A Brief History of the Age of Steam: From the First Engine to the Boats and Railways

by Thomas Crump

In 1710 an obscure Devon ironmonger Thomas Newcomen invented a machine with a pump driven by coal, used to extract water from mines. Over the next two hundred years the steam engine would be at the heart of the industrial revolution that changed the fortunes of nations. Passionately written and insightful, A Brief History of the Age of Steam reveals not just the lives of the great inventors such as Watts, Stephenson and Brunel but also tells a narrative that reaches from the US to the expansion of China, India, and South America and shows how the steam engine changed the world.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Railways, Science, Engineering, Technology

320 pages, Paperback

First published September 27, 2007

About the author

Thomas Crump, born into a family of authors, published his first book in 1963. In the course of more than 40 years spent mainly as an academic, Thomas Crump has published many books. Since retirement in 1994 he has extended his range to write new books about history, science and medicine.

Reviews

[Brendan Coster · Rating 4 out of 5]

This set out to be a brief history -- and damnit it did! I'm quite sure that for real train or steam boat aficionado's it's lacking severely. For someone like me who focuses heavily on classic history/european history and whatever, it was a nice brief on something I really haven't read anything about.

My wife on I are also big into commodity histories, histories focusing on just one thing, Like "Salt: A World History" by Kurlansky. I am going to say this doesn't quite fit in, simply because it's not so much a abut a specific thing (that you can hold) or an object. It's not a history of Trains, or even Steam Trains, nor of steam boats. It is dedicated to a ~200 - 250 year history of steam.

I only have two complaints, but felt they were enough to keep it from being 5 stars. 1) It's just dry, maybe there's not much you can do about it, maybe it's the author, who knows. But there is little to pull you through this book other then your own will to learn. 2) while the author does a good job at staying focused on the earlier parts of the book, he beginnings making ever greater circles around the subject matter. While it's obvious that socio-economic factors have a great deal to do with everything, the digressions began running deeper and deeper. I almost felt like he needed to get to 300 pages to blend with the rest of the books in this "A brief history of..." series, so he was pulling out more and more details as he went along to get it to where he needed. Whatever the reason, I was about ready to be done with the subject, one can't approach the Boxer Rebellion without touching on Ci-Xi and her proclivities.

Anyways, you go into this wanting to read about this specific technology in history and you should leave it feeling satisfied.

[Hafeez · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you want to know about the technical information, you won't find it here. This book is totally about the history of cause and effect of the steam to the society all around the world. This book also lack of pictures and drawings, it just have a few maps.

It is started on how the English people expand their transportation system and coal industry that led to the industrial revolution. So, basically you will be introduced about steam engine that have been used for mining until it's getting expanded and upgraded over and over again until the internal combustion (IC) and compression-ignition (CI) engine being used widely in transportation in early twentieth century. We can see the transition from the engine that used coal and hot steam to the engine that used hydrocarbon fuel to operate.

The MAJOR TURN OFF (for me) about this book is, it is becoming tedious to read when it comes to explaining the complex mechanical devices with no drawings, photographs or illustrations. I'm not denying this book was well written. The maps included doesn't help much.

Overall, this book is mediocre. If you want to know about the evolution of transportation, this book is for you. If you want to know how the steam age involved in imperialism, this book is for you.

[Kriegslok · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is pretty much a book about the evolution of transport into the steam age. The author takes us on a global journey looking at how railways primarily (although shipping is also covered) powered by steam changed continents, empires and nations. In covering the impact of steam powered transport its not a bad book. However, personally I was hoping for more on the industrial applications of steam power (admitedly covered in the book is the development of beam engines in mining) especially for driving stationary engines. The role of steam in the generation of electricity is also only skimmed over. Not quite what I was hoping for, and I did get a bit bored towards the end with some of the global empires detail which I thought strayed to far from the subject to really justify inclusion. Not a bad book but not the one I was hoping to read (probably more my fault than the authors).

[Florin Pitea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well organised, clearly written, thoroughly documented and quite informative. Recommended.

[Stijn Schellinck · Rating 1 out of 5]

Horrible book. Badly written without a clear purpose or any effort at engaging the reader.
The subject in itself is interesting but I feel like the author did a bad job of making that clear. Many pages of unimaginative summaries of long forgotten - and frankly irrelevant - engineers and their inventions. Really struggled to get through this and wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.
There’s way too much in-depth information for the novice and not enough for the advanced steam connoisseur. Don’t really know who the target audience would be.

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a good brief history of the age of steam as related to all forms of transport. With more about other uses of steam such as power generation it would have deserved 5 stars.

[Ivan Savić · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read. Focuses more on transportational use of steam power (ships and trains), and a bit more on political aspect then technological, social or economic.

[Richard Marney · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read, although I kept thinking about the closing scene in Back to the Future III…….

[MC Pol · Rating 5 out of 5]

a genuinely loved it. having a bit of an engineering background helps, however, I loved how it went around the world and into the politics of it all.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Covers a lot but not as clear as it could be.

[George Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not just about the steam era. The book includes the precursors in the transition to steam power and its later replacement with the technology of the internal combustion engine. The book is rich in relevant detail and makes a positive statement for looking at the big picture as everyone anticipates the next revolution in power. Hint: it will not be wind power or biogas and if you read this book you will be presented with the opportunity to understand why.

[Gerard Hogan · Rating 3 out of 5]

An excellent history of the steam era. I know more about Argentinian Railways than I previously thought possible!!. Overall highly recommended for a concise but reasonably comprehensive account of steam from the 18th century use in mines and factories to modern day energy generation using steam turbines.

[Garrett Mccutcheon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty interesting analysis of the history of steam power. Most of the book focuses on steam powering railroads without much mention of steam's usage in other utilities (like tractors or buses). Writing was engaging for the most part.

[Michael Heath-Caldwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Looks interseting. will revise review when read properly.