Book Thoughts: Thunderstruck by Erik Larson

Thunderstruck by Erik Larson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Larson's been on my radar for awhile, and I have even purchased some of his book to be ready to read, but this is the first of his that I have read. Doing so, I understand his appeal. His narrative history in this book was excellent, often times reading so much like a thriller book that you wanted to get to the end to see how the two histories he is relaying tie together.

Those histories - Marconi's invention of wireless telegraphy and an infamous murder in London by Harvey Hawley Crippen, known as the North London Cellar murder. Larson goes back and forth between these two narratives throughout the book, and does so seamlessly. In so doing, he relays deep and intimate information about not only Marconi and Crippen, but a host of other individuals associated with those particular histories, which demonstrate the depth of Larson's research. Thus, one gets to read a book that has the pace of a good mystery novel, but with good, real detail and knowledge about an exciting time in history.

Marconi's invention was one of the steps in increasing communication to the point of making the world smaller, and electrified his world in the same way the increasing advances in modern communication technology excites our contemporary society. Crippen's murder, and how the wireless telegraphy plays into his chase and capture, shows that society then and now are not that much different, and the human capacity to be captivated by real drama and suspense is part of our very nature.

In sum, I really enjoyed the book, and was really taken by Larson's gift of combining exciting storytelling with solid historical research. A book that's well worth the read.

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