
Jonathan Zittrain, cofounder of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, Harvard University; and author of The Future of the Internet—And How to Stop It
Tim Berners-Lee’s This Is for Everyone offers rare insight into how world-changing technology is born and why the values behind innovation matter as much as the invention itself. His unwavering commitment to accessibility and compassion in scientific development resonates deeply with anyone working to democratize transformative tools. Every scientist and technologist should read this to understand how individual choices can reshape humanity’s future
Jennifer Doudna, Nobel laureate and CRISPR pioneer
Fascinating . . . What is clear from reading [Berners-Lee's] book is that, were we all to follow this remarkable man’s lead, the world – both online and IRL – would be a better, safer, happier place
The i newspaper
An engaging history of the origins and evolution of the web and an ingenious road map for how we can reclaim control over our digital lives
Financial Times
Enlightening . . . A remarkable book by a remarkable man
Mail on Sunday

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