Conquering the Electron, Derek Cheung
Conquering the Electron, Derek Cheung
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Conquering the Electron
The Geniuses, Visionaries, Egomaniacs, and Scoundrels Who Built Our Electronic Age

Author: Derek Cheung, Eric Brach

Narrator: Eric Jason Martin

Unabridged: 14 hr 8 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 03/01/2020

Synopsis

Conquering the Electron offers listeners a true and engaging history of the world of electronics, beginning with the discoveries of static electricity and magnetism and ending with the creation of the smartphone and the iPad. This book shows the interconnection of each advance to the next on the long journey to our modern-day technologies. Exploring the combination of genius, infighting, and luck that powered the creation of today's electronic age, Conquering the Electron debunks the hero worship so often plaguing the stories of great advances.

Want to know how AT&T's Bell Labs developed semiconductor technology—and how its leading scientists almost came to blows in the process? Want to understand how radio and television work—and why RCA drove their inventors to financial ruin and early graves? Conquering the Electron offers these stories and more, presenting each revolutionary technological advance right alongside blow-by-blow personal battles that all too often took place.

About Derek Cheung

Derek Cheung is a scientist turned businessman with a lifetime of experience in the fields of science and technology. He received his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from Purdue University and his MS and PhD in the same field from Stanford. Derek spent four years working as a research engineer at Fairchild Semiconductor, the company that gave birth to Silicon Valley, before making a career as president and CEO of Rockwell Scientific, a successful high-tech company transformed from a major corporate R&D lab. He lives in Thousand Oaks, California.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Chris on September 20, 2016

I do sound like a broken record when reviewing nearly all "popular" book on science and technology. These are almost always short on the science and technology and long on secondary material such as the personal lives of the participants. In this case, Cheung heavily favors the business aspects, whi......more

Goodreads review by Paul on August 10, 2022

I have read a decent number of books that cover the same information, such as The Victorian Internet, AC/DC, Empires of Light,The Network, The Idea Factory and many more, but I think this one gives the broadest overview of the trajectory from "hey there's this electricity thing I gu......more

Goodreads review by Priyadarshi on July 20, 2020

Excellent read.......more

Goodreads review by Kirsten on November 28, 2023

After reading a biography of Alessandro Volta with my 12 year old, I was ready for a deeper dive into all things electricity. I selected this book since it is currently "free for members" on Audible. Conquering the Electron takes readers on a journey from the earliest electrical experimenters all th......more

Goodreads review by Tim on April 28, 2019

A great book starting in late 1500s and taking us into modern age of electronics.  Covers history of electric charge, volta, faraday, maxwell, etc. Then gets into electronics that came from world wars such as radar.  Has great info on morse code and communications. Then gets into silicon for things......more

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