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.
- ‘Hugely impressive. No one makes complex science more fascinating and accessible - and indeed more pleasurable - than David Bodanis’ Bill Bryson
- ‘Bodanis’ greatest gift is telling stories with a passion and vibrant energy that makes you thirst to investigate more once his books are done’ TES
- 'Bodanis unpeels these layers of the electrical onion expertly
- his writing is vigorous and sometimes ecstatic . . . ' DAILY MAIL
Paperback:
£7.99
Published 19/01/2006
Add to basket