Thunderstruckby Erik Larson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
There were a lot of things about this book that worked for me. The connections between the people Larson is focusing on and other historical figures was interesting, the weaving together of the two separate narratives at the end of the book was good, and I learned lots of stuff about wireless telephony. However, the sections of the book about Marconi and the development of wireless communication did not have enough "meat" to them to keep up their end of the book. The story of the Crippens, which included a transatlantic police chase and a sensational trial, was much more interesting and after about half the book the Marconi chapters felt repetitive.
I listened to this as an audiobook narrated by Bob Balaban who did an excellent job narrating the story.
This book counts toward the What's in a Name 2014 Challenge in the category of "a type or element of weather."
It does sound average, though you wrote a very fair review :) Well done on What's In A Name!
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