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Getting the Message is a unique and engaging exploration of the fascinating history of communications, starting with ancient civilisations, the Greeks and Romans, then leading through the development of the electric telegraph, and up to the present day with email and smartphones.
The technology is explained in a particularly simple and accessible way, and themes from politics, economics, and society weave in and out of the scientific ideas. The book concludes with a look at the possible future of communications, the new developments to come, and the implications these will have for our everyday lives. Lavishly illustrated, and including many original illustrations that show just how these new developments were received in their time, the book presents an informative and highly entertaining introduction to the field of communications.
This revised second edition looks at the new developments in communications over the two decades since the first edition's release.
List of contents
- 1: Introduction
- 2: The beginning of communications
- 3: The mechamical telegraph
- 4: The electric telegraph
- 5: The telephone
- 6: Wireless telegraphy
- 7: The Telephone Revisited
- 8: The Communications Revolution
- 9: Microwaves
- 10: The solid state revolution
- 11: Digitalisation
- 12: Optical Communications
- 13: Deregulation and Privatisation
- 14: Mobile Communications
- 15: The Fax Machine
- 16: The communications-computing symbiosis
- 17: Satellites again
- 18: Optical fibers revisited
- 19: The Mature Internet
- 20: Mobile phones, smartphones
- 21: Artificial Intelligence
- The Future
About the author
Laszlo Solymar has been at the University of Oxford since 1966. He currently holds the position of Emeritus Professor. He has held visiting professorships at the Universities of Paris, Copenhagen, Osnabrück, Berlin, Madrid and Budapest. He published 8 books and over 250 papers. He has been a Fellow of the Royal Society since 1995, and received the Faraday Medal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers in 1992. During his career, Solymar has conducted research on antennas, microwaves, superconductivity, photorefractive materials, holography, metamaterials.
Summary
Getting the Message is a unique and engaging exploration of the fascinating history of communications, starting with ancient civilisations, the Greeks and Romans, then leading through the development of the electric telegraph, and up to the present day with email and smartphones.
Additional text
With Laszlo Solymar's meticulous (and highly singular) account we gain a real understanding of from where we have come. In a world where unimaginable amounts of dense data flow through a strand of dark fibre, a book that so clearly explains sheds its own luminous light for lay reader and expert alike.
Report
Review from previous edition The delight of 'Getting the Message' is Laszlo Solymar's deft and illuminating interweaving of the human and the technological sides of communications. He puts each major innovation in the context of its times, so you understand its impact. His explanations are lucid, and his stories both thought-provoking and fun. Solymar has reached the writer's hardest goal, combining sharp insight with clear and entertaining prose in a book readers will treasure. Jeff Hecht, author of 'City of Light: The Story of Fiber Optics'
