- Hardcover: 384 pages
- Publisher: Fourth Estate; illustrated edition edition (26 Aug 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0007163045
- ISBN-13: 978-0007163045
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.8 x 3.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
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- #80 in Books > History > Social & Economic History > Industrialisation
Seven Wonders of the Industrial World (Text Only Edition)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
83 of 87 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Deborah Cadbury had a difficult task with this book. How do you take seven examples of tremendous engineering/construction feats and condense each one into 40-50 pages....and still get across to the reader the richness and complexity of each story? Well, Ms. Cadbury has managed to do it. She gives enough details so that you can understand how difficult each of these projects were. She also includes plenty of "human interest" information, so we learn about some of the engineers involved in these projects and how their obsession with work, in several cases, affected their health and even shortened their lives. The author also talks about some of the financiers behind these projects (and some unscrupulous business practices).But Ms. Cadbury doesn't limit herself to the bigwigs. She also shows us the brawn as well as the brains - the thousands and thousands of laborers who actually did the bullwork: the people who braved 100 mile per hour winds and 100 foot waves to build the Bell Rock Lighthouse; the workers who built the Brooklyn Bridge, and got "the bends" from working in pressurized caissons under New York's East River; the Chinese laborers who froze to death in 40 below zero temperatures in the Sierra Nevada mountains (or who were blown up while setting explosive charges), as the Union Pacific railroad made its way eastward from California. (The Chinese workers were considered so insignificant and dispensable that the railroad didn't even bother to keep records on how many died.) In the section on the Panama Canal, in addition to unsafe working conditions, we see another nemesis - disease - as thousands of French and, later, American workers die from Yellow Fever and Malaria, after being bitten by disease-carrying mosquitoes. (Tragically, many "educated" folks thought that only those people living a depraved life could be affected by the tropical diseases. If you were "upstanding," you were safe. So thought one of the canal company's directors - Jules Dingler. He brought the whole family over to Panama and watched in horror as his daughter, son, wife, and his daughter's fiance were all killed by Yellow Fever.) I have read an excellent book on the building of the Panama Canal ("The Path Between The Seas" by David McCullough), which, if I recall correctly was very long...perhaps 500-600 pages. I was amazed what a good job Ms. Cadbury did of getting most of the pertinent information on this topic into such a short chapter. She is really to be commended, because doing justice to each of these stories must have been very difficult. And, again, I found a really good balance in each chapter between the technical aspects of the story and "the human touch." I'm sure that this book will cause many people to want to read more on each of these topics, and Ms. Cadbury obliges with a very nice bibliography. (From my own reading, besides recommending Mr. McCullough's book on the Panama Canal I can also suggest his very good book on the building of the Brooklyn Bridge, "The Great Bridge." Regarding the Scottish lighthouses, I recently read Bella Bathurst's "The Lighthouse Stevensons," and that was excellent, as well.) By the way, for the title of this review I used part of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "official dedication" speech, which he gave at the Hoover Dam on September, 30 1935. I thought the words would be appropriate for any of these great human accomplishments. Kudos to Ms. Cadbury, as well, for presenting each story in such an intelligent and interesting manner.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a riveting read, if you'll pardon the pun. It does a wonderful job of providing the context for each wonder, the challenges involved, and the conditions experienced. As a software engineer, it makes me realize how easy we have it in comparison to those living through the industrial revolution. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in history or engineering.
I'm aware that there was a television series of the same name. Often books from series are by-products. There is absolutely no sense of this here. It is a wonderful book in it's own right.
I'm aware that there was a television series of the same name. Often books from series are by-products. There is absolutely no sense of this here. It is a wonderful book in it's own right.
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The series was brilliant, and I really looked forward to reading the book - and, for once, I was not disappointed!
Ms. Cadbury should feel proud about her achievement. The book is very well written, and the information conveyed in such a relatively short space (only about 50 pages for each 'wonder') is rich, detailed and extremely interesting - and should prove interesting for everyone! She draws together tales from the labourers, from the supervisors, from the finaciers, and from the relatives of those involved with the, often, super-human projects to produce a truly fascinating book.
I don't normally go for historical books, but this is probably one of the best exeptions to that rule. All I can say is, "thank you mum for buying it!"
I would definately recommend this book to everyone...
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
An excellent book to accompany an breath-taking TV series
By Deborah Cadbury, this is an excellent book to accompany the award-winning BBC television series of the same name (for which she was producer); the BBC series was my introduction... Read more
Published 9 months ago by RR Waller
Readable and interesting.
Very readable relating to the seven items chosen as wonders. Big engineering feats at the time and ones that ruined many driven men.
Published 9 months ago by Bob D
Great story telling, covering all aspects of these epic projects!
Really enjoyed this book. Great choice of "wonders", although I'm sure Deborah had many others to choose from. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Maarten de Vries
Well covered
I bought this book with the intention of gaining an insight into some industrial engineering and the associated innovations of the time. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Xarada
7 wonders
Fascinating read. Bought it as a present for someone and by the next morning had read it myself.
Published 18 months ago by JCEH
Sevon Wonders is Wonderful
I never watched the TV series, so read the book with no knowledge on most of the items covered and on finishing the book felt that I had been suitably educated with all the... Read more
Published on 19 Jan 2010 by K. Milligan
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