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Electric Universe: How Electricity Switched on the Modern World

david bodanis

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The bestselling author of E=mc2  weaves tales of romance, divine inspiration, and fraud through an account of the invisible force that permeates our universe — electricity —and introduces us to the virtuoso scientists who plumbed its secrets.

For centuries, electricity was seen as little more than a curious property of certain substances that sparked when rubbed. Then, in the 1790s, Alessandro Volta began the scientific investigation that ignited an explosion of knowledge and invention. The force that once seemed inconsequential was revealed to be responsible for everything from the structure of the atom to the functioning of our brains. In harnessing its power, we have created a world of wonders—complete with roller coasters and radar, computer networks and psychopharmaceuticals.

In Electric Universe , the great discoverers come to life in all their brilliance and idiosyncrasy, including the visionary Michael Faraday, who struggled against the prejudices of the British class system, and Samuel Morse, a painter who, before inventing the telegraph, ran for mayor of New York City on a platform of persecuting Catholics. Here too is Alan Turing, whose dream of a marvelous thinking machine—what we know as the computer—was met with indifference, and who ended his life in despair after British authorities forced him to undergo experimental treatments to “cure” his homosexuality.

From the frigid waters of the Atlantic to the streets of Hamburg during a World War II firestorm to the interior of the human body, Electric Universe is a mesmerizing journey of discovery.

320 pages, Paperback

First published February 15,2005
Literary awards
royal society science book prize, 

This edition

Format
320 pages, Paperback
Published
February 28, 2006 by Crown
ISBN
9780307335982
ASIN
0307335984
Language
English

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About the author

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david bodanis

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David Bodanis' latest book THE ART OF FAIRNESS: THE POWER OF DECENCY IN A WORLD TURNED MEAN was published November 2020 and asks the question that has long fascinated David: Can you succeed without being a terrible person? The answer is 'Yes, but you need skill', and the book shows how. I demonstrate those insights through a series of biographies…

David Bodanis is the bestselling author of THE SECRET HOUSE and E=MC2, which was turned into a PBS documentary and a Southbank Award-winning ballet at Sadler's Wells. David also wrote ELECTRIC UNIVERSE, which won the Royal Society Science Book of the Year Prize, and PASSIONATE MINDS, a BBC Book of the Week. Then a return to Einstein and the struggles he went through with EINSTEIN'S GREATEST MISTAKE which was named ‘Science Book of the Year' by the Sunday Times, and also widely translated.

David has worked for the Royal Dutch Shell Scenario Prediction unit and the World Economic Forum. He has been a popular speaker at TED conferences and at Davos. His work has been published in the Financial Times, the Guardian, and the New York Times, and has appeared on Newsnight, Start the Week, and other programs. When not slumped in front of a laptop, he has been known to attempt kickboxing, with highly variable results.

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Community Reviews

Rating(3.9 / 5.0, 100 votes)
5 stars
28(28%)
4 stars
34(34%)
3 stars
38(38%)
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0(0%)
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100 reviews All reviews
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taynatavares
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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I'm crazy about this book. Listened to it on the way to California, and then listened to it again with Peter! First of all, it explains electricity in simple terms so I understood it. Second of all, he introduces you to each advance--telegraph, telephone, light bulb, etc., all the way to computers--by acquainting you with the person responsible for the discovery. Finally, when I thought the book was through and I was completely satisfied, he launches into how electricity makes our bodies work! So enLIGHTening, and the Creator's hand is evident throughout.
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juviin
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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Easy to read. Overview of discoveries and work in the human history of electricity. Kind of fizzles out at the end. Sometimes tends to make unnecessary judgmental statements about personal lives of the scientists, but does provide a human background to the history of science.
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mlcdl
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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I put it down when i noticed no entry for Tesla in the index.
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renairenairenai
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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I listened to this as an audio book.

Seriously, I hated this book, I only listened to it because it kept me from falling asleep while commuting. Actually, the anger I sometimes felt while listening worked pretty effectively for that. This book is intended for someone who has absolutely no understanding of science at all and has never even thought about what electricity might be. In that case, why would they start now? Perhaps I was especially disappointed because I had just listened to Eistein, His Life and Times, which was quite good. That book explained Einstein's admittedly difficult concepts in a way that was comprehensible to non-scientists (I think) without insulting their intelligence. This book simplified electricity and its behavior to such a level that is is not enlightening AT ALL and will make you sound like an idiot if you repeat any of it.

Just for good measure, the reader had an annoying, raspy voice.
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MarryMeSenpai
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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Bodanis does an okay job of writing a storybook about the development of electrical technology, but I really felt like the book over-promised and under-delivered. I may have been part of the problem though, because I had really high expectations. I enjoyed the book, but I'm not sure who I would recommend it to...maybe a middle school student writing a report? Three stars because I enjoyed it, but it definitely fell short of my expectations.
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Wintear
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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David Bodanis writes a great history of how modern man has used electricity. He focuses more on the people behind the science and shows us that scientific pogress doesn't always advance smoothly,but more often does so in fits and starts with a lot of eccentricity and ego driving them. The part about Alan Turing is especially heartbreaking as it makes you think about how the computer era could have come much earlier if not for his unfortunate early death.if you enjoyed this you'd like his Secret Family and James Gleik's Faster.
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spicarie
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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This could have been a lot better, or at least it wasn’t what I was expecting. Each chapter is another vignette about another inventor or scientist who makes some kind of discovery or innovation to further our use and understanding of electricity itself. It’s very anecdotal and plays into the people and characters involved along the way. Could have been written in a more engaging style, overall it was OK.
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