Praise for This Is for Everyone
“An affable and avuncular narrator . . . Berners-Lee’s decision to make the web public was characteristic; throughout his career, he has been a mensch. . . . In place of the usual [tech book] tics—the uncritical fetishization of AI, the insistence that technological advances will serve as a panacea, and the accompanying refusal to engage with political or philosophical questions—Berners-Lee is quite explicit that social conditions shape how technologies are deployed. He knows better than anyone that “the free, open access communications paradigm we have did not arrive like magic. It was the product of a fair amount of political wrangling,” much of which he is responsible for.” —Becca Rothfeld, The Washington Post
"Part memoir, part manifesto, Berners-Lee’s chirpy book This Is For Everyone is both 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. His big idea, which has now become his latest personal obsession, is to restore data sovereignty to every individual by redesigning the web . . . To his credit, the 70-year-old Berners-Lee is still fighting to preserve the web’s original promise, which, he argues, has been despoiled by malign users, rapacious corporations and authoritarian governments."—John Thornhill, Financial Times
“This Is for Everyone is a cool breath of air in an overheated room. Berners-Lee literally invented the world wide web, and he’s clear-eyed about the benefits and the dangers. The book is a reminiscence about how the web came into being, and contains some very sharp thinking about what we need to do now. The personality that comes through is charming, clever, self-effacing, interesting and thoughtful about his creation." —Naomi Alderman, The Observer (UK)
“Tim Berners-Lee’s 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 center of technology as we move forward in the twenty-first century.” —Al Gore, former US vice president
“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
“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
“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
“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
“The World Wide Web is only thirty-six years old, but like much in our industrialized society we already take it for granted. However, it did not happen by accident—like everything that we make, 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 of Thames Bank OM
2025-06-28
An idea that spanned the globe.
Berners-Lee describes how he invented the World Wide Web and laments that his creation, exploited by “monopolistic players,” isn’t “in such great shape.” The British computer scientist explains complex technology in accessible language, leaving room for ample self-puffery. Berners-Lee was working at CERN, the celebrated Swiss physics lab, in the 1980s when he sought “to encourage new and unexpected relationships between pieces of information.” A version of the internet already existed, and “by layering hypertext links onto” it, “we could connect” people everywhere, he realized. He was celebrated for persuading CERN to publish his source code instead of patenting it, part of his decades-long effort to make information “accessible and open.” The book’s first third is excellent. Along with his web breakthroughs, Berners-Lee lovingly describes how his mathematician-parents nurtured his creativity. He built a “homebrew” computer in high school and an intercom for his family’s house. The web made Berners-Lee famous—Time magazine dubbed him one of the 20th century’s most influential people—and his book doesn’t skimp on the fruits of his renown. He writes of being name-checked by Bono during a U2 show and lunching with Queen Elizabeth II: “Her Majesty seemed to enjoy my presence.” He won awards, enough that “I was used to giving acceptance speeches.” Quoted at length, Berners-Lee’s wife calls him “open-minded, fair, resourceful and very kind,” an “obviously brilliant” person who has “complete respect for humans and nature.” Canonization awaits, evidently. Today, Berners-Lee works on initiatives to make the internet more humane, to protect users’ privacy, and to urge governments to be more transparent. Artificial intelligence will be “transformative,” and it’s up to citizens to help “define the terms that will govern” the future of technology.
A tech pioneer recalls creating the web—and asks users to help safeguard its future.
