This is the pioneering story of the telegraph, an almost
forgotten technology, but one which Tom Standage shows to have relevance for
today. For me, telegrams are very mysterious things, glued to the hands of
bellboys, like the 'Candygram for Mongo' in 'Blazing
Saddles'. In idle, stupid moments, I wonder how all those words got sent
down a piece of wire. If I'm confused as to what comprises the telegraph, then
I wouldn't have been the first: Standage relates how one woman tried to send a
cake down the wire. The reason being that if generals can move armies by
telegram, then why cannot cakes be sent? This new technology was ridiculed and
feared in the early nineteenth century, with people such as Charles Dickens almost
regaling it with supernatural powers (see Dickens' classic 'The
Signalman' ). That was the case until a telegram from Slough to Paddington
apprehended the murderer John Tawell. Capturing Tawell, and various other
vagabonds who preyed on rail travellers, showed that the telegraph had
practical uses. I was particularly interested in the references to my home town
of Slough, since it has always been a communications centre, from the Roman
builders of the Bath Road, the stagecoach, to the railways.
Standage's analogy would seem to hold true, since a certain internet retailer
has just opened in the same
town, with geographical networks still retaining import in the invisible world
of electronic commerce. But this book will appeal to readers on a far wider
level. This is an exciting tale of scientific innovation, featuring characters
such as Samuel Morse, and will delight those who loved 'Fermat's
Last Theorem' and 'Longitude'
Kevin Mahoney
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