Victorian Internet

Paperback, 224 pages

Published April 1, 1999 by Phoenix Books.

ISBN:
978-0-7538-0703-3
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4 stars (1 review)

The Victorian Internet: The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Century's On-Line Pioneers is a 1998 book by Tom Standage. The book was first published in September 1998 through Walker & Company and discusses the development and uses of the electric telegraph during the second half of the 19th century and some of the similarities the telegraph shared with the Internet of the late 20th century.The central idea of the book posits that of these two technologies, it was the telegraph that was the more significant, since the ability to communicate globally at all in real-time was a qualitative shift, while the change brought on by the modern Internet was merely a quantitative shift according to Standage, though, by the same token, global communication was just a quantitative shift from long-distance communication.

8 editions

Review of 'The Victorian Internet' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

The telegraph was the first tool that allowed rapid communication between parties thousands of miles away from each other. This book is a rather too short history of its development, starting with the failures that preceded the technology, over the optical semaphore systems originally used, towards the mature system that allowed instant communication in the later half of the 19th century. The book delves into the amusing follies that came with its development (the first Atlantic telegraph line failed after a month, and records later showed the operators were largely asking if the other side received them), touches on the subculture of telegraph operators that held sway for a long time (including at least one wedding conducted over telegraph), and goes on to see its slow and inevitable demise after the invention of the telephone, originally just an outgrowth of the booming telegraph market.
The book is a light and …

Subjects

  • Impact of science & technology on society
  • Postal & telecommunications industries
  • World history: c 1750 to c 1900
  • History: World