Electric Universe: The Shocking True Story of Electricity.

David Bodanis

We flick a switch and current flows, but many of us have little understanding of how electricity works or its importance in the functioning of the cosmos. This book explains those ideas and tells the stories of key scientists in the history of electricity. In short but insightful biographies, Bodanis tells of the inventions, successes, and failures of men such as Michael Faraday, Joseph Henry, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Guglielmo Marconi, Heinrich Hertz, Alan Turing, and many others. The book also explains electricity's role in myriad biological and physical processes. Included are copious, yet easy-to-understand, notes and a guide to further reading. Bodanis has written a science book that will appeal to people who usually don't like reading about science but that might not satisfy people looking for equations to fill in every detail about a topic. Electric Universe is similar in style to E=[mc.sup.2], Bodanis' best selling book on the theory of relativity. Crown, 2005, 320 p., hardcover, $24.00.