Review
Popular science writer David Bodanis (The Secret Family, The Secret House, E=mc2 : a biography of the world's most famous equation) interweaves historical vignettes of scientists, inventors and businessmen with technological developments to present a history of electricity. The author's casual writing style and storytelling ability bring alive the excitement of discovery, the social context of the inventions, e.g. the transistor and the trans-Atlantic cable, and the personalities and lives of the discoveries. Electric Universe should appeal to general audiences and to teens with an interest in history or science. The paperback edition has a different subtitle Electric universe: how electricity switched on the modern world. Unlike other works by this author there are no illustrations.

~ Linda Oliver
Reference Librarian
Curtis Memorial Library
3/22/2006