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Electric Universe: How Electricity Switched on the Modern World [Paperback]

David Bodanis (Author)
3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
RRP: £9.99
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Book Description

Publication Date: 19 Jan 2006

For centuries, electricity was viewed as little more than a curious property of certain substances that sparked when rubbed. Then, in the 1790s, Alessandro Volta began the scientific investigation that ignited an explosion of knowledge and invention, transforming our world. The force that once seemed inconsequential was revealed to be responsible for everything from the structure of the atom to the functioning of our brains.

A superb storyteller, Bodanis weaves tales of romance, divine inspiration, and fraud through lucid accounts of scientific breakthrough. The great discoverers come to life in all their brilliance and idiosyncrasy, including the visionary Michael Faraday, who struggled against the prejudices of the British class system, and Alexander Graham Bell, driven to invent by his love for a young deaf student. From the cold waters of the Atlantic, to the streets of Hamburg during a World War II firestorm and the interior of the human body, Electric Universe is a mesmerizing journey of discovery by a master science writer.

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Electric Universe: How Electricity Switched on the Modern World + E=mc2: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation
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Product details

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Abacus; New Ed edition (19 Jan 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0349117667
  • ISBN-13: 978-0349117669
  • Product Dimensions: 12.6 x 2.7 x 19.9 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 181,949 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

Review

Hugely impressive. No one makes complex science more fascinating and accessible - and indeed more pleasurable - than David Bodanis (Bill Bryson )

A technological odyssey complete with heroes and villains, triumph and tragedy - a true scientific adventure (Simon Singh, author of BIG BANG and FERMAT'S LAST THEOREM )

Bodanis unpeels these layers of the electrical onion expertly; his writing is vigorous and sometimes ecstatic . . . ELECTRIC UNIVERSE is a high-voltage performance (DAILY MAIL )

A compelling, fast-paced read (OBSERVER )

Book Description

From the author of the bestselling E=MC2, a brilliantly descriptive analysis of one of the most powerful forces that controls the universe - electricity
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Makes you want to learn more 30 Nov 2006
By N. J. Stevenson
I loved this book and couldn't put it down.It helped me to understand the basics behind radio, radar, computers, nerves in the body, telegraphs and telephones to name but a few. These are things I've always wanted to understand.True at times it doesn't go into very detailed theory but this book is meant to be an overview of electricity and would be difficult to satisfy everyone in one book and it is in no way overly simple. After reading it it has given me the desire to learn even more and I believe it is a great introduction to the subject.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Superb book 16 Aug 2007
By Christopher Grieve
Don't be put off by the churlish sniffy purist reviews.It is a book for people who are beginning to be interested in the history of science,not the "experts".It's well-written, accessible, and treats the reader as an intelligent non-specialist human being. Fully deserves the award.The chapter on Alan Turing is brilliantly informative, and very moving.You've got to be a good writer to pull that of.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Electric Universe 4 Oct 2008
By Spider Monkey HALL OF FAME TOP 500 REVIEWER
'Electric Universe' is a short, fascinating book that touches on many facets of electricity and it's use and application. It leaves you with many questions and makes you want to explore some of the themes in greater depth, which is either a positive or negative conclusion depending on your take. I found it to be immensely easy to read, but superficial and light. It explores the ideas around electricity well without being truly illuminating or deeply informative. This is a great science primer and a good place to start if you want a try a 'popular science' book, but if you've read other science books, or have a passing knowledge of electricity and scientific development in that past 100, years then you can give this a miss without any qualms. A solid three star book, good but not excellent.

Feel free to check out my blog which can be found on my profile page.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book 13 April 2009
By S. Marsden
A really well written book, Bodanis doesn't fill it too densely with information but you still learn loads from it, it even made some biology (which I hate) interesting.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars a great history of the pioneers of electricity 22 Jan 2008
By Jeremy Williams
From the subtitle of this book, 'how electricity switched on the modern world', I was expecting much more of a history of the application of electricity. I wanted to know how it spread, how it came to insinuate itself into every aspect of our work and leisure. Although there is some of this, particularly with the telegraph, this book is actually a history of the discovery of electricity, of men and their experiments.
It's still fascinating, and full of anecdotes and stories. If I was a scientist I'm sure I would scoff at the explanations of what electricity is and what it does, but I'm not, so I appreciate the layman's terms. I learned plenty, especially in the later chapters as Bodanis explains electricity's role in biology and psychology. They didn't teach me that in school. Or if they did I wasn't paying attention.
It's a fine book, and very readable. I just thought I ought to clarify that subtitle.
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11 of 14 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars An exciting story 22 Jun 2006
By Anne K
When I bought this book all I was hoping for was to learn some science without being bored to tears. Instead, I got a gripping adventure story I really enjoyed reading.

The back of the book describes it as a "history of electricity", and it is true that the science is simplified - scientists might find it too simple, but for those who only want to know the basics it provides just enough information without turning into a lecture.

The focus of the book is really more on the history; how our use of electricity developed, the people who came up with the ideas. The style is anecdotal, similar to Bill Bryson's Short History of Nearly Everything, with a lot of personal details which made me see these famous names in a new way.

This book would be great for a teenager bored with science, for a science teacher who wants some tips on how to liven up lessons, or for anyone who'd like to learn the basics about electricity in a really enjoyable way.
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5.0 out of 5 stars fascinating survey of electricity 10 Nov 2011
By Mr. Robert Marsland
Electric Universe is a fascinating survey of the part that electricity plays in our world, which is a large one, underlying the structure of the physical universe.Bodanis presses this point in the introduction and then mainly looks at how technological developments have increased our knowledge in this area of science, from the development of the telegraph, the telephone, the electric light bulb , radar and onto computers, plus a very revealing and moving chapter on the founder of thinking in the field of artificial intelligence Alan Turing. At the end of the book Bodanis goes on to the part electricity plays in biology and the brain, where he shows his true colours as a physicalist scientist proposing that electricity explains the phenomenon of biological life, having largely maintained a rather agnostic stance throughout the rest of this excellent book.
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22 of 30 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars Superficial and irritating 17 May 2006
By Dr. G. Knight
I am amazed that this book has won the 2006 Aventis prize for popular science writing, as it is fine example of the current tendency for dumbing down. We get a whirlwind journey from Joseph Henry through J. J. Thomson to Alan Turing, but nowhere is there a clear explanation of the physical principles these exceptional scientists discovered, nor how these were applied to solve practical problems. Henry apparently just fooled around with magnets and before you know it, he was a professor at Princeton. There is hope for us all! Thomson built bigger versions of Edison's light bulbs and discovered the electron. Just like that! The writing style also grates, especially where Bodanis skates over describing the underlying science. Have a sick bag to hand when you read the Alexander Bell chapter, with its cheap sentimentality.
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