This isn't my favorite Larson book, but it's still worth your time. Very informative and entertaining.
- Laurell K. Hamilton's Danse Macabre
- Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five
- Up in Honey's Room - Elmore Leonard
Showing posts with label Larson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Larson. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Isaac's Storm - Erik Larson
Isaac's Storm is the story of the 1900 Galveston hurricane and the early days of hurricane prediction. Like the other works by Erik Larson, Isaac's Storm is the non-fiction that reads like a good mystery. Larson seamlessly weaves the facts and figures of the events into a narrative that keeps the reader engaged. Each of the books that I've read by this guy have been peppered with historical surprises, and this one is no exception. Fascinating tidbits about technologies, companies, and individuals that we think we know are revealed in the context of their time.
This isn't my favorite Larson book, but it's still worth your time. Very informative and entertaining.
This isn't my favorite Larson book, but it's still worth your time. Very informative and entertaining.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Thunderstruck - Erik Larson
When I saw that the author of Devil and the White City, Erik Larson, had written another book, I had to read it.
Thunderstruck is the non-fiction account of two figures who each captured the imagination of the western world at the beginning of the 20th century. Guglielmo Marconi was one of the driving forces behind the invention of wireless telegraphy. Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen was an American doctor of homeopathic medicine, who in 1910, killed his wife. Larson tells the tales of these two fascinating men with the same engrossing style which he brought to Devil and the White City. The reader easily forgets that he is reading a work of non-fiction.
I happen to enjoy reading about the history of science and technology, but Larson's account of Marconi's development of transatlantic wireless telegraphy is accessible, and engrossing. One can't help but draw parallels between the the technological developments of the early 1900's and the early 2000's. The excitement and wonder with which the world embraced wireless is palpable.
I highly recommend Thunderstruck.
Still on the Bedside Table:
Thunderstruck is the non-fiction account of two figures who each captured the imagination of the western world at the beginning of the 20th century. Guglielmo Marconi was one of the driving forces behind the invention of wireless telegraphy. Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen was an American doctor of homeopathic medicine, who in 1910, killed his wife. Larson tells the tales of these two fascinating men with the same engrossing style which he brought to Devil and the White City. The reader easily forgets that he is reading a work of non-fiction.
I happen to enjoy reading about the history of science and technology, but Larson's account of Marconi's development of transatlantic wireless telegraphy is accessible, and engrossing. One can't help but draw parallels between the the technological developments of the early 1900's and the early 2000's. The excitement and wonder with which the world embraced wireless is palpable.
I highly recommend Thunderstruck.
Still on the Bedside Table:
- W. Sommerset Maughm's Of Human Bondage
- Alan Furst's The Foreign Correspondant
- Laurell K. Hamilton's Danse Macabre
- Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)