Cataloging the World

In 1934, Paul Otlet, a Belgian entrepreneur, designed a proto-Internet which he called a r?seau mondial– literally, “worldwide web.” Today, Otlet and his vision have been all but forgotten, thanks to a series of historical misfortunes — not least of which involved the Nazis marching into Brussels and destroying most of his life’s work — but Alex Wright brings Otlet’s extraordinary story back into the light in this fascinating look at the dream of universal knowledge.