A review by bengriffin
Electric Universe: The Shocking True Story of Electricity by David Bodanis

4.0

It seems most of the negative reviews around this book focus on the lack of scientific details or things that were missed out. I fnd this strange because the book never claims to be an indepth explanation of the principles of electricity, but rather its history and the human stories behind each important discovery, and it does this very well. I particularly enjoyed the chapters about Alan Turing, the development of radar, and found the story of Alexander Graham Bell and his wife incredibly moving. The writing style is easy to read and digest and rattles along nicely. It doesn't get bogged down in the science but has enough knowledge behind it to present what it does well and intrigued me enough to make we want to read more on various subjects in greater depth. As an introduction to the subject it's a great place to start, or if science isn't your thing then there's enough of a human element packed with romance, subterfuge and adventure to appeal to the majority of readers.