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Conquerors of Time : Exploration and Invention in the Age of Daring
Conquerors of Exploration and Invention in the Age of Daring SIGNED COPY
464 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2004
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November 15, 2011
This is a frustrating book. It covers some fascinating subjects, and it's beautifully produced, but it just doesn't hang together, and for that reason I don't think I'll be keeping it.
The thesis seems to be the shrinking of time throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, which allows for such wonderful tales as the great feats of exploration, the growth of the stage coach, the coming of steam and the invention of telegraphy, but the leaps sometimes felt arbitrary, such as the laboured diversion in to the history of army veterinary surgeons, and the more important chapters, such as the ones on the Indian Mutiny or Nile exploration, have been better covered in more detail elsewhere.
I also couldn't help but feel that at times the author was simply regurgitating research: there were several lists running to a paragraph or more which seemed to be there for no reason other than to fill space. Perhaps I could recommend this book for someone who knew nothing of the industrial revolution, but more experienced readers will find little here to interest them.
The thesis seems to be the shrinking of time throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, which allows for such wonderful tales as the great feats of exploration, the growth of the stage coach, the coming of steam and the invention of telegraphy, but the leaps sometimes felt arbitrary, such as the laboured diversion in to the history of army veterinary surgeons, and the more important chapters, such as the ones on the Indian Mutiny or Nile exploration, have been better covered in more detail elsewhere.
I also couldn't help but feel that at times the author was simply regurgitating research: there were several lists running to a paragraph or more which seemed to be there for no reason other than to fill space. Perhaps I could recommend this book for someone who knew nothing of the industrial revolution, but more experienced readers will find little here to interest them.
Displaying 1 of 1 review