The Victorian Internet

Tom Standage is the former science correspondent/technology editor and current business at the ECONOMIST magazine.He is the author of Writing on the Wall: Social Media-The First 2000 Years, the bestseller A History of the World in 6 Glasses, An Edible History of Humanity, The Turk, and The Neptune File, and The Victorian Internet.He is married and lives in Greenwich, London.

出版者:Walker & Company

作者:Tom Standage

页数:256

出版时间:2007-9-18

价格:USD 15.95

装帧:Paperback

isbn号码:9780802716040

图书标签:communicationVictorian财富》杂志推荐的75本商业必读书历史微历史商业传播学history

A new paperback edition of the first book by the bestselling author of "A History of the World in 6 Glasses"--the fascinating story of the telegraph, the world's first "Internet," which revolutionized the nineteenth century even more than the Internet has the twentieth and twenty first. "The Victorian Internet "tells the colorful story of the telegraph's creation and remarkable impact, and of the visionaries, oddballs, and eccentrics who pioneered it, from the eighteenth-century French scientist Jean-Antoine Nollet to Samuel F. B. Morse and Thomas Edison. The electric telegraph nullified distance and shrank the world quicker and further than ever before or since, and its story mirrors and predicts that of the Internet in numerous ways. Tom Standage is the former technology editor and current business editor at the" Economist." He is the author of "A History of the World in 6 Glasses," "The Turk," and "The Neptune File." "The Victorian Internet "tells the story of the telegraph, the world's first 'internet, ' which revolutionized the nineteenth century even more than the internet has the twentieth and twenty-first. The electric telegraph nullified distance and shrank the world quicker and further than any technology before or since, and its story mirrors and predicts that of the internet in numerous intriguing ways. Tom Standage covers the creation of the telegraph and remarkable impact it had on communication and society. He writes about the visionaries, oddballs, and eccentrics who pioneered it, from the eighteenth-century French scientist Jean-Antoine Nollet to Samuel F. B. Morse and Thomas Edison. By 1865, telegraph cables spanned continents and oceans, revolutionizing the ways countries dealt with one another. The new technology gave rise to creative business practices and new forms of crime. Romances blossomed over the wires. Secret codes were devised by some and cracked by others. The benefits of the network were relentlessly hyped by advocates and vehemently dismissed by skeptics. Government regulators tried and failed to control the new medium. Attitudes toward everything from news gathering to war had to be reconsidered. Meanwhile, on the wires, a technological subculture with its own customs and vocabulary was establishing itself. As globalization continues to makes the world seem smaller, "The Victorian Internet" reflects on what was the greatest revolution in communication since the invention of the printing press. The telegraph took that initial step toward connectedness across geographical, economical and social distances. "With every new technology, we overestimate how quickly people change their behavior. This dot-com cult classic compares Web fever to the awe of the telegraph. When Queen Victoria sent the first transatlantic cable to President Buchanan in 1858, the London Times said that the invention 'has half undone the Revolution of 1776, ' and torch-bearing revelers, celebrating the cable's completion, nearly burned down New York's City Hall. Publisher James Gordon Bennett rued: 'Mere newspapers must submit to destiny and go out of existence.' What was the best way to profit? Faster communications created our Information Age, but the telegraph industry was a short-lived wonder. By 1880, Western Union carried 80% of the traffic. Then came the phone."--L. Gordon Crovitz, "The Wall Street Journal ""Standage has written a lively book on the telegraph and its roles in helping 19th century business and technology grow . . . "The Victorian Internet "demonstrates engagingly that not even the 21st century technology is totally new."--"Denver"" Post "" The telegraph's] capacity to convey large amounts of information over vast distances with unprecedented dispatch was an irresistible form, causing what can only be called global revolution."--"Washington"" Post ""An entertaining primer on a complex subject of increasing interest."--"Los Angeles Times Sunday Book Review ""One of the most fascinating books of the dotcom era . . . Standage is a good storyteller, and provides an engaging account of the rise and fall of the telegraph."--"The Financial Times ""Blends anecdote, suspense and science into richly readable stuff."--"The Independent" "A fascinating walk through a pivotal period in human history."--"USA Today ""Standage tells his fascinating story in an engaging, readable style, from the moment a bunch of Carthusian monks get suckered into a hilarious human electrical-conductivity experiment in 1746 to the telegraph's eventual eclipse by the telephone. If you've ever hankered for a perspective on media Net hype, this book is for you."--Hari Kunzru, "Wired ""Richly detailed . . . Standage's writing is colourful, smooth and wonderfully engaging."--"Smithsonian" magazine "A new technology will connect everyone It's making investors rich It's the Internet boom--except Samuel Morse is there "--"Fortune" magazine "This book should be essential reading for those caught up in our own information revolution."--"Christian Science Monitor ""I was simply fascinated by this book. It contains parallels between the reception of the telegraph and the Internet which I knew nothing about."--Vinton Cerf, co-inventor of the Internet "An inspired and utterly topical rediscovery of the emergence of the earliest modern communications technology."--William Gibson, author of "All Tomorrow's Parties" "A great read . . . The book makes the argument that the telegraph in its day was much more revolutionary than the internet is in our day."--Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia.org "An admirably efficient and concise telling of the story of the rise and decline of the telegraph. As with all good case histories, this one excites the mind with parallels to present day experience."--Henry Petroski, author of "The Pencil: A History of Design and Circunstance ""An almost unputdownable account of a technical revolution of a magnitude and

读后感

是一本非常有趣的书了，讲的虽然是一百多年前的故事，但是几乎和现在的章节可以得到印证。 1、人们对于新技术的态度，狂热地认为可以解决人性的顽疾，最初对于新技术的质疑。 2、随着新技术的普及，使得一部分有特长的人可以专美于前，带来阶级的流动和人口的地理流动。同时基...  

是一本非常有趣的书了，讲的虽然是一百多年前的故事，但是几乎和现在的章节可以得到印证。 1、人们对于新技术的态度，狂热地认为可以解决人性的顽疾，最初对于新技术的质疑。 2、随着新技术的普及，使得一部分有特长的人可以专美于前，带来阶级的流动和人口的地理流动。同时基...  

从早期的观感性电报（查普的摆臂式，技术上显然没有英国的6开关先进……）到通过电线传导信号，到全球电报网络的建立，奠定了后续乃至今天的信息化基础。 有趣的几个赶脚： 摩尔斯和库克，一美一英两个电流式电报机发明者，都是非科班出身的所谓民科；而跨洋电报线路的创始者菲...  

互联网连通世界。现代人不用出门，上网就能买到自己想要的；隔壁时区的小伙伴，一起来打王者荣耀吧；有啥想说的话，微信、QQ、朋友圈，随发随显……想想我们的老祖宗，生活在遥远的古代，信息闭塞、消息难递，一封家书抵万金……到了100多年前，他们终于忍不住了：我们要更快速...

用户评价

一般吧。

当年的传播和故事

中文版你在哪里？泪。。。

当故事看.

还不错的通俗读物，电报时代的种种逸闻和重要的人物都有涉及。难得维多利亚英特网这个噱头只在头尾短短交待，不像一般美国流行的通俗历史，所谓和现代的关联往往成为裁剪材料的唯一标杆。