Standage, Tom. The Victoria Internet.

Standage, Tom. The Victoria Internet. New York: Walker and Company. 1998.

The Victorian Internet is a book that was written to chronicle the development of the telegraph and the myriad ways in which it changed society during the mid to late 1800's. This book was written with the intention of opening up the reader's perception toward this very important piece of technology and helping to relay the very human side of communication, relationships, interaction, and human development. This purpose is loosely stated in the first four chapters, but the author really doesn't get a chance to open the readers' eyes up to the incredible and often times unbelievable world of telegraph communications and the politics of technological advancement until later chapters. The author does accomplish his state purpose of giving the reader some insight into the dynamics of the development of the telegraph and related technology.

The first two chapters talk about the rise of telegraph technology and the general public's inability to truly wrap their minds around this advancement. Certainly there were people who made large sums of money by tapping into this technology, whether legally or illegally, but the social awareness of the masses made the telegraph a technology that was slow to catch on, at least in a mass consumer environment. The logistics involved in developing the technology beyond what Samuel Morse was able to foresee were truly mindboggling. The nation had no real set of roads or major infrastructure at the time, making telegraph lines extremely costly and difficult to construct.

As the chapters pass, author Standage reveals the frustration experienced by Morse and is colleagues relative to the slow adaptability that many people had to the technology. The example was used where a man, misunderstanding the capabilities and limitations of the then new technology, wanted to send a bouquet of flowers along with the note through the telegraph. He did not understand that people could not send tangible items through this technology. All of this aside, Standage also helps to shed light on the human side of this technology, as he aptly titled his book. Telegraph operators were known to play chess or send jokes from station to station in their down time. In this way, the telegraph line became the "Victorian Internet" that Standage refers to.

Chapter four deals with the begrudging adaptability confronting the masses as the telegraph technology begins to spread in popularity. People recognize the true social and business implications of near real time communication across great distances. Also, as the Civil War raged in the middle of the 19th century, messages began to be carried by telegraph across the lines and back to the military headquarters. The development of this sort of communications infrastructure certainly gave an advantage to the Northern Army, as it was better able to communicate much more quickly than the Southern Rebels.

One of the book's strengths is the comprehensive writing that Standage accomplishes. This means that the complete and often candid history of such a technology is laid out before the reader in an easy to understand, entertaining way. The information in the book is very accurate as well, as it appears the author went to great distances to retrieve the information he writes about.

As a weakness, the author tends to jump around quite a bit in the first four chapters which is understandable, as he has much explaining and relating to do in order to give the reader an accurate understanding of the beginnings of such a seminal technology.