Details Appertaining To Books Thunderstruck
| Title | : | Thunderstruck |
| Author | : | Erik Larson |
| Book Format | : | Hardcover |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 463 pages |
| Published | : | October 24th 2006 by Crown Publishing Group (NY) |
| Categories | : | History. Nonfiction. Crime. True Crime. Science. Mystery. Historical |
Erik Larson
Hardcover | Pages: 463 pages Rating: 3.7 | 35799 Users | 4065 Reviews
Commentary Supposing Books Thunderstruck
The interwoven stories of two men whose lives intersect during one of the greatest criminal chases of all time - Hawley Crippen, a very unlikely murderer, and Guglielmo Marconi, the obsessive creator of a seemingly supernatural means of communication.A true story of love, murder, and the end of the world’s “great hush”
In Thunderstruck, Erik Larson tells the interwoven stories of two men—Hawley Crippen, a very unlikely murderer, and Guglielmo Marconi, the obsessive creator of a seemingly supernatural means of communication—whose lives intersect during one of the greatest criminal chases of all time.
Set in Edwardian London and on the stormy coasts of Cornwall, Cape Cod, and Nova Scotia, Thunderstruck evokes the dynamism of those years when great shipping companies competed to build the biggest, fastest ocean liners, scientific advances dazzled the public with visions of a world transformed, and the rich outdid one another with ostentatious displays of wealth. Against this background, Marconi races against incredible odds and relentless skepticism to perfect his invention: the wireless, a prime catalyst for the emergence of the world we know today. Meanwhile, Crippen, “the kindest of men,” nearly commits the perfect crime.
With his superb narrative skills, Erik Larson guides these parallel narratives toward a relentlessly suspenseful meeting on the waters of the North Atlantic. Along the way, he tells of a sad and tragic love affair that was described on the front pages of newspapers around the world, a chief inspector who found himself strangely sympathetic to the killer and his lover, and a driven and compelling inventor who transformed the way we communicate. Thunderstruck presents a vibrant portrait of an era of séances, science, and fog, inhabited by inventors, magicians, and Scotland Yard detectives, all presided over by the amiable and fun-loving Edward VII as the world slid inevitably toward the first great war of the twentieth century. Gripping from the first page, and rich with fascinating detail about the time, the people, and the new inventions that connect and divide us, Thunderstruck is splendid narrative history from a master of the form.
Point Books Toward Thunderstruck
| Original Title: | Thunderstruck |
| ISBN: | 1400080665 (ISBN13: 9781400080663) |
| Edition Language: | English |
Rating Appertaining To Books Thunderstruck
Ratings: 3.7 From 35799 Users | 4065 ReviewsDiscuss Appertaining To Books Thunderstruck
Would have liked more about the murder trial than how to build a radio stationIt's an axiom that Great Men (and, one supposes, Great Women) are Unpleasant People. Larson's treatment of Guglielmo Marconi, great-great-great grandfather of the device you're reading this on, does nothing to dispel the miasma of meanness from him. What a rotten human being! How completely insensitive, how thoroughly obsessively devoted to his own self and comfort, what a complete rotter of a businessman!Thank you, Guglielmo, for the gifts all that human wreckage you left behind have given us
Actual rating about 3.5 stars.This is probably not quite as strong as Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania, but is pretty good.
With incredible deftness, Larson weaves together the stories of an Italian scientist and inventor and a British hack physician and hapless lover. The setting is Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a time that saw Edwardian indulgences and a fascination with mysticism and magic dissolving before the advances in science, technology, and the inevitable march toward the first World War. This book is a lesson in history, an examination of the business and politics of technology and
There's a certain style of storytelling which I have an affinity for, both in terms of telling stories myself and listening to them (or reading them). The style, in a word, would be called "digressive". I know this style doesn't work for everyone, but it works for me. I like talking about or hearing about the little things that don't necessarily advance the plot or aren't crucial to understanding the point of something. As long as the digressions are interesting in and of themselves, I think
After reading Devil in the White City (one of my favorite books of all time), I was very excited to read this book. I ended up disappointed. I really had to force my way through this book. There was too much about the invention and not enough about the murder. Devil in the White City was much more balanced. Although maybe it just felt that way because the world's fair chapters were just as interesting as the serial killer chapters. Erik Larson is a great writer. I enjoy how he ties a famous
I enjoyed parts of Thunderstruck and really had to force myself through others. The chapters about Marconi were often boring and too technical for my non-scientific mind. Larson sort of expects his reader to already understand certain elements of how radio waves works, which I don't. However, when Larson wasn't droning on about building towers and antennae, Marconi's story still captured my attention. (I'm sure more scientific minded people would enjoy the aspects that I didn't.) In the end, I
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