Krishna
The full title of this book is even more captivating : `Electric Universe: The Shocking True Story of Electricity’.
A while after I finished reading the book, the buzz and wonder stays with you. It is a remarkable piece of science writing, and brings to life the scientific discoveries from the beginning of the 19th century to the present day.
The introduction itself draws you in and keeps you hooked and the narration does not sag thereafter. The fascination and the wonder the author feels is contagious and as you read, you are caught up in the inventions of the time. The great thing about this book is that you not only read about the great leaps of technology that occurred but also have a ring side view of the author’s life and the compulsions, frustrations, and the triumphs of the various personalities. You see
the good, bad and the ugly side of many famous people and that vicarious gossipy thrill you feel enhances the story and makes it stick in your mind. It is a technique used to devastating effect by others too, especially Bill Bryson in his ‘A Short History of Nearly Everything‘ (Not yet reviewed in this blog)
The introduction speculates what would happen to modern cities like New York if Electricity just stopped working – the picture is amazing and is scarier than you think: you discover that even though you know how central electricity is to our lives, the reality is even more scary! And then he opens up another level and says what would happen to world as we know it, if all electricity were to stop – amazing. He describes how you never actually touch anything in this world, even while kissing someone.
The joy ride starts explosively with the story of Joseph Henry who is the real inventor of the Telegraph and Samuel Morse, he of the Morse code fame, who stole it from him by way of patenting the idea as his own. The story of Aleck and Mabel is next, and the important discovery by Aleck not due to scientific curiosity alone but mainly because of love. The nuggets about how Edison tried to steal the invention of Telephone from Alexander Graham Bell (the Aleck above) and would have succeeded if not for his wealthy and persistently resistant father in law.
The description of Faraday and his fun filled youth is also fascinating. (Once he wrote a reply to a friend thus: “no-no-no-none-right-no, philosophy is not dead yet – no – no – O no – he knows it – it is impossible – Bravo!”. This is supposed to be his answers to the questions asked by the friend in a previous letter, which of course were not reproduced in the answer. His later contribution that led to our understanding of the electromagnetic waves is told with equal enthusiasm.
Cyrus West Field and his undersea Trans-Atlantic cable that nearly bankrupted the man before making him fabulously rich is another well told story, with the sidelines of how one William Thompson advised him initially and was sidelined by an ambitious but inept Edward Whitehouse. Whitehouse tried to increase the current in the cable to compensate for loss of quality to such an extent that he burnt parts of the undersea cable! Later, Thompson was quietly recalled as ruin stared Field in the face.
Hertz and his life, marriage and his early death (He was only 36 when he died) are movingly narrated, along with his scientific contributions that proved electromagnetic waves can be received wirelessly. (He occupied a house which was a lab before in spite of being advised of the dangers, and died because of the fumes of left over chemicals)
Marconi, we learn is really part Irish (his mother) and he perfected the art of radio waves. The author links the rise of demagoguery and the rise of people like Hitler to the ease of mass communication (and the ease of generation of mass hysteria) to the availability of media like the radio – a neat conclusion, even if that was not the sole cause of the rise of Nazism.
There is a lovely chapter on the invention of radar by Watson Watt and how the initial radars were kept secret from the Germans. When the Germans built an even more advanced version, it led to a strike to capture one unit and the hapless civilian Charles W Cox, who was sent to disassemble it and bring it home with a group of troopers is well told. (The Germans were aware of the British approach due to the same radar well before the British troops approached the place!)
Alan Turing’s story – his misunderstood genius, the “crime” of homosexuality and his eventual suicide – unsung, unappreciated by all, is very well described. His mother wrote his biography, which, like him, was so far ahead of the times that it did not do well at the market – but later became a classic!
The story takes a detour on the body’s inner electricity (the brain, synapses, etc with equally educational and entertaining results.
For instance, how about the pharmacologist Otto Loewi, who, when he was 40 years old, found the answer to a profound question related to the brain when he was in a dream state, woke up and elated that he made such a grand discovery in his dream, wrote down the idea and went back to sleep? When he woke up the next morning, he found that not only could he not remember what it was, but found to his horror that he could not read what he had written in the night! The biggest discovery of all was out of reach due to his bad handwriting! His solution? To go to sleep early next night in the hope that it would occur again! (It did.)
The chapter on PARC-Xerox, the lab where many modern technological breakthroughs were made but not much was commercially exploited is well told. The manager Shockley, who had racist and male chauvinist views, are shown, and how it destroyed the morale of the people there and how brilliant people left in droves. When he himself left PARC Xerox later, he settled down in California and attracted and quickly repelled by his personality up close so many people that they banded together without him in a nearby area that subsequently became the Silicon Valley.
The last section is equally interesting: How did these people fare next? We learn that William Thompson became Lord Kelvin, that Morse died, fearing till the very end that the true discoverer of telegraph would be identified and he would be exposed, Marconi became not only a wealthy recluse but a heavy donator of funds to Mussolini.
There are a lot more nuggets to read and enjoy in this fabulous book, and it is an example of how to make science writing exciting and interesting.
I would have no hesitation in giving it a 9/10
— Krishna