No Better Time: The Brief, Remarkable Life of Danny Lewin, the Genius Who Transformed the Internet

The premise of No Better Time—that Israeli Internet pioneer Danny Lewin, a passenger on American Airlines Flight 11, was almost certainly the first victim of the 9/11 attacks—is compelling. The 31-year-old made aliya with his family as a teen, served as an officer in the elite counterterrorism unit of the Israel Defense Forces and may have died trying to stop the hijacking of the first plane to hit the World Trade Center in New York.

In 1996, Lewin moved to the United States for graduate school, but struggled to pay his rent. He and his mentor Tom Leighton revolutionized Internet content delivery and founded Akamai, becoming billionaires. The book gives a clear story of their accomplishments.

Lewin’s friends and colleagues portray him as a hero, someone who believed anything was possible—and we are left wanting to know more about him. “I know Danny fought back,” says close friend Marco Greenberg. “Knowing his character and his training, we know that he got up and tried to do something.” This book celebrates a life and reminds us of one of the many losses on that terrible day. —Ronda Robinson