num_pages: 298
description: 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.
language: English
title: Electric Universe: How Electricity Switched on the Modern World
titlecomplete: Electric Universe: How Electricity Switched on the Modern World
genres: Technology, History, Science, Historical, Engineering, Physics, Nonfiction, History Of Science, Business, Audiobook
ratings_count: 1343
awards: awardedAt: 1136102400000
name: Royal Society Science Book Prize
category: General Prize
publisher: Abacus