   | Cyrus Field's big dream : the daring effort to lay the first transatlantic telegraph cable Author: Cowan, Mary Morton | |
| Price: $6.50 | ||
Summary:
Explores the extraordinary achievement of Cyrus Field and one of the greatest engineering feats of the 19th century: laying a transatlantic telegraph cable to create instant communication between two continents.
| Accelerated Reader Information: Interest Level: MG Reading Level: 7.20 Points: 7.0 Quiz: 500640 | Reading Counts Information: Interest Level: 6-8 Reading Level: 8.30 Points: 11.0 Quiz: 76632 | |
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews (07/01/18)
Booklist (06/01/18)
Full Text Reviews:
Booklist - 06/01/2018 Long before email and texting, Cyrus Field understood the value of instant communication. When the paper-merchant tycoon learned in 1854 about an opportunity to invest in the first transatlantic telegraph cable, which would reduce message delivery between Europe and North America from weeks to minutes, he couldn’t resist. This detailed biography, filled with archival reproductions, chronicles Field’s rise from a penniless paper-mill worker to one of the richest men in New York City. An interesting chapter on his hiatus from his paper company describes an adventure through South America with then budding artist Frederic Church. The bulk of the text focuses on Field’s 12-year endeavor to create a telegraph company, acquire investors, and procure 2,000 miles of cable, and the tension-filled methods of laying it. Cowan relates the scientific and historical events that shaped the process. While the topic seems most applicable to STEM readers, there is much for young entrepreneurs to learn. The project failed multiple times, but Field’s incessant determination finally succeeded with a telegraph from Queen Victoria to President Andrew Johnson. - Copyright 2018 Booklist.
