Thunderstruck by Erik Larson
Thunderstruck
by Erik Larson
(Audio)
My fellow Picklist volunteer at my Saturday library mentioned this book to me when we were discussing Erik Larson's recent visit to our area. I didn't go to see him speak, as I hadn't read any of his books, but this one sounded good enough to be my first. I fell in love with Marconi Men during my research on the Titanic, so this book's focus on Marconi himself seemed like something I should read.
Like his book, The Devil in the White City, this book covers two different stories that are separate but intertwined. The first thread is about Guglielmo Marconi, the "obsessive creator" of wireless communication. He was a visionary with a mindset toward commercial interests rather than scientific ones, but he wasn't extremely good with dealing with fellow businessmen, competitors, allies, or even family members. I found it fascinating to hear the story of how he developed his technology and managed to get it installed on hundreds of stations and ships crossing the ocean. For ships to be able to communicate wirelessly from anywhere in the ocean to other ships or to the shore was a novel and groundbreaking concept, bringing with it freedoms and information formerly unknown.
And it's that very concept that made the ending of the second story in this book possible. It's the story of Hawley Crippen, a mild-mannered doctor with a demanding and overbearing (diva of a) wife. Suddenly, his wife up and leaves for America... without her dearly prized clothes or jewelry and without giving any forwarding address. Shortly thereafter (a matter of days, apparently) Crippen takes a woman into his bed. Suspicious, yes? But he's so kind-hearted, no one suspects him for quite some time. And by then, Crippen and his lover have left the country and hopped on board a ship bound for Canada.
Ah, now you see the connection? Though the pair was in disguise and traveling under false names, the captain of the ship was onto them and was able to use wireless to notify authorities who took a faster ship to meet up with them. Not only that, but the media caught wind and could follow the story and bring readers all over the world the details of the pursuit and capture as if everyone was right there on board the ship as well--all thanks to Marconi's wireless devices.
Even though Marconi isn't the most likeable guy, I found myself rooting for him. He had such faith in his invention and its possibilities, and so many people seemed against him for most of the book, telling him his technology wouldn't work over the curve of the horizon, telling him other people invented it first, etc. Plus the politics of the era (just before WWI) complicated matters greatly. I even found myself sympathetic toward Crippen, because his wife seemed emotionally abusive. But she didn't deserve to be found dead, deboned, and decapitated buried in their basement. Yikes. It was fascinating to see Marconi's invention in action during the final leg of the murder investigation, facilitating a capture that would not have been possible without it.
I especially enjoyed the way Erik Larson described people--choosing one or two characteristics I never would have thought to choose to really give me a strong visual of each of the people who lived over a century ago and make them come alive for me once again. What I didn't like so much was the jumping around in the narrative. There were a few times I got confused regarding the timeline, because it took me a minute or two to realize the story had jumped forward ten or twenty years and then jumped back again. It made it harder to understand exactly how technology advanced or, in some cases, where a particular relationship stood.
But I still really enjoyed reading this book. I don't read a lot of nonfiction, but I am so glad I picked this one up at the library and gave it a go. I look forward to reading more of Erik Larson's work in the future.