“Benjamin Franklin accepted the challenge to see the unseen; to imagine electricity. Today’s challenge is no different.”
“Electricity’s greatest contribution to the world is generally thought to be light, but, to America, it may quite well have been freedom.”
“‘We Need Energy Miracles’ – Bill Gates (2014)”
electricity is at the core of modern life. despite this, the full story of this revolutionary force has remained untold -- until now.
Simply Electrifying offers the comprehensive story of one of mankind's most important journeys: from a time when only a few could even imagine a world with electricity to today when, for most of us, a world without electricity would be unimaginable.
“As Einstein showed, electricity was not just one stop along the path of scientific discovery; the study of electricity was the path itself.”
Since the birth of the modern science of electricity 265 years ago, mankind has built an impressive structure to produce, deliver, and use electricity, thanks to a combination of pioneering science, innovative technology, shrewd business strategy, and pervasive economic and environmental regulation. Simply Electrifying brings to life the stories of the people that made it all possible—from early pathfinders like Benjamin Franklin, Michael Faraday, James Clerk Maxwell, and Albert Einstein to innovators such as Samuel Morse, Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and Nikola Tesla. Later on, business strategists and economic and environmental regulation driven by many, including President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Rachel Carson, and even President Barack Obama, have shaped how we use and understand electricity in crucial ways. Today, Elon Musk and others are on the verge of again changing the way we think about and interact with it.
Simply Electrifying is painstakingly researched and beautifully written, showing us how both profit-makers and policy-makers must use a wide-angle lens to truly understand the past and anticipate the future.
“Concern about air pollution has become so deeply embedded in American culture and law that there is no electricity policy per se; one might say that there is only environmental policy.”