The Industrial Revolutionaries: The Making of the Modern World 1776-1914

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this new history of the Industrial Revolution. Gavin Weightman writes clearly and wittily, enlivening even the most technical aspects of some of the new inventions. He has investigated and sometimes debunked some of the cherished old myths and stories about the way some inventors made their breakthroughs and given new life to their personalities, so that men like James Watt and Robert Fulton who are rightly regarded as heroes of industrialization become real, flawed, human beings once more. Weightman also provides some fascinating new connections, like the link between the inventor of the torpedo and the Von Trapp Family Singers, which are intriguing and often amusing. Some of Weightman's characterizations and assessments are problematic, as when he calls Prince Albert gauche but then refers over and over to his meetings with and encouragement of eminent scientists and inventors, but these are minor flaws. The Industrial Revolutionaries is a well written and scholarly history of industrialization in Britain, Europe, America, and Japan and should be a prime resource for students of the period.

A good read that digs into the personal stories of major innovators. The degree to which this relatively brief span of history shaped the world we live in is amazing.

The book provides a reasonably good overview of industrial revolution. However there are unnecessary details and quality of writing is uneven. I also have some specific complains: - Various patent disputes are described, but nowhere does the author give any account of how patent system came into existence. - In some places, like during description of steam engines, a few diagrams would have made the subject much easier to grasp. Likewise, a few maps would have come handy in the chapter about the early railway lines. - The chapter about Morse code is poorly written and is a way too long - and so anti-Morse. - At the very end of the book, the author belittles the book "Guns, Germs and Steel" by Jared Diamond, as if the ideas promulgated in that book somehow negate the accomplishments of European inventors and entrepreneurs. I certainly don't think so. Diamond's book is about macro level of human civilization, while books like this deal with micro level of our civilization.

This books covers not only the inventors but the spies and publicists who pushed the inventor's fruit, ending in 1914 just before WW1. It's chock full of fascinating characters, some good, some bad, some unknown in their homelands yet cherished halfway around the world for the transformation they wrought, NTM the British 'roast-bifs' or 'navvies' in France who's energy shocked the upper classes as they built France's first RR's, and changed the French diet for the common working man. The truly incredible stories of how Japan was transformed in part by a couple of five shipwrecked fishermen, followed by spies bent on preserving Japan's isolation but discovering that had become obviously impossible and too dangerous, compelling them to support Japan becoming a modern nation fully active in the world. Critical industries often ignored, like petroleum are included, in part because their creation and transformation was in just 2-3 decades, as is the pneumatic bicycle rubber tire by a guy who'd never ridden one. This is less about nations trying to keep up like France or Japan, though they're included, than people seeking advantage of their opportunities. You may think you know the industrial revolution as I did, but I'm fairly sure you'll learn something new here. This isn't to say there aren't errors, as other reviewers have noted; the price of the Louisiana Purchase is reported as 80 million dollars after it was previously mentioned as 80 million francs, though the correct US figure of $15 million is given in the book's summation [a quarter being the US assumption of French debts to US citizens] and actual payment was arranged by both a British and Dutch bank, who took the $3 million in gold plus the rest in US government bonds while paying cash to Napoleon who demanded cash immediately, though that story isn't in the book; but knowledgeable readers should spot other mistakes or typos fairly easily. Overall, this a very human story that while some may seem too fantastic, ring true to the potential in all of us to change the world in some way for the better. Enjoy!

The steam engine took over a hundred years to become the powerful machine that could propel trains and ships. The telegram and light bulb developed over time. No one person was responsible for these inventions.

I found this book quite readable and a nice, even handed summary of the Industrial Revolution and particularly the people who made it happen. My only gripe would be that it occasionally broached so many names in such a short period that it was occasionally difficult to track who was who. Perhaps more intelligent readers might have no issue, but i found it a bit confusing. However, the reality of the matter is that there were so many important contributors to the industrial revolution, so i suppose this is a necessary evil. I look forward to reading the authors other books!

This book is a collection of several well researched stories that describe the period of industrialization that occurred from the beginning of the American revolution to world war I. The begins each chapter, telling you where he is going to take you and then weaves his tale. Very skillfully crafted and an enjoyable read.

The author has written a clear and valuable text to complement much of the arcane material that is available on the process of modernisation. In some ways it is a return to an earlier way of considering the means by which the modern world developed, but supplemented with lots of local detail to illustrate the process at work and avoiding silly generalisations. We are not submerged in a mass of statistics or consideration of econometric models and the book does not suffer as a consequence of this fact. Rather, the emphasis is on the inventors, engineers and entrepreneurs whose actions helped to create our current world. Thus individual efforts, whether successful or otherwise, are pieced together so that we are able to put together the individual pieces into our own mental jigsaw, aided by the interconnected nature of much of the material; thus, after someone has invented a process often we are reliant on other people to introduce the process into use.

good book which I cant put down and I learnt a lot. the author is very good at explaining things in plain English as I bought it after reading one of other books

O material não é o melhor mas não também não é o pior. Livro de bom tamanho mas achei o conteúdo um pouco chato, acho que informações foram prolongadas demais, talvez mais resumido um pouco o livro tivesse menos páginas e seria mais direto nos assuntos tratados. Mas ajuda a entender um pouco a evolução da indústria da época. Nenhuma leitura é desperdício então se não achar outro melhor sobre este assunto, leia esse.

In the days when patents were vague and engineering drawing was so bad it was child's play, the only way technology could be transplanted was to entice the artisans abroad. So the author tells his history through short lives of the pioneers, and very entertaining it is too. After about the Great Exhibition the author discerns a fundamental shift, where instead of a source of innovation (Britain) an archipelago of science and engineering produces innovation. He keeps with the biographical format, and follows various themes in the development of chemical, mechanical and electrical advances through the lives of the inventors. These lives were not easy. For every Bessemer or Nobel who made fortunes, there were a dozen who ended in the poor house. Weightman is agreeably opinionated and avoids that awful historian's twitch "he she must have felt.." and gives a good kicking to some of his subjects, Watt, Morse and Edison in particular. His choice of people should not be questioned, perhaps, but some omissions are a bit odd. No mention of the man who allowed Brunel to build his bridges by inventing concrete? No mention of reinforced concrete (invented by a gardener; par for the course among this rogues' gallery)? The machine age needed machines to be repaired. Cue some standards so that parts (initially just nuts and bolts) could be exchanged: Joseph Whitworth gets a one line mention on another subject. If you had Workshop of the World as a set text you may feel you know enough about the period. If you've slogged through the statistical tables of more academic texts you may feel you know more than enough. But this is an entertaining complement, good for the student and the amateur. The author has a knack for concise technical explanation which makes the limited illustrations superfluous. Probably not a classic but highly recommended.

Thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, if your interested in the subject then I recommend you buy a copy. It is not stuffy or hard to read like a lot of history books, Weightman's writing style is very engaging and he adds relevant people to the text so the story flows from start to finish.

I bought this for my husband and he says a good book but nothing more, so a good buy for industrial fans.