Customer Reviews

Electric Universe: How Electricity Switched on the Modern World

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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.

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...

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.

My 14 year old son had to read this for school. In his words, it took what he thought was going to be a dull subject and made it interesting with all the stories and examples. He actually enjoyed it.

"ELECTRIC UNIVERSE: How Electricity Switched On The Modern World" by David Bodanis


WINNER of the 2006 Aventis General Prize for popular science writing.

David Bodanis is one of those rare authors who laboriously researches private diaries and letters to get ..."the rest of the story." This Tour De Force contains a wealth of background of related research.

Bodanis traces the lineage of profound minds which powered the unlocking of the atom and our grasp of electromagnetism. The lineage of Michael Faraday, Joseph Henry, William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), James Clerk Maxwell, Alexander Graham Bell, Heinrich Hertz, etc....

Two of the books highlights are the illuminations of Joseph Henry (working with magnets in America) and William Thomson (working with the Atlantic telegraph table). Thomson and James Clerk Maxwell were key figures in the expansion of our understanding of magnetism and electricity.

In a style that is reminiscent of James Burke's "CONNECTIONS" Bodanis shows the process of theoretical cross-fertilization over a period of decades, revealing that with progressive changes in our view of the Electron , a new foundation is established for the release of fresh tecnology. From the late Victorian era view of the Electron as a hard little ball, to Faraday's & Hertz's vision of the Electron as a part of a force field, leading eventually to the idea that
the Electron can pop through space in an abrupt teleporting jump known as a Quantum, Bodanis shows how far our grasp has come, and tells this story in such a compelling manner that "Electric Universe" is hard to put down, once picked up.

There can be difficulties with this kind of literature. Either the author is droll, and the reader becomes bogged down with a single particular theory or abstraction and the resulting confusion causes revulsion; but Bodanis is not that kind of science writer. He makes the excitment of reading about science, contagious. I had no trouble at all following every single idea, and Bodanis has an infectious humor. Sometimes his phraseology is absolutely hilarious!

I bought this book for my husband who is studying electrical wiring in college, and he hasn't been able to put it down since I gave it to him. He keeps telling me what he has learned in the book and though I know little about electrical stuff, I find it most interesting. If you like history, get this book.

I liked the idea of this book, but the execution left something to be desired. The writing was clunky and not all the dots were connected.

A totally captivating book! Hard to put down once you begin reading. Also get E=MC2 by the same author. Simply awesome!