The Victorian Internet

The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Century's On-line Pioneers

By: Tom Standage

Narrated by: Derek Perkins

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 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.

©1998 Tom Standage. Afterword Copyright 2007 by Tom Standage. Afterword Copyright 2013 by Vinton Cerf (P)2015 Tantor

And we thought we had invented the Internet!

This is a well research story of the affects of global communication pn the world in the 19th century and draws parallels to the affects on the Internet in the 20th and very early 21st centuries. Well worth the time to those curious about technology and how humans use it.

An absolutely fascinating look at the impact of telography!

I found this book to be captivating, informative and entertaining, and read by a wonderful narrator who came across as being very interested in the subject.

Here are a few reasons why I enjoyed it so much:

The chronological approach made it easy to follow. It was fascinating to learn about optical telegraphs and the impact they had on electrical ones.

The human side was not forgotten, and I had no idea before this that Samuel Morse was a painter, and his personal story, which impacted his decision to work on the telegraph.

The cluelessness of polititians during one demonstration was a head scratcher, yet in many ways, I believe similar things happen today.

The parallels to the modern internet are fascinating, and the many comments about peace were heartwarming, but also upsetting when you look at what actually transpired in the world after the mid 1800s.

Historically fascinating.

Finished in one sitting. A captivating account of a modern technological precursor. Highly recommend.

Clear and fun.

A delightful listen. The author makes a very plain case. Clever and illuminating. Now I've got fodder for conversation at cocktail parties!

Very nice audiobook

This topic is a favorite of mine and I already own 'A Thread Across the Ocean'. That book has as its subject the rather hurculean effort to lay down the first trans Atlantic cable. The title Victorian Internet is entirely apt; I came to the same conclussion years ago and this is a fine accounting of the entire affair.

Dot Dash Domination

Perhaps the most significant achievement of the 19th century, we live in a world of communication unthinkable in the 18th century. The telegraph created the world of expectations and fears that continue today. The telegraph truly changed the world in a way that is difficult to comprehend; this book helps illuminate the nature of that change and makes us not only informed but wiser. Bravo-Zulu.

History truly does repeat itself

Very interesting take on new technology 200 years ago, and how it parallels many of the issues we have with technology today

Interesting but not what I expected

I had rather thought that this would be a sociological history of the telegraph. While there is some of that, it is as much a technological history of the telegraph (how it was invented, how it spread, etc.)

I am a big history buff (one of my two favorite categories of audio books. I thought this book was interesting, if a bit narrow in focus. While I learned some new facts, I don't feel like it really opened my eyes, the way some really well written history books can.

I got it on the plus catalogue, which I would do again, but I would not spend a credit on it.

I Never Realized the Impact the Telegraph Had Until I Read this Book

I didn't know that there were other forms of Telegraphs besides the one developed by Morse that most of us are familiar with. Also, I did not realize how wired for telegraphy the world had become by the early 1900s. This book is very informative without getting too deep into the technolog. If you use the Internet, you might be surprised how much it and the days of the Telegraph have in common.

One of my favorite non-fiction audiobooks

The telegram was when distance stopped mattering to communication. Every development since then - the telephone, fax, email, social media - has just been an incremental improvement. The big change was when news in London could be news in New York in the same hour, not weeks to months later as it had always been before.

With that in mind it's no surprise that the telegram had it's own subcultures, and jargon, online crimes, and love affairs. Give people a new technology and they'll use it for the same old things.

This book was a fascinating journey through a world that is distant and very different, but populated by people who seem very familiar.