Pursuing Power and Light: Technology and Physics from James Watt to Albert Einstein (Hopkins Introductions to the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine)

Most of what I knew about science and technology in the 19th century was retrospective. I was, for instance, in awe of Maxwell's equations but couldn't imagine where he got the idea for them. This book explains the bumpy road that leads to all great discoveries.Hunt also provides unexpected insights on why the 19th century was relatively peaceful. Great Britain had a dominating position in steam technology and was very slow to share her secrets on the continent. From mid-century she also virtually controlled the information industry. All the great cable companies were British and she controlled the sale of gutta percha from the far east which was essential to insulate cables and other electrical equipment. It was Hertz who began the process of breaking this strategic information monopoly with his invention of radio waves in 1886 -- a technology that by the early years of the new century permitted long-range communication outside of the British-controlled cable system.

Dr. Hunt's narrative flows. The facts are fascinating and the explanations are extremely accessible and comprehensible, but not "dumbed down" in tone or content. Ever wanted to know how a steam engine works...and how innovations like it and the telegraph changed the world? If so, Pursuing Power and Light, is the title for you It is also required reading for several college courses on the history of science throughout the world, including at the University of Texas where I attend. I read this book BEFORE the semester even started as the narrative is fascinating. It's a "page turner" if you're into tech, innovators, history...

This is a very well written history of the development of steam power and the science of thermodynamics on the one hand, and electromagnetism and the associated electric industries on the other. The author also describes how they converged at the end of the century to provide the basis for 20th century physics and technology. The author tells this story without the use of mathematics, and only displays a few equations, which are (fortunately, see below) not essential to understand the basic physics. The author's point is to demonstrate how the development of technology spurred on physics, as physicists struggled to understand what the engineers and 'mechanics' had done, and also how the understanding that came out of physics enabled not only better machines but whole new technologies (e.g., radio waves). While this point has been made before, it is rare to see it discussed in books intended for non-physicists. I am a retired physicist and I was delighted to see this book. I was even more delighted when I got around to reading it. Anyone who is interested in the foundations of modern physics but does not have a mathematical background should enjoy this book.Having said all that, I must admit to a hesitation about giving it 5 stars. I own the Kindle edition, and there are numerous typos. In the early part of the book, they tend to come in those few equations that are displayed, so they don't effect understanding. However, in the latter part of the book, most if not all words with double-f's (ff) have the 'ff' replaced with a question mark '?' (E.g., 'offer' becomes 'o?er'.) This makes me suspect that at least part of the book was converted into an eBook by scanning the print edition and running it through optical character recognition software that did not know how to parse 'ff'. This was very disconcerting and interfered with my enjoyment of the last couple of chapters. But the book is so well written that I couldn't bear to downgrade my rating.

The author, an associate professor of history, explores the interaction between applied technology and scientific theory during the research and development of steam, electromagnetism, and electricity as sources of power and lighting. The author discusses how the successes and failures of applied technology often spurred scientific research to understand the scientific bases for the successes and failures of such technology, how scientific theory contributed to making improvements to some technological applications, and how competing scientific theories sometimes generated controversies that slowed scientific progress. The author does a very good job of showing how the research and development of steam, electromagnetism, and electricity as sources of power and lighting were slow, nonlinear, problematic, and contentious. The book ends with a chapter and an epilogue that show how advances in scientific research about physics during the 1800s identified problems and anomalies that contributed to the development of the theory of quantum mechanics. Overall, the author provides an informative, and occasionally fascinating, historical perspective on a period of significant scientific advances that laid the foundations for much of modern technology.This history book is aimed at a technical audience, not casual readers. It would be helpful for readers to have some knowledge or familiarity with physics, engineering, or the history of science to better follow and understand the author's commentary and observations.

I had to read this for a history of science class, and it was by far the most interesting book we read. It highlights the development of thermodynamics and its connection with the steam engine to the wave theory of light and the telegraph. All in all a good read for those that love science and want to know some of the history of the laws and theories. It is also interesting to read about the actual beliefs of the original scientists regarding the theories we all take for granted.

I was forced to read this for school and for that purpose this was a good purchase. The book itself is very good for those who like history. I don't.

Get it, very good, lovely yass lovely, nice very good you will enjoy it hehe, get it now buy it

Good read