City of Light: The Story of Fiber Optics

It's great book for those who interests in where it came from. Especailly I would like to note the style of narration as an example of a deep insight into the issue of development and early research works. Unfortunately, the story is ended in the begining of the 90th and whole decade is omitted. It would be better if the story of photonic components development was included but it's a matter of next edition of this book. As conclusion, I recommend this book to read for everybody who is involved into the field of Fiber Optics.

Fiber optics, the backbone of local and international communications and of the Internet, seems like a new technology, but in this comprehensive history of the field Jeff Hecht describes the Victorian origins of light guiding via jets of water.  In the first half of the 20th century a number of researchers independently discovered flexible glass fibers, and with the introduction of the laser in the 1950s long-distance optical communication became a possibility.  The main section of the book focuses on the work of researchers in Britain, Japan, and the United States from the 1950s through the 1980s as they overcome many technical problems and develop the beginnings of modern fiber optic cables, documenting the failures, the dead-ends, and the ultimate success in the early 1980s.  Extensively researched and annotated, with much material from primary sources, City of Light is accessible to the non-technical reader, yet has enough detail and links to additional sources to satisfy students of engineering history.

Hecht does a good job of explaining where the technology of fiber optics communications came from. His book is not an explanation of how fiber optics communications works, but a history. I have a reasonably good background in fiber optics communications so it's difficult for me to judge whether someone who knew nothing about it would find it easy to follow, although I think they would. I would particularly recommend the book to fiber optic techies - it really makes the technology more meaningful when you understand how the technology developed. A fine job by a good writer - very close to five stars. And if you're technically oriented and want more knowledge of fiber optic technology, I'd recommend "Optical Networks" by Ramaswami and Sivarajan.

The author has an easy narrative style, even though clarity is obstructed by poetic wax in a few places.I am amazed out how much information about fiber optics I have absorbed without study.If you like techie stuff, you'll love this book. If you like Dilbert, you'll love this book.Read it!

Hecht makes fiber optics understandable to even the most non-technical of us. The constant stream of anecdotes keeps you turning the pages. The stories from the laboratories are great. You really get the feel for the personalities of the competing scientists. I would reccomend this book to anyone intersted in the field or interested in technology in general and how an invention is born from a parlor trick and becomes a telecommunications necessity.