The conceit of The System is fiendishly clever and effective: Ball explains how each layer of the internet works, starting with the wires and working his way up the stack through protocol designers, governance, businesses, regulators, reformers and revolutionaries.

Each chapter is a mix of admirably clear explanations of often abstruse and technical systems, and keen-eyed profiles of representative individuals involved in them – storytelling and exposition, playing off against one another.