Customer Reviews

Pioneers of Radar

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I found this book very informative- much more so than "The Invention That Changed the World", by Robert Buderi. This book gave the hard facts of the history and invention of radar- information I needed for a research paper- but was a slow read. I liked that the book focused more on the historical than scientific nature of radar. I would recommend this book to anyone who is doing research or who would love to learn the history of one of the most important inventions used in World War II.

It is an oral history of British Radar development at the Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE), with emphasis on the period up to 1942. As such, it shares both the strongpoints and pitfalls of this type of books:it presents many different points of view, (in fact, the book is to be commended by its inclusiveness, as not only engineers and scientists in the development area were contacted, but also field technical people and even fitters), and is full of interesting and sometimes revealing anedoctes. On the other hand, the reminiscences have different levels of value and interest, and have, as usual, their fair share of innacuracies, not always pointed out by the editors.

All in all a worthwhile book for those interested in the early history of radar on the British side, both with and without a technical background. Also of interest for those involved in the organizational aspect of R&D structures, as an example of a (in the beginning)very loose but highly effective research organization. It helps, however, to have a historical background to the book. If you are looking for an entry-level book on radar history, it is better to turn to Guerlac or Brown.