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Fleet Fire: Thomas Edison and the Pioneers of the Electric Revolution
Chronicles the scientists, inventors, scientific research, and technological advances that fueled the development of electricity and explores the influence of Edison, Davenport, Morse, and Cyrus Field on today's modern high-tech world.
358 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2003
19 people want to read
About the author
L.J. Davis
13 books13 followersLawrence James Davis, better known as L. J. Davis, was an American writer, whose novels focussed on Brooklyn, New York.
Davis's novel, A Meaningful Life, described by the Village Voice as a "scathing 1971 satire about a reverse-pioneer from Idaho who tries to redeem his banal existence through the renovation of an old slummed-up Brooklyn town house", was reissued in 2009, with an introduction by Jonathan Lethem. Lethem, a childhood friend of one of Davis's sons, praised the novel in an essay about Brooklyn authors, which resulted in New York Review Books Classics reprinting it after nearly 40 years.
Davis has been a resident of Brooklyn since 1965. He was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1975 to write fiction, but then began to write journalism, notably for Harper's Magazine.
Davis died at his home in Brooklyn on April 6, 2011.
Davis's novel, A Meaningful Life, described by the Village Voice as a "scathing 1971 satire about a reverse-pioneer from Idaho who tries to redeem his banal existence through the renovation of an old slummed-up Brooklyn town house", was reissued in 2009, with an introduction by Jonathan Lethem. Lethem, a childhood friend of one of Davis's sons, praised the novel in an essay about Brooklyn authors, which resulted in New York Review Books Classics reprinting it after nearly 40 years.
Davis has been a resident of Brooklyn since 1965. He was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1975 to write fiction, but then began to write journalism, notably for Harper's Magazine.
Davis died at his home in Brooklyn on April 6, 2011.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 28, 2016
Fleet fire was an early term for electricity, which author L.J. Davis characterizes as one of four basic forces in the universe. Fleet Fire, the book (Arcade Publishing, 2003), is Davis' version of the history of electricity. He presents an essentially chronological tale that is both a story of history's better known electrical inventors and an expose of how good ideas sometimes have to wait for the rest of technology to catch up.
Davis takes the reader into the workshops of some pretty quirky personalities, many of whom rely more on serendipity than careful research. Some of the earliest pioneers of electricity were homegrown experimenters who lacked formal scientific training. Some were motivated by their curiosity, others by the need to make a significant contribution to improving the human condition, and some were pushed by their desire to be wealthy. Most satisfied their curiosity and a few did make an important stand-alone contribution, but almost no one became a millionaire.
In some detail, Davis offers the stories of Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Morse, Cyrus Field, and Thomas Edison. In discussing their methods, colleagues, and competitors, Davis weaves a sometimes humorous and occasionally sad narrative that reveals how we arrived at today's dependence on electricity. Along the way he takes a poke at some of electricity's myths.
Fleet Fire is a good story, highlighted by some very nice writing. The book is uneven, however, with the first half containing some very odd and awkward paragraphs. Segways are often absent. By the second half of the book, either the author or his editor caught on, and the last portion is better written and more enjoyable than the first half.
Davis takes the reader into the workshops of some pretty quirky personalities, many of whom rely more on serendipity than careful research. Some of the earliest pioneers of electricity were homegrown experimenters who lacked formal scientific training. Some were motivated by their curiosity, others by the need to make a significant contribution to improving the human condition, and some were pushed by their desire to be wealthy. Most satisfied their curiosity and a few did make an important stand-alone contribution, but almost no one became a millionaire.
In some detail, Davis offers the stories of Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Morse, Cyrus Field, and Thomas Edison. In discussing their methods, colleagues, and competitors, Davis weaves a sometimes humorous and occasionally sad narrative that reveals how we arrived at today's dependence on electricity. Along the way he takes a poke at some of electricity's myths.
Fleet Fire is a good story, highlighted by some very nice writing. The book is uneven, however, with the first half containing some very odd and awkward paragraphs. Segways are often absent. By the second half of the book, either the author or his editor caught on, and the last portion is better written and more enjoyable than the first half.
December 30, 2023
Didn’t finish the whole book. It’s an interesting topic but the way it’s organized is just hard to follow for me. I like topics like this but the way it’s presented, I just never felt hooked.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews