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A true story of love, murder, and the end of the world's "great hush." In Thunderstruck, Erik Larson tells the interwoven stories of two men--Hawley Crippen, a very unlikely murderer, and Guglielmo Marconi, the obsessive creator of a seemingly supernatural means of communication--whose lives intersect during one of the greatest criminal chases of all time. Set in Edwardian London and on the stormy coasts of Cornwall, Cape Cod, and Nova Scotia, Thunderstruck evokes the dynamism of those years when great shipping companies competed to build the biggest, fastest ocean liners; scientific advances dazzled the public with visions of a world transformed; and the rich outdid one another with ostentatious displays of wealth. Against this background, Marconi races against incredible odds and relentless skepticism to perfect his invention: the wireless, a prime catalyst for the emergence of the world we know today. Meanwhile, Crippen, "the kindest of men," nearly commits the perfect murder. With his unparalleled narrative skills, Erik Larson guides us through a relentlessly suspenseful chase over the waters of the North Atlantic. Along the way, he tells of a sad and tragic love affair that was described on the front pages of newspapers around the world, a chief inspector who found himself strangely sympathetic to the killer and his lover, and a driven and compelling inventor who transformed the way we communicate.… (més)
I have reached such a level of trust with Eric Larson that when I see one of his books at a sale, it goes in the cart. I don't read the flap, I don't consult reviews, just take my money. I consume a paltry number of non-fiction titles a year but Larson is always a good bet. He gives so much. I learn innumerable things from him and yet it's immensely entertaining. I'm stuck on the edge of my seat, knowing his magician's stagecraft is second to none. So, I started reading and realized this selection was about Marconi. Ah, yes, telegraphs and ocean liner radio rooms and all that, right? Well, yes. This book is allllll that. It's a lot. And it makes you appreciate what it took to make wireless work. And I couldn't help but correlate that to cellular and wi-fi and all the magical technology we enjoy in our modern lives. But wait! There's more. Then we are treated to a sordid tale of a missing wife, a mistress and parts of a body found in a London cellar. You see, wireless gave us the first real-time fugitive hunt and it captivated the entire world all at once. One could say after watching CourtTV and Law & Crime that the world has never gotten over the experience. How it forever changed our world, in so many ways. A fascinating tale. To readers around the world, this report was magic. They knew what books the fugitives were reading. They knew about their contemplative moments, and how much they enjoyed the ship's concert. They saw Crippen laughing at the captain's jokes and Le Neve deploying her feminine manners to pluck fruit from a tray. The London Times said “There was something intensely thrilling , almost wierd, in the thought of these two passengers traveling across the Atlantic in the belief that their identity and their whereabouts were unknown while both were being flashed with certainty to all quarters of the civilized world.” From the moment of their departure, the paper said, the two “have been encased in waves of wireless telegraphy as securely as if they had been within the four walls of a prison.” One newspaper invited W.W. Bradfield, one of Marconi's principal engineers, to write about the unfolding saga. Bradfield described the ship's Marconi room as resembling a “magician's cave” and said wireless had forever altered the prospects of criminals. “The suspect fugitive flying to another continent no longer finds immunity in mid-ocean. The very air around him may be quivering with accusatory messages which have apparently come up out of the void. The mystery of ‘wireless’, the impossibility of escaping it, the certainty that it will come out to meet a fugitive as well as follow him in his pursuit, will from henceforth weigh heavily on the person trying to escape from justice.” ( )
I think the connection between these two stories was a bit flimsy. The story of Marconi was drawn out to the point of boring. The story of Crippen was engaging enough. I really enjoyed "Devil in the White City" and so gave this book a try. I'm glad I finished the book, but it was tough slogging at times to get through. ( )
I love Larson's style of appealing to our baser natures with a murder story to get us to read about things like the invention of the radio (thunderstruck) or architecture and landcaping(Devil in the white city)
I feel it worked better in Devil, but I still really enjoyed this ( )
Informació del coneixement compartit en anglès.Modifica-la per localitzar-la a la teva llengua.
A safe but sometimes chilly way of recalling the past is to force open a crammed drawer. If you are searching for anything in particular you don't find it, but something falls out at the back that is often more interesting.
J.M. Barrie "Dedication" Peter Pan 1904
A safe but sometimes chilly way of recalling the past is to force open a crammed drawer. If you are searching for anything in particular you don't find it, but something falls out at the back that is often more interesting. J. M. Barrie "Dedication" Peter Pan 1904
Dedicatòria
Informació del coneixement compartit en anglès.Modifica-la per localitzar-la a la teva llengua.
For my wife and daughters, and in memory of my mother, who first told me about Crippen.
Primeres paraules
Informació del coneixement compartit en anglès.Modifica-la per localitzar-la a la teva llengua.
On Wednesday, July 20, 1910, as a light fog drifted along the River Scheldt, Capt. Henry George Kendall prepares his ship, the SS Montrose, for what should have been the most routine of voyages, from Antwerp direct to Quebec City, Canada.
Citacions
Informació del coneixement compartit en anglès.Modifica-la per localitzar-la a la teva llengua.
There was a young fellow from Italy / Who diddled the public quite prettily
Now entertain conjecture of a time / When creeping murmur and the poring dark / Fills the wide vessel of the Universe. / From camp to camp through the foul womb of night / The hum of either army stilly sounds, / That the fix'd sentinels almost recieve / The secret whispers of each other's watch
Darreres paraules
Informació del coneixement compartit en anglès.Modifica-la per localitzar-la a la teva llengua.
A true story of love, murder, and the end of the world's "great hush." In Thunderstruck, Erik Larson tells the interwoven stories of two men--Hawley Crippen, a very unlikely murderer, and Guglielmo Marconi, the obsessive creator of a seemingly supernatural means of communication--whose lives intersect during one of the greatest criminal chases of all time. Set in Edwardian London and on the stormy coasts of Cornwall, Cape Cod, and Nova Scotia, Thunderstruck evokes the dynamism of those years when great shipping companies competed to build the biggest, fastest ocean liners; scientific advances dazzled the public with visions of a world transformed; and the rich outdid one another with ostentatious displays of wealth. Against this background, Marconi races against incredible odds and relentless skepticism to perfect his invention: the wireless, a prime catalyst for the emergence of the world we know today. Meanwhile, Crippen, "the kindest of men," nearly commits the perfect murder. With his unparalleled narrative skills, Erik Larson guides us through a relentlessly suspenseful chase over the waters of the North Atlantic. Along the way, he tells of a sad and tragic love affair that was described on the front pages of newspapers around the world, a chief inspector who found himself strangely sympathetic to the killer and his lover, and a driven and compelling inventor who transformed the way we communicate.
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(3.61)
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So, I started reading and realized this selection was about Marconi. Ah, yes, telegraphs and ocean liner radio rooms and all that, right? Well, yes. This book is allllll that. It's a lot. And it makes you appreciate what it took to make wireless work. And I couldn't help but correlate that to cellular and wi-fi and all the magical technology we enjoy in our modern lives.
But wait! There's more. Then we are treated to a sordid tale of a missing wife, a mistress and parts of a body found in a London cellar. You see, wireless gave us the first real-time fugitive hunt and it captivated the entire world all at once. One could say after watching CourtTV and Law & Crime that the world has never gotten over the experience. How it forever changed our world, in so many ways. A fascinating tale.
To readers around the world, this report was magic. They knew what books the fugitives were reading. They knew about their contemplative moments, and how much they enjoyed the ship's concert. They saw Crippen laughing at the captain's jokes and Le Neve deploying her feminine manners to pluck fruit from a tray. The London Times said “There was something intensely thrilling , almost wierd, in the thought of these two passengers traveling across the Atlantic in the belief that their identity and their whereabouts were unknown while both were being flashed with certainty to all quarters of the civilized world.” From the moment of their departure, the paper said, the two “have been encased in waves of wireless telegraphy as securely as if they had been within the four walls of a prison.”
One newspaper invited W.W. Bradfield, one of Marconi's principal engineers, to write about the unfolding saga. Bradfield described the ship's Marconi room as resembling a “magician's cave” and said wireless had forever altered the prospects of criminals. “The suspect fugitive flying to another continent no longer finds immunity in mid-ocean. The very air around him may be quivering with accusatory messages which have apparently come up out of the void. The mystery of ‘wireless’, the impossibility of escaping it, the certainty that it will come out to meet a fugitive as well as follow him in his pursuit, will from henceforth weigh heavily on the person trying to escape from justice.” (