Noble Obsession: Charles Goodyear, Thomas Hancock, and the Race to Unlock the Greatest Industrial Secret of the Nineteenth Century [Hardcover]

Charles Slack (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 7, 2002

Rubber was to the 1830s what the Internet boom was to the 1990s: a flawed but potentially world-altering discovery that made and destroyed fortunes. It took the vision, courage, and perseverance of one manCharles Goodyearto reinvent rubber into the indispensable substance it is today. Noble Obsession is a riveting work of history that reads like enthralling fiction. It tells how Goodyear, a single-minded genius, risked his own life and his familys in a quest to unlock the secrets of rubber, and how Thomas Hancock, the scholarly English inventor who raced against Goodyear, ultimately robbed him of fame and fortune. Filled with villains, con men, and entrepreneurs, and brimming with fascinating facts about the science and business of rubber, Noble Obsession takes readers from the jungles of Brazil to the laboratories of Europe to the courtrooms of America to tell one of the strangest and most affecting sagas in the history of human discovery.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Like crude oil, cotton and plutonium, rubber is on the short list of raw materials that suddenly yielded transformative commercial benefits. The turning point was the 1839 discovery of vulcanization, whereby the heated addition of sulfur permits rubber to retain its shape regardless of temperature. Without sulfur, rubber melts or cracks when exposed to heat or cold. Goodyear was the implacable, obsessed true believer who made possible "the great shock absorber of the industrial age." Slack (Blue Fairways) ably chronicles the inspirations and intrigues surrounding the miraculous substance, which in its day sparked speculation comparable to the Internet boom. Shrewd and meticulous, British rubber pioneer Hancock receives equal billing, but this is Goodyear's book. Slack is Goodyear's advocate throughout, judiciously slicing through the self-serving arguments of Goodyear's adversaries. Countless setbacks, massive debt and perpetual destitution were unable to dent Goodyear's faith in rubber by all accounts, his wife, Clarissa, was blessed with an otherworldly patience. With his "debilitating lack of business sense" and an "almost superhuman capacity to endure," only Goodyear was dogged enough to stumble upon vulcanization. Sadly, his discovery brought not wealth but lengthy legal battles to establish proper credit, which he eventually secured. Slack's portrait of Goodyear is frequently touching, but the book loses focus in its final chapters. This is generally a fascinating portrait of the transitional period in America's progress from farmland to factory and, eventually, to freeway.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

When rubber was first brought to the Western world in the early nineteenth century, it was a mere curiosity. Even with its marvelous properties, raw rubber had one fatal flaw: it became tacky and melted in the heat of summer, and brittle enough to break in winter. It took one man, Charles Goodyear, eight years of almost unendurable hardship to solve the vexing chemical puzzle of how to stabilize rubber, and his vulcanization process changed the world, making automobiles, airplanes, and electricity possible. Like Schwartz's Last Lone Inventor [BKL Je 1 & 15 02], this is the story of an obsessed inventor and the envious, greedy men who took advantage of him. Goodyear insisted on experimenting endlessly, bringing ridicule, poverty, and the horrid conditions of debtors' prison upon himself and his family. When he finally succeeded, the vultures that stole from him brought more heartache and an entanglement of lawsuits. Slack brings Charles Goodyear back to life and redeems the man who gave up everything to give his gift to the world. David Siegfried
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 274 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion; 1 edition (August 7, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786867892
• ISBN-13: 978-0786867899
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #492,088 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quite possibly the best book I have read this year!!!, September 17, 2003

By 

Paul Tognetti "The real world is so much more... (Cranston, RI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Noble Obsession: Charles Goodyear, Thomas Hancock, and the Race to Unlock the Greatest Industrial Secret of the 19th Century (Paperback)

You would never know it by today's amazon.com sales rank where currently it is ranked 1,102,030!!!! Like most of the others who have reviewed this book, I found it to be superb. Charles Slack takes us back to nineteenth century America and one mans obsession with an idea. Many folks bought into his idea for a time and some of them lost a lot of money in the process. Most people considered him a fool. But Charles Goodyear devoted most of his working life to perfecting the art of vulcanization. His efforts resulted in a product with literally thousands of commercial uses. It is a truly remarkable story told in a most engaging manner. Never mind the best sellers.....give this one a try. I guarantee you that you won't be disappointed.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for history buffs, September 6, 2002

By 

Arthur C Hodges Jr (Denver, CO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Noble Obsession: Charles Goodyear, Thomas Hancock, and the Race to Unlock the Greatest Industrial Secret of the Nineteenth Century (Hardcover)

Most writers of history - even the commercially successful ones - make the same mistake. They write books that are mere chronological recitations of fact and minutiae, with little regard for narrative. But Charles Slack deftly avoids this trap. His subject is seemingly arcane - the discovery of the vulcanization process for rubber. But, perhaps because he is a former journalist rather than an academic, Slack never loses his grip on the storyline that makes the life of Charles Goodyear so compelling. Goodyear, we come to realize, is a true American hero, who worked doggedly to solve one of the greatest riddles of the industrial age, triumphing in the end over charlatans who fought to deprive him of the money and recognition he deserved. This is a great read about an overlooked chapter in US history.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Readable History, August 20, 2003

By 

Richard A. Mitchell "Rick Mitchell" (candia, new hampshire United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Noble Obsession: Charles Goodyear, Thomas Hancock, and the Race to Unlock the Greatest Industrial Secret of the 19th Century (Paperback)

Some pieces of history just do not seem to be the stuff of entertaining books - such as the history of rubber. Mr. Slack turns this bit of history into a thoroughly entertaining and informative book. Of course, he had the whacky Charles Goodyear to help along the way. To say Goodyear was obsessive would be to understate the case.

Mr. Slack weaves the efforts of Goodyear and his rivals to make rubber a useful commodity into a compelling read. Goodyear's successful efforts - after years of amusing failures - are purloined along the way by a rogue's gallery of figures. The title would imply a greater role for Hancock than he appeears in the book, but Mr. Slack shows his scientific methodology and buusiness sense in contrast to Goodyear's lack thereof to great effect.

As we watch Goodyear trip and fall repeatedly on his way to stumbling onto the answer, Mr. Slack explains the science behind the experiments well. Adding to the book is Mr. Slack's ability to give the historical perspective. He relates well the times and the burgeoning industrial age, so that when the answer to production of rubber is found, its impact on the age is comprehended by the reader.

A terrific and well-written history. Strongly recommended.