- Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: Broadway; Reprint edition (Feb 28 2006)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0307335984
- ISBN-13: 978-0307335982
- Product Dimensions: 13.8 x 1.7 x 19.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 227 g
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#140,626 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #11 in Books > Science > Physics > Electromagnetism > Electricity
- #39 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Physics > Electromagnetism
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
“A technological odyssey complete with heroes and villains, triumph and tragedy—a true scientific adventure.” —Simon Singh, author of Big Bang
“Though science is omnipresent in Electric Universe, it’s only part of the literary equation. Living, breathing, laughing, loving, vainglorious, extraordinarily gifted humans get plenty of ink as well.” —Chicago Sun-Times
“Anyone who has considered the inner workings of a computer (or even a toaster) would get a charge out of Bodanis’s history of electricity. . . . [He] adds more than a touch of drama to his lucid and informative science lessons.” —Entertainment Weekly
“Hugely impressive. No one makes complex science more fascinating and accessible—and indeed more pleasurable—than David Bodanis.” —Bill Bryson
“Though science is omnipresent in Electric Universe, it’s only part of the literary equation. Living, breathing, laughing, loving, vainglorious, extraordinarily gifted humans get plenty of ink as well.” —Chicago Sun-Times
“Anyone who has considered the inner workings of a computer (or even a toaster) would get a charge out of Bodanis’s history of electricity. . . . [He] adds more than a touch of drama to his lucid and informative science lessons.” —Entertainment Weekly
“Hugely impressive. No one makes complex science more fascinating and accessible—and indeed more pleasurable—than David Bodanis.” —Bill Bryson
Product Description
In Electric Universe, David Bodanis weaves tales of romance, divine inspiration, and fraud through a lucid account of the invisible force that permeates our universe. In these pages the virtuoso scientists who plumbed the secrets of electricity come vividly to life, including familiar giants like Thomas Edison; the visionary Michael Faraday, who struggled against the prejudices of the British class system; and Samuel Morse, a painter who, before inventing the telegraph, ran for mayor of New York on a platform of persecuting Catholics. Here too is Alan Turing, whose dream of a marvelous thinking machine—what we know as the computer—was met with indifference, and who ended his life in despair after British authorities forced him to undergo experimental treatments to “cure” his homosexuality.
From the frigid waters of the Atlantic to the streets of Hamburg during a World War II firestorm to the interior of the human body, Electric Universe is a mesmerizing journey of discovery by a master science writer.
From the frigid waters of the Atlantic to the streets of Hamburg during a World War II firestorm to the interior of the human body, Electric Universe is a mesmerizing journey of discovery by a master science writer.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3.8 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)
22 of 23 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Well written and interesting, April 6 2006
By Bruce R. Gilson - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Electric Universe: How Electricity Switched on the Modern World (Paperback)
This book, a popular account of a number of things that relate to electricity and electronics, reads very well and I found it to be one of those gripping books that one wants to finish.The author makes a few claims that I have never seen before, such as one that Morse, in inventing the telegraph, stole most of his ideas from Joseph Henry, and I'd be curious to see how much of this is generally accepted. But if so, it would certainly appear that Samuel Morse was overrated by history. The book covers both Morse and Henry, and also such well-known inventors as Edison and Alexander Graham Bell, often showing sides of them that we don't see elsewhere. The book devotes a large amount of space to Alan Turing, who is obviously highly regarded by the author. It also covers much of the scientific side of the story, even giving a glimpse of quantum mechanics (the scientific theory which underlies much of modern electronics).
That being said, this is a _popular_ book. It does not attempt to present all the mathematics of Maxwell's electromagnetic theory or quantum mechamics, but simply describes them in terms that a non-physicist can comprehend, and I think it is successful at that level. If you don't expect of it something that clearly was not intended by the author, but want a well-written book on the historical aspects of electric and electronic devices, you will be well-served by this book.
A very extensive bibliography, not just listing the books but explaining what you will find in each one cited, ends the text of this book.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not as good as E=mc squared, Sep 17 2006
By Edward J. Cunion Jr. "Ed Cunion" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Electric Universe: How Electricity Switched on the Modern World (Paperback)
Bodanis's prior book "E=mc squared" was a more informative and entertaining read than Electric Universe. Electric Universe was a bit too dumbed-down technically in its attempts to be accessible. More detail could have been paid to Maxwell and his wave equations, and ignoring Nikola Tesla's contributions to electromagnetics is a glaring ommission. Bodanis does present though some interesting observations and anecdotes on the personalities and politics of science; scientists may claim the moral high ground with their vetting of each other when they compare themselves to the non-scientific community, but really great scientitsts are often no better than the rest of us, all's fair in love, war, and scientific endeavor.
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
The 'Cliffs Notes' history of electricity, May 26 2006
By N. Scott Storkel - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Electric Universe: How Electricity Switched on the Modern World (Paperback)
Purchased this book after seeing that it won the 2006 Aventis General Prize for popular science writing. While the book is a quick and interesting read, I found that it ultimately left me wanting more... much more. The book certainly manages to hit many of the high points in the history of electricity and electronics. Unfortunately, it fails to provide much detail about any single person or idea. The book does include an extensive "Guide to Further Reading" and numerous notes for those who like more details. Annoyingly, the notes aren't referenced in the main text so you're forced to read in parallel through the main portion of the book as well as the "Notes" chapter if you want the full story.In the end, I suppose my own expectations got the better of me: I was hoping for an in-depth history of electricity, perhaps along the lines of Richard Rhodes Pulitzer Prize-winning "The Making of the Atomic Bomb", rather than a entertaining afternoon read...
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