Dreams of Iron and Steel: Seven Wonders of the Nineteenth Century, from the Building of the London Sewers to the Panama Canal

In seven spellbinding chapters, this gifted author recounts the stories of seven of the most outstanding technological accomplishments of modern times (most of these behemoths were built in the nineteenth century). Most histories of these structures, i.e., how they were longed-for, conceived, planned and ultimately built, could likely keep any interested reader mesmerized; but the author's outstandingly riveting prose makes depositing this book almost impossible, keeping the reader breathless. The writing style is clear, friendly, authoritative, immensely accessible and above all, as already stated, absolutely gripping. This is a book that can be enjoyed by anyone who loves intense drama, high adventure, devastating tragedy and, ultimately, brilliant long-lasting success (well, long-lasting for six out of the seven cases).

Since I retired four years ago I have had the time to read a LOT of books, at least a lot for me. One of my favorite books this summer was something a little out of my usual realm - the history of technology. Deborah Cadbury, in Dreams of Iron and Steel, provides a brief, readable and captivating synopsis of the construction of what she terms the "seven wonders of the modern age." Having seen, during my lifetime, the first space flight, the first moon walk, the development of a jet that can cross the Atlantic in four hours and the invention of the wonders of the internet, I can sometimes get jaded when viewing the technical accomplishments of the nineteenth century. However, this book stimulates the awe that is appropriate when considering engineering projects such as the Brooklyn Bridge, the Panama Canal, the Transcontinental (US) railroad, or the London sewer system. Take, for example, the construction of the Bell Rock Lighthouse. Located eleven miles offshore of Scotland, Bell Rock is a reef that is exposed for only 2 hours at each low tide (twice a day for you landlubbers). In 1807, Robert Stevenson won the commission to build a 100-foot-tall lighthouse that could withstand the 60' waves that regularly lashed the outcrop and sent 70 ships to the bottom of the sea in a single storm in 1799. Many of the ships went down because their captains refused to head into a safe port because of the dangers presented by Bell Rock. In four years, Stevenson completed the construction of the granite lighthouse without the benefit of power tools, dynamite or steam powered ships. Working during the summer season only at low tides, crews rowed to the island from a mother ship, put in their shift, and rowed away as the rising tide covered the reef. Hundreds of tons of intricately-shaped granite blocks were unloaded and hauled by mule across the outcrop and anchored into place. Against all odds, Stevenson discovered that his unfinished structure had withstood each winter's storms as he returned to the rock for the following season's construction. Ms. Cadbury does an excellent job of building the personal drama of each of the construction projects. Her chapters are very personality-based and each of the seven chapters has a remarkable engineer or entrepreneur that brought a grand vision to life. She honed her storytelling skills as a BBC producer of documentaries, including a seven-part series on the industrial wonders of the world that led to this book. But, Ms. Cadbury's ability to inject drama into each of these stories also belies the only weakness of the book. I found myself wanting considerably more technical information than was provided in these treatments. When an author covers both the French and American Panama Canal projects in 36 pages, we are obviously not going to get an in-depth treatment. On balance, this book is an excellent introduction for someone like me who really had little previous knowledge or interest in topics

Of the seven wonders that Deborah Cadbury describes, five (The Great Eastern, Brooklyn Bridge, Bell Rock Lighthouse, London Sewers and the first Transcontinental Railroad were all built in the 1800s. But the Panama Canal (originally started by the French in the 1880s) wasn't finish until 1914 and the Hoover Dam in 1936. Those complaints aside, each of the vignettes (or large blurbs) is in itself a fine story. She does a fine job in not only laying out the plans for each structure, but the history behind the need for the structure. Without belaying the point she discusses the dangers involved in the construction and the terrible tolls (over 20,000 in Panama from disease) that each structure took on the workers and owners. Think of the book as an expanded 'Wikipedia' listing and you'll get an idea of what each section is like. Unlike an encyclopedia listing there are more personal opinions voiced, many of them are from interviews with people who worked on the construction of the 'wonders'. Good Read. Zeb Kantrowitz

Deborah Cadbury's Dreams of Iron and Steel is exceptionally well written, even for those with only a casual interest in its theme. I too picked up this book on a whim and was quite delighted with it. Each of the seven `modern wonders' is well researched and focuses on the colossal engineering and social challenge behind their creation along with a clear focus on the personality of their creators. Personally, I found the book to be both informative in its detail and inspirational in its character. I would include this book with other well-written works of similar themes, such as Bill Bryson's `A Short History of Nearly Everything'. This book is a must-read for all who care to know where our global society came from.

I picked this book up on a whim, but I'm glad I did. The 'history' is presented in a light and easy-to-read way that makes this book fun. The stories of the individual "wonders" are presented as stand-alone chapters, so you can start with whichever one suits your fancy. The book reminds us that history is really about people, not machines or structures. But the people who created those machines and structures tend to be fascinating. The ones detailed in this book were (almost without exception) highly-driven, obsessively focused individuals with lofty dreams they would nearly die to achieve.... and in some cases more-or-less did go that far. If there's a downside to this book it's that the chronology of some of the events is occasionally hard to follow. The author seems to jump ahead to near the end of a project, then back the beginning. This isn't a deal breaker and once you get a handle on her style it's really not something that takes away from the fabulous (and true!) tales she tells. On the 'worth noting' front is an extensive bibliography and a really interesting section called "P.S. Insights, Interviews and More..." You get a sort of behind-the-scenes look at the author and a bit of what went into the creation of the book. I would love to see more books include sections like this. All-in-all a great read and highly recommended.