Add project README and fix book front page

- Add root README.md with description, TOC, and build instructions
- Add src/README.md as mdBook front page with chapter summaries
- Move Acknowledgments to end of SUMMARY.md
- Remove Acknowledgments from book front page

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

Author: DavidLiedle

README.md

@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+# HTTP Alternatives for APIs
+
+A survey of API communication protocols beyond HTTP — gRPC, MQTT, AMQP, ZeroMQ, Cap'n Proto RPC, WebSockets, SSE, and more.
+
+Most API code is written without a protocol decision. Engineers reach for REST over HTTP because it is what they know, what the framework assumes, and what everyone else uses. That is a reasonable default — but it is still a choice, and like any invisible choice, it has costs.
+
+This book surveys the alternatives: what they are, how they work, where they outperform REST, and where they do not.
+
+## Read Online
+
+Published at **https://cloudstreet-dev.github.io/HTTP-Alternatives-for-APIs/**
+
+## Contents
+
+1. The Default We Never Questioned
+2. gRPC — HTTP/2 in a Convincing Costume
+3. WebSockets and SSE — When You Need the Server to Talk Back
+4. MQTT and the IoT World
+5. AMQP and Message Brokers
+6. ZeroMQ — Messaging Without a Broker
+7. Cap'n Proto RPC and the Binary Frontier
+8. Lesser-Known Contenders
+9. What Nobody Has Tried Yet
+10. How to Choose — A Decision Framework
+
+## Building Locally
+
+Requires [mdBook](https://rust-lang.github.io/mdBook/).
+
+```sh
+cargo install mdbook
+mdbook serve
+```
+
+## Acknowledgments
+
+Thanks to **Georgiy Treyvus**, CloudStreet Product Manager, whose idea started this book.

src/README.md

@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+# HTTP Alternatives for APIs
+
+Most API code is written without a protocol decision. Engineers reach for REST over HTTP because it is what they know, what the framework assumes, and what everyone else uses. That is a reasonable default — but it is still a choice, and like any invisible choice, it has costs.
+
+This book surveys the alternatives: what they are, how they work, where they outperform REST, and where they do not. It is organized as a practical tour rather than a reference manual. Each chapter covers one protocol or family of protocols in enough depth to understand the tradeoffs, with the goal of making protocol selection a deliberate decision rather than an accidental one.
+
+## What This Book Covers
+
+**Chapter 1 — The Default We Never Questioned**
+Why REST became the baseline, what it costs in performance and expressiveness, and when those costs matter enough to look elsewhere.
+
+**Chapter 2 — gRPC**
+Protocol Buffers and HTTP/2 under the hood: strongly-typed contracts, efficient binary serialization, and streaming primitives that REST cannot express.
+
+**Chapter 3 — WebSockets and SSE**
+Full-duplex connections and server-sent events: when you need the server to push data rather than wait to be asked.
+
+**Chapter 4 — MQTT and the IoT World**
+Publish-subscribe over constrained networks: designed for unreliable connections, minimal overhead, and millions of devices.
+
+**Chapter 5 — AMQP and Message Brokers**
+Enterprise messaging with guaranteed delivery, routing, and backpressure — the RabbitMQ ecosystem and when you need a broker in the middle.
+
+**Chapter 6 — ZeroMQ**
+Messaging without a broker: low-latency socket patterns for high-throughput systems that cannot afford the overhead of a central queue.
+
+**Chapter 7 — Cap'n Proto RPC and the Binary Frontier**
+Zero-copy serialization and capability-based RPC at the extreme end of the performance spectrum.
+
+**Chapter 8 — Lesser-Known Contenders**
+Thrift, Avro, Flatbuffers, Nano, NATS, and others that solve real problems in specific contexts.
+
+**Chapter 9 — What Nobody Has Tried Yet**
+Emerging directions: QUIC, WebTransport, local-first architectures, and patterns at the edge of current practice.
+
+**Chapter 10 — How to Choose**
+A decision framework for matching protocol to use case, with worked examples across common API scenarios.

src/SUMMARY.md

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Summary
 
-- [Acknowledgments](./acknowledgments.md)
+- [Introduction](./README.md)
 
 - [The Default We Never Questioned](./ch01-the-default-we-never-questioned.md)
 - [gRPC — HTTP/2 in a Convincing Costume](./ch02-grpc.md)
@@ -12,3 +12,4 @@
 - [Lesser-Known Contenders](./ch08-lesser-known.md)
 - [What Nobody Has Tried Yet](./ch09-what-nobody-has-tried.md)
 - [How to Choose — A Decision Framework](./ch10-how-to-choose.md)
+- [Acknowledgments](./acknowledgments.md)