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Summary: Comprehensive History of Fiber Optics
Review: 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.
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Summary: Good explanation of "where it all came from"
Review: 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.
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Summary: Comprehensive explanation of the story of Fober Optics
Review: 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.
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Summary: Excellent book!
Review: 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!
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Summary: weak on the last 10 years
Review: This is book has a wealth of information on the early years of fibre optics that I have not seen anywhere else. It is full of names and brief explanations of their contribution. But overall I thought this was a dull, slow moving book with little insight. More of an ongoing collection of notes that have been put together for another better book on the history of fibre once the real story finally emerges. There is very little science here. You won't learn much about light physics or why the technology works -only that it does and who patented it. (But the science may be reserved for Hecht's other book.) Also , for those who are trying to keep up with Gilder this book will be disappointing. There is nothing on DWDM (one brief, unexplained mention) or nothing that maps out the current players, companies, or technologies. (I can tell that Gilder has read it because some of the historical facts have been mentioned in the GTR) But there are only a few pages at the end that try to update where the technology has been in the last 10 years, where it is going or why. Huge gaps where a technology is mentioned but not even defined, much less explained. I wish there was a better book on the subject, but for now this is it, and maybe it is worth reading for that reason alone. Sorry to be so critical, but if you like Burke's "Connections" this will only get you lost. It probably would not have been published but for the sudden surge in tech stocks. I hope the Slone series is not all like this.
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