Customer Reviews

Victorian Engineering

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To my knowledge there is no other short single volume that covers the ground of this book. It ties togther the strands of railway engineering, steam power, ship development, metallurgy, civil works, manufacture, gas distribution, and electrification. Rolt wrote extensively on specific topics and persons in this era and this pulls many different strands into a coherent whole. Description is given of what was done, how things were done, who did things and what impact they had on the society as a whole including art and literature. There is a story arc which Rolt draws that you may or may not find persuasive but make the book more than an encyclopedia.

Clearly this book is of interest to engineers with historical sensibility but also could be read with benefit by anyone with a broad interest in the era. For example, if I were to write a novel set in the Victorian era, I would certainly want the level of understanding to be gained here. There are 76 photographic black and white photo illustrations which is shockingly generous for a paperback of less than 300 pages. On the other hand there is not a single sketch illustration of any kind. If you don't quite know what a bow string girder is you won't find it here. If you are uncertain about the details of British geography, you won't find any help on that either. In fact I would love to see a new edition of this text with those shortcomings recitified. Anyone hunting for an editor?