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ederwin's review against another edition
4.0
This book says little directly about the modern SF genre called "Steampunk". It rather concerns the technological and societal changes that were occurring in Europe and America during the last few centuries and the stories of some of the characters from those times who appear in steampunk stories: Tesla, Edison, Sherlock Holmes, etc. The author speaks of "Frankenstein" and the works of authors such as Verne and Wells as if they are steampunk, even though the term was invented much later. Fair enough; modern steampunk authors are trying to evoke the feeling of those authors. Anyway, this isn't primarily about literature, but history. The primary inspirations seem to be [b:The New Epoch as Developed by the Manufacture of Power|25292210|The New Epoch as Developed by the Manufacture of Power|George Shattuck Morison|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1428159392s/25292210.jpg|45019056] and [b:Men, Machines, and Modern Times|2120575|Men, Machines, and Modern Times|Elting E. Morison|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347262431s/2120575.jpg|2126012].
Development of new sciences and technologies over the past few centuries was much faster than any prior time. Science lectures by people like [b:Humphry Davy|2620754|Humphry Davy|Thomas Edward Thorpe|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1394378532s/2620754.jpg|2645412] excited the public about new discoveries. People could easily imagine thrilling new adventures made possible by airships and railroads and submarines, so invented stories about them. The experiments of Galvani suggested a strange relationship between life and electricity which could inspire stories like [b:Frankenstein|35031085|Frankenstein|Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1498841231s/35031085.jpg|4836639].
New technologies also caused great changes in ways of life, working conditions, and had big influences on the environment and the structure of society. Easier travel led to easier colonization and exploitation. Thoughts about these societal changes also made their way into steampunk and proto-steampunk works such as Jules Verne's [b:Paris in the Twentieth Century|337109|Paris in the Twentieth Century|Jules Verne|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1349519597s/337109.jpg|396912] (unpublished in his lifetime).
While stories from earlier times might be inspired by Edison (see [b:The Steam Man of the Prairies|1970289|The Huge Hunter, Or, the Steam Man of the Prairies|Edward S. Ellis|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348240972s/1970289.jpg|1973507]), modern Steampunk more often involves [a:Nikola Tesla|278|Nikola Tesla|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1248794430p2/278.jpg] or Charles Babbage. Contemporary people, however, couldn't understand what the purpose of "[b:The Difference Engine|337116|The Difference Engine |William Gibson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327891675s/337116.jpg|1806578]" would be, so stories based on that had to wait for works of alternate history which we now call steampunk. This author suggests that William George Armstrong could make an interesting steampunk character.
[a:Arthur Conan Doyle|2448|Arthur Conan Doyle|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1495008883p2/2448.jpg] is an interesting case. His character Sherlock Holmes was hyper-rational, but Doyle himself believed all sorts of nonsense. But so did many scientists of the day, making ghosts and other fantasy elements fair game for steampunk. While the author mentions Doyle's fictional blood-detecting technology helping inspire modern stories of crime-scene investigation, she missed a chance to mention that [a:Mark Twain|1244|Mark Twain|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1322103868p2/1244.jpg] described fingerprint investigation in [b:Pudd'nhead Wilson|682793|Pudd'nhead Wilson|Mark Twain|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1473261603s/682793.jpg|2630409].
The modern steampunk stories that the author mentions lead me to believe that she has read very few works in the genre. If she had, why would she focus so much attention on [b:Whitechapel Gods|2302159|Whitechapel Gods|S.M. Peters|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347642843s/2302159.jpg|2308565]? It is not well-known, won no major awards, and doesn't even appear to be typical of the genre. It feels like she decided she had to read at least one modern book and chose one at random. But again, this book really isn't about modern steampunk fiction. A few of the more relevant books she mentions are [b:The Difference Engine|337116|The Difference Engine |William Gibson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327891675s/337116.jpg|1806578], [b:The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1|297627|The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1|Alan Moore|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327894724s/297627.jpg|797], [b:The Five Fists of Science|546131|The Five Fists of Science|Matt Fraction|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1286429348s/546131.jpg|533401], [b:The Invention of Hugo Cabret|9673436|The Invention of Hugo Cabret|Brian Selznick|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1422312376s/9673436.jpg|527941].
I was distracted by many typos. But it was never hard to figure out the meaning, so I won't complain much. Twenty years ago books would go through more stringent editing, but fewer books were published.
Development of new sciences and technologies over the past few centuries was much faster than any prior time. Science lectures by people like [b:Humphry Davy|2620754|Humphry Davy|Thomas Edward Thorpe|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1394378532s/2620754.jpg|2645412] excited the public about new discoveries. People could easily imagine thrilling new adventures made possible by airships and railroads and submarines, so invented stories about them. The experiments of Galvani suggested a strange relationship between life and electricity which could inspire stories like [b:Frankenstein|35031085|Frankenstein|Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1498841231s/35031085.jpg|4836639].
New technologies also caused great changes in ways of life, working conditions, and had big influences on the environment and the structure of society. Easier travel led to easier colonization and exploitation. Thoughts about these societal changes also made their way into steampunk and proto-steampunk works such as Jules Verne's [b:Paris in the Twentieth Century|337109|Paris in the Twentieth Century|Jules Verne|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1349519597s/337109.jpg|396912] (unpublished in his lifetime).
While stories from earlier times might be inspired by Edison (see [b:The Steam Man of the Prairies|1970289|The Huge Hunter, Or, the Steam Man of the Prairies|Edward S. Ellis|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348240972s/1970289.jpg|1973507]), modern Steampunk more often involves [a:Nikola Tesla|278|Nikola Tesla|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1248794430p2/278.jpg] or Charles Babbage. Contemporary people, however, couldn't understand what the purpose of "[b:The Difference Engine|337116|The Difference Engine |William Gibson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327891675s/337116.jpg|1806578]" would be, so stories based on that had to wait for works of alternate history which we now call steampunk. This author suggests that William George Armstrong could make an interesting steampunk character.
[a:Arthur Conan Doyle|2448|Arthur Conan Doyle|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1495008883p2/2448.jpg] is an interesting case. His character Sherlock Holmes was hyper-rational, but Doyle himself believed all sorts of nonsense. But so did many scientists of the day, making ghosts and other fantasy elements fair game for steampunk. While the author mentions Doyle's fictional blood-detecting technology helping inspire modern stories of crime-scene investigation, she missed a chance to mention that [a:Mark Twain|1244|Mark Twain|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1322103868p2/1244.jpg] described fingerprint investigation in [b:Pudd'nhead Wilson|682793|Pudd'nhead Wilson|Mark Twain|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1473261603s/682793.jpg|2630409].
The modern steampunk stories that the author mentions lead me to believe that she has read very few works in the genre. If she had, why would she focus so much attention on [b:Whitechapel Gods|2302159|Whitechapel Gods|S.M. Peters|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347642843s/2302159.jpg|2308565]? It is not well-known, won no major awards, and doesn't even appear to be typical of the genre. It feels like she decided she had to read at least one modern book and chose one at random. But again, this book really isn't about modern steampunk fiction. A few of the more relevant books she mentions are [b:The Difference Engine|337116|The Difference Engine |William Gibson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327891675s/337116.jpg|1806578], [b:The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1|297627|The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1|Alan Moore|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327894724s/297627.jpg|797], [b:The Five Fists of Science|546131|The Five Fists of Science|Matt Fraction|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1286429348s/546131.jpg|533401], [b:The Invention of Hugo Cabret|9673436|The Invention of Hugo Cabret|Brian Selznick|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1422312376s/9673436.jpg|527941].
I was distracted by many typos. But it was never hard to figure out the meaning, so I won't complain much. Twenty years ago books would go through more stringent editing, but fewer books were published.
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