Conquering the Electron: The Geniuses, Visionaries, Egomaniacs, and Scoundrels Who Built Our Electronic Age

I am a physician specialize in Ear, Nose and Throat and Head and Neck Surgery. My knowledge of electronic is limited. One of the reasons I want to read this book is because many innovations and advancements in our specialty are related to electronics, such as multichannel cochlear implant and fiber optic endoscopes.I enjoy reading this book for the following reasons:1. The scientific facts were made simple enough so that a non-electrical engineer can understand and to follow the trend of what goes on in the field of electro-magnetism.2. Appropriate amount of biographic information on the principle characters to make the reading of this book an interesting experience.3. Serendipity scientific discoveries sometimes turned out to be the cornerstone to our next big push in our electronic industries. For that reason we should never over look the importance of basic science research.4. Exposed the intellectual strength of our scientists and the far-sighted vision of our industrialists. At the same time it also exposed character flaws of the Scientists and Industrialists in the development of our telecommunication and information system.5. The history of the formation of Bell Lab and Silicon Valley was fascinating. These two venerable institutions had nurtured and continue to nurture the brightest mind in the world and had given the world an unprecedented continuous economic success.Kelvin Loh, MD, FACS

Very nice book content-wise and material-wise

This is book is alright. There is some good information on the development of electric technology such as the development of the battery and radio transmission, however, the author quickly jumps over other important areas without providing much detail. For instance, in discussing the discovery of the electron - "Invisible Current" chapter 9 - there is a decent discussion of Crooke's Cathode Ray tube experiment, but then concludes by saying J.J. Thomson conducted 3 experiments and discovered the electron without ever saying anything about hwat those experiments were or how they were developed. If you are truly interested in the full history you will need to supplement this book with Wikipedia research, which is a disappointment to me since I prefer to just sit down and read it all from one book.

I'm only a few chapters in and am quite happy with this book. It so far has covered the discovery of electromagnetics, the telegraph the telephone, and all who helped bring such inventions to fruition. It covers the good, and the bad, about the people involved in these endeavours and is generally, so far, a very interesting and insightful read for anyone interested in the history of electricity and electronics in general. Very good book.

This enjoyable account of the history of electromagnetism and electronics focuses on the key players as much as the technology. The description of the linkages and interactions among the people makes the book both informative and fun to read despite the sophistication of the scientific concepts. Sometimes that interplay becomes intrigue as business savvy technologists take on management roles, recognize the financial leverage of key technical advances, and seek them out by any means necessary. Enter Alexander Graham Bell and David Sarnoff. At other times, enormous egos trip up technical geniuses like William Shockley who can't understand his best role in an enterprise, and accidentally sows the seeds that blossom into Silicon Valley.

I highly recommend this book. The author starts with early discoveries of static and such during ancient times, and moves along from one advancement to the next, carefully explaining how each inventor added to our cumulative knowledge of electricity to get where we are today. Exactly what I was looking for. Very interesting. Author never gets bogged down in needless details. Great flow to the book.

This is an awesome book. It covers a long journey from the very first discoveries related to electricity to today. What makes it engaging is how the dots are conected to form a whole story which some other books lack of. It will help view the big picture for electronics across ages and make sense of all those "isolated" pieces of work of which science seems to be plenty of. Very happy with this purchase.

Unlike many reviewers here, i don't work in a technical field, but i found this book fascinating. It's clear the author has passion for the industry, but also very much for history, and certainly no shortage of lesser known - pertinent - information woven through a great fabric of storytelling. I particularly enjoyed the comprehensive approach of a guided timeline to make sense of what is often a fragmented study. Great big-picture approach by the author supported by informed opinions and details. Bravo, perfect for the curious mind.

First of all, a disclaimer: I'm an Electrical Engineer. Therefore, I'm completely partial about the subject matter.That being said, I loved the book. I've reading bits and pieces of the history of electrical engineering scattered throughout the literature, but never found a single book weaving everything together in one single publication.If you have any kind of technical formation in the area, it should be a delicious reading, but the layman should not be afraid. The narrative is fast paced and interspersed with the necessary graphs, pictures and explanation boxes that add to the understanding of the book. At the end of book, there is a good bibliography for further reading and a useful summary.My only complaint is the lack of a detailed narrative linking Maxwell to Hertz thru the maxwellians and the small typeface used. But, given the scope of book, removing a star would be unfair for otherwise a fantastic book.In short, I wholeheartedly recommend the book for anyone interested in how mankind came to dominate the particle that interacts strongly with one of the fundamental forces of the nature (the electromagnetic force).

Excellent livre. Je suis surpris que Conquering the electron ne soit pas plus connu. J’ai appris tellement de choses et pourtant je n’étais pas novice. L’auteur met l’accent sur ceux qui ont découvert l’électromagnétisme et ceux qui ont su inventer et innover pour créer le monde contemporain. On passe de l’électricité statique au monde moderne du numérique en passant par le télégramme et le transistor. C’est le genre de livre qui change profondément la manière dont on voit le monde. Un des meilleurs livres sur l’histoire des techniques.