Post by Brad Nelson on Jun 27, 2019 14:35:34 GMT -8
Thunderstruck
by Erik Larson
Info: Kindle edition
Genre: non-fiction
Publication Date: October 24, 2006
Quick Rating: Good, but one must slog through the first 200 pages or so which include more information on Crippen and his wife than will interest even the most salacious or detail-oriented reader.
Length: 480 pages
Summary: 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.
The only thing that kept me going through the first two hundred pages was having already read Erik Larson’s excellent The Devil in the White City which is a masterful blending of two events: The 1893 Chicago’s World’s Fair and a murder spree.
Larson tries to recreate that formula in Thunderstruck which combines the life of Dr. Crippen — mainly a patent medicine marketer — with the pursuits of Marconi to make wireless communication a commercial reality. These stories eventual converge in an interesting way, but it's not quite apparent how until you get to the end.
The details of the early life of Dr. Crippen and his wife are tedious. But there are just enough historical factoids interspersed to reward keeping on with it. Eventually you get to the meatier aspects of the book and it does resemble Larson’s better The Devil in the White City.
The only other mar on this book is Larson’s obsessive need to virtue-signal to the reader that Marconi was sometimes an insensitive man (whether to his wife or the British establishment for whom it would have been de rigueer to look down on Marconi as a foreigner). This seems odd considering there is no context to these comments. It’s doubtful you can revolutionize the entire communications system of the world and see to the needs of your family. It has probably always been thus. Marconi was probably better than most. He supplied his family with money and comforts. He never beat his wife. But he did spend a lot of time away from home.
These almost girlish modern sensibilities with no sense of perspective are annoying but don’t render the book useless. What happens is an interesting surprise. Early on, it is the story of Marconi that is the more interesting and every return to the Crippen story an interruption of the flow. But clearly Larson has not as much taste for the technological story. The Marconi story is disjointed and fades the further along the book goes.
But the Crippen story more than makes up for this as it reaches its climax. Before reading this book, read The Devil in the White City, if you haven’t already done so. Then you can see if you like this type of book. If you love it, then by all means move onto Thunderstruck with the caveat that the early parts involving the Crippen story can get a little boring.
by Erik Larson
Info: Kindle edition
Genre: non-fiction
Publication Date: October 24, 2006
Quick Rating: Good, but one must slog through the first 200 pages or so which include more information on Crippen and his wife than will interest even the most salacious or detail-oriented reader.
Length: 480 pages
Summary: 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.
The only thing that kept me going through the first two hundred pages was having already read Erik Larson’s excellent The Devil in the White City which is a masterful blending of two events: The 1893 Chicago’s World’s Fair and a murder spree.
Larson tries to recreate that formula in Thunderstruck which combines the life of Dr. Crippen — mainly a patent medicine marketer — with the pursuits of Marconi to make wireless communication a commercial reality. These stories eventual converge in an interesting way, but it's not quite apparent how until you get to the end.
The details of the early life of Dr. Crippen and his wife are tedious. But there are just enough historical factoids interspersed to reward keeping on with it. Eventually you get to the meatier aspects of the book and it does resemble Larson’s better The Devil in the White City.
The only other mar on this book is Larson’s obsessive need to virtue-signal to the reader that Marconi was sometimes an insensitive man (whether to his wife or the British establishment for whom it would have been de rigueer to look down on Marconi as a foreigner). This seems odd considering there is no context to these comments. It’s doubtful you can revolutionize the entire communications system of the world and see to the needs of your family. It has probably always been thus. Marconi was probably better than most. He supplied his family with money and comforts. He never beat his wife. But he did spend a lot of time away from home.
These almost girlish modern sensibilities with no sense of perspective are annoying but don’t render the book useless. What happens is an interesting surprise. Early on, it is the story of Marconi that is the more interesting and every return to the Crippen story an interruption of the flow. But clearly Larson has not as much taste for the technological story. The Marconi story is disjointed and fades the further along the book goes.
But the Crippen story more than makes up for this as it reaches its climax. Before reading this book, read The Devil in the White City, if you haven’t already done so. Then you can see if you like this type of book. If you love it, then by all means move onto Thunderstruck with the caveat that the early parts involving the Crippen story can get a little boring.