The Worldwide History of Telecommunications by Anton Huurdeman, Wiley, £80.95, ISBN 0471205052 Reviewed by Barry Fox
WHEN I saw this book my immediate reaction was that it could – if Anton Huurdeman had succeeded in his aims – safely replace at least a dozen others and so free up some much-needed shelf space. Looking more closely through 638 pages of The Worldwide History of Telecommunications only confirms that happy thought.
Four main sections cover the period between 1800 and 2000, with every conceivable development, from early coin-box telephones to the Iridium satellite phone flop, via the birth of telex and deregulation of…
