• Simply Electrifying

  • The Technology That Transformed the World, from Benjamin Franklin to Elon Musk
  • By: Craig R. Roach
  • Narrated by: Tom Perkins
  • Length: 15 hrs and 1 min
  • 4.0 out of 5 stars (66 ratings)

Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.
Simply Electrifying  By  cover art

Simply Electrifying

By: Craig R. Roach
Narrated by: Tom Perkins
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $18.91

Buy for $18.91

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

Simply Electrifying: The Technology That Transformed the World, from Benjamin Franklin to Elon Musk brings to life the 250-year history of electricity through the stories of the men and women who used it to transform our world: Benjamin Franklin, James Watt, Michael Faraday, Samuel F.B. Morse, Thomas Edison, Samuel Insull, Albert Einstein, Rachel Carson, Elon Musk, and more. In the process, it reveals for the first time the complete, thrilling, and often dangerous story of electricity's historic discovery, development, and worldwide application.

Electricity plays a fundamental role not only in our everyday lives but in history's most pivotal events, from global climate change and the push for wind- and solar-generated electricity to Japan's nuclear accident at Fukushima and Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons.

Written by electricity expert and four-decade veteran of the industry, Craig R. Roach, Simply Electrifying marshals, in fascinating narrative detail, the full range of factors that shaped the electricity business over time - science, technology, law, politics, government regulation, economics, business strategy, and culture - before looking forward toward the exhilarating prospects for electricity generation and use that will shape our future.

©2017 Craig R. Roach (P)2017 Tantor

What listeners say about Simply Electrifying

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    30
  • 4 Stars
    18
  • 3 Stars
    10
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    3
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    35
  • 4 Stars
    12
  • 3 Stars
    7
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    29
  • 4 Stars
    13
  • 3 Stars
    8
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    2

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

decent, but ended up disappointing.

struggled to finish. thought it would be a good book about electricity from an engineering perspective, but is just a political science book. first chapters were good, but ended up talking politics. disappointing.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Good read/listen

Very interesting. Good book overall. Covers great history. Goes into detail on many different topics.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

deceptive junk

I wanted pure history of electricity but what I got was pure garbage about politics, environmental theories, and just babblings.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Interesting to boring

This book is not what it says it is. The first quarter actually focuses on the discovery and applications of electricity, but after that it’s all about the bureaucracy of how electricity was integrated into society. Struggled through as long as I could, but had to give up. Not worth the time.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Boring

boring book and monotone narrator. not my worst purchase. I was really not expecting so many hours of electricity policy and environmental concerns about coal. it would have been better to leave politics out and talk about the modernizations of generators and renewable power mechanics more.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

EHHH

Cool background Franklin and Faraday but felt a bit dull and at times a bit bla bla. Georg Ohm could have used more shine.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Broader than my narrow interest.

From my perspective, this book starts strong with a sweeping treatment of the birth of the science of electricity. My interests are more technical, however, and the book later devotes considerable time to the business, policy, politics, and regulation of the industry. Nothing wrong with that; it's just not my primary interest.

The latter treatment of renewable energy and Elon Must was disappointingly brief, however I must admit that chapter of history is still unfolding.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!