Noble Obsession: Charles Goodyear, Thomas Hancock, and the Race to Unlock the Greatest Industrial Secret of the 19th Century (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Thomas Hancock sat in his London office on a late summer's day in 1842, turning over a few darkened scraps of material in his hands..." (more)
Key Phrases: rubber business, rubber samples, rubberized cloth, Charles Goodyear, New York, Horace Day (more...)

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. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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 --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion (August 13, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786888563
• ISBN-13: 978-0786888566
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 3.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #900,149 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 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 (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enthralling Story, Brilliantly Told, September 5, 2002

By	Howard L. Bleich (Newton Center, MA USA) - 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)

Noble Obsession tells the gripping story of how Charles Goodyear dedicated his life to turning a gooey sap, sticky when warm and brittle when cold, into stable, vulcanized rubber. Obsessed with rubber and with what could be done with it, Goodyear braved abject poverty, debtors' prison, personal illness, the deaths of his first wife and most of his children, legal battles, and more, to perfect his invention. He lived to see the world benefit enormously from what he did. Yet other than the posthumous honor of having what would become the world's largest rubber company named after him - a company founded by Frank and Charles Seiberling 20 years after his death - Goodyear and his family received virtually nothing.

In a climactic final chapter, Slack brilliantly weaves the entire story together. Deliciously written by a writer of rapidly increasing fame, Noble Obsession is one of the most interesting, absorbing books that I have ever read. Don't miss it.