Book description
The intriguing story of how wireless was invented by Guglielmo Marconi
- and how it amused Queen Victoria, saved the lives of the Titanic
survivors, tracked down criminals and began the radio revolution.
Wireless was the most fabulous invention of the 19th century: the
public thought it was magic, the popular newspapers regarded it as
miraculous, and the leading scientists of the day (in Europe and
America) could not understand how it worked. In 1897, when the first
wireless station was established by Marconi in a few rooms of the Royal
Needles Hotel on the Isle of Wight, nobody knew how far these invisible
waves could travel through the 'ether', carrying Morse Coded messages
decipherable at a receiving station. (The definitive answer was not
discovered till the 1920s, by which time radio had become a
sophisticated industry filling the airwaves with a cacaphony of sounds -
most of it American.)
Note that it has not been possible to include the same picture content
that appeared in the original print version.
Marconi himself was the son of an Italian father and an Irish mother
(from the Jameson whiskey family); he grew up in Italy and was fluent in
Italian and English, but it was in England that his invention first
caught on. Marconi was in his early twenties at the time (he died in
1937). With the 'new telegraphy' came the real prospect of replacing the
network of telegraphic cables that criss-crossed land and sea at
colossal expense. Initially it was the great ships that benefited from
the new invention - including the Titanic, whose survivors owed their
lives to the wireless. 'Gavin Weightman brings alive the excitement
and uncertainty of the early wireless experiments. His book cannot fail
to spark the imagination of anyone wishing to comprehend the magnitude
of the revolution brought about by wireless. It is an excellent read'
New Scientist
'A fascinating story set in a fascinating period' Sunday Tribune (Dublin)
'Gavin Weightman's impeccably researched book is far more than a
fact-led shunt through the Marconi story. His prose shimmers with the
kind of romance that, in the mobile phone age, is quite difficult to
grasp. But what a lovely story! An unassuming young chap confronts and
defies the finest scientific minds in the world. It is pleasing to
report that the cinematic aspect of this tale comes gloriously alive
within Weightman's evocative, vividly detailed writing. Utterly
captivating and, even for techno-dunces like myself, wholly
illuminating' Manchester Evening News
'Fascinating…I strongly recommend this book, [and] salute Gavin
Weightman for his lucid account of the radio revolution' Trevor Baylis,
Daily Mail Gavin Weightman is an experienced television
documentary-maker (producer/director/writer), journalist and author of
many books such as The Making of Modern London: 1815-1914, The Making of
Modern London: 1914-1939, London River, Picture Post Britain and Rescue:
A History of the British Emergency Services (Boxtree). His first book
for HarperCollins, The Frozen Water Trade, was published in February
2002
