The Network: The Battle for the Airwaves and the Birth of the Communications Age

I really enjoyed this book and learned a lot about the history of radio, a topic I previously knew almost nothing about. The author wrote in an engaging manner making the book hard to put down. I have taken the train down the Hudson River hundreds of times and seen the Armstrong tower looming over the Palisades. Not knowing what it was I always thought it was a eyesore. Now that I know the history behind that tower and the important place it has in our technological development I have a new appreciation for it. It's not an ugly tower but an important piece of history that I am lucky enough to see. Marconi, Sarnoff, and Armstrong are some of the most important figures of the 20th century and I'm glad that this book introduced them to me.

Great topic and an engrossing narrative! Hey, I'm an electrical engineer, so I like this kind of stuff. I appreciate the author's hard work in creating a fascinating narrative describing the early history of wireless communication. I would have given this book five stars except for a few shortcomings that I think are fixable. I shall list those here: (1) Obviously the author is not an electrical engineer. This is evident by the strange, puzzling descriptions he gives of technical concepts. For example, this head scratcher is from location 187 of the Kindle edition: "[Armstrong] built a device that made it easy for a radio transmitter to summon the invisible waves." My best guess here is that this refers to some sort of electronic oscillator, but I honestly can't tell for sure. Clear, concise, correct high-level descriptions of the various technical concepts mentioned -- descriptions that use standard terms correctly and are reasonably comprehensible to the lay public -- ARE possible. The author ought to work with a sympathetic electrical engineer to get the phrasing right. (2) The non-chronological presentation is a great way to keep the reader's interest: First, a scene with tension and conflict is presented; then (with the reader's interest piqued and before the resolution is presented) the history leading up to that scene is presented. But in the early chapters, in particular, this gets confusing at times. On a re-read, everything seems to make sense. But it would be better if things were clear the first time through, so some rewriting might be needed to effect this. (3) The book has a lot of typos and other editorial errors. These are the errors I noted in today's reading session as I finished the book (Kindle edition): Location 1938: "[And] endless parade of witnesses followed ..." -> "[An] endless ..." Location 2172: "... which could [only] afford to produce only low-budget dreck" -> "... which could afford to produce only ..." Location 2594: "... what could have been [in] the two friends had remained allies." -> "... what could have been [if] the two friends had remained allies." Location 2847: "Johnson had assembled what the [the] New York Times described ..." -> "Johnson had assembled what the New York Times described ..." Location 3275: "With AT&T [was] focused on MCI’s antitrust lawsuit, ..." -> "With AT&T focused on MCI’s antitrust lawsuit, ..." Location 3370: "... began challenge the web of expensive telegraph cables ..." -> "... began [to] challenge the web of expensive telegraph cables ..." There were a lot of errors before location 1938, too. I had observed them in earlier reading sessions, but neglected to note them. The author's discovery of Sarnoff's 1965 speech is a wonderful contribution to the history of technology. I was interested in seeing the original transcript of Sarnoff's speech, but had no luck locating it via Google. The author refers the reader to his evolving web site, battlefortheairwaves.com, for source materials, but neither that speech nor much of anything else was at that site.

A few simple thoughts: This book is mostly centered around David Sarnoff, with characters such as Edward Armstrong, LBJ, and other FCC dimwits making cameos throughout. The story is told is a very readable and digestible way - perhaps a little light on the technical details, but where it lacks there, it makes up for the strength of the story it tells. It touches on many of the major inventions that Sarnoff was involved with and the various challenges that were faced in developing and popularizing each one. You get a true idea of the personalities involved in each part which helps make this book a historical account with great characters. Also you get to see that the FCC has always been an inept, unprepared, and corrupt organization that harms the American people more than it helps.

I am somewhat of a student of radio-- it was the career I originally chose-- but it was very clear how little I didn't know about the business of radio. (And this is despite having read other books on the subject.) I was familiar with some of the personalities described but author Scott Woolley turns this history almost into an adventure. And you're not going to believe how long ago the Internet was envisioned... and by whom. (I won't spoil it.) Just when you think the book is winding down, past the "Golden Age of Radio," the revelation of how one of the largest companies on Earth was bested by one person adds a jolt to the final pages.

The book is fairly short read into a fascinating question of public policy, regulatory power, and at times hard-nosed politics. Mr. Woolley did his research and he deftly explains engineering concepts (notably the basis for AM and FM broadcasting) so that a laymen can understand. Much of the book deals with information that is not new (in fact, PBS had a documentary on this topic a number of years ago). Mr. Woolley devotes chapters to certain periods of time and a main character (e.g. "Sarnoff -- 1961"). This is useful and serves to make a very long subject concise. The approach works well -- not that much is excised. It also makes for some fascinating information -- the intense litigation over claims that FM was sabotaged to keep AM ascendant and how the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") render seemingly arbitrary rulings based on faulty engineering, that had disastrous effect on the development of FM radio. For anyone who believes that administrative agencies should be given deference in their regulatory decisions, this is a cautionary tale. The drama (or sub-text) throughout about two-thirds of the book is the friendship and then battle between Edwin Armstrong, the brilliant electrical engineer responsible for the development of AM and FM and how he squandered much of his fortune and time litigating and losing) and David Sarnoff, the equally brilliant conceptual thinker who envision a future of wireless telegraph to be an entertainment medium only a quarter century after he grew up on the Lower East Side, an immigrant from Russia. However, there were two points I would make to this generally very readable and informative work. First, little is said about Armstrong's fight with Lee DeForest regarding the AM receiver (which cost him a valuable patent after over 10 years of litigation). Second, the last portion of the book -- the post-Armstrong Era (after he committed suicide) and how Sarnoff tried to fight AT&T for control of broadcast satellite and how Sarnoff predicted the rise of the Internet. I have not doubt this is true, but it seemed that it took too much space for what it may have been worth. But that is a minor quibble to this valuable work.

Empire of the Air told the story of DeForest, Armstrong and Sarnoff and left the impression that Sarnoff was a Machiavellian creep. This book paints a somewhat different picture and returns at least a degree of humanity to Sarnoff's legacy. And what a legacy it is. Sarnoff did not single-handedly build RCA, NBC, etc. but he was single minded in his promotion of the airwaves as a means of broadcasting both sounds and images, not to mention two-way communications, which he helped revolutionize. He even had a remarkably prescient vision of what became the Internet, way back in 1966. The book is well written and beautifully paced.

There is a serious historical error in the book. The author claims that Edwin Armstrong invented the "triode vacuum tube" in 1914. In actuality it was Dr. Lee de Forest who invented the three-element "Audion" (triode) vacuum tube in 1906. It was this invention that ushered in the modern age of electronics. The book also contains many other technical errors too numerous to mention in this review.

I enjoyed this book. I am sort of a radio history buff. This book focuses a bit more on the political side of the development of radio and not so much on the technical side. This is good since their have been many books covering the technical side and not a whole lot on the politics which were easily as important as the technological developments. I would rate this a must have for anyone interested in the history of radio and television in the United States. It covers the sad and unfortunate war between Sarnoff and Armstrong regarding FM quite well.

Depois de ler a história do desmembramento da AT&T em um dos maiores casos antitruste dos EUA, resolvi me aprofundar um pouco mais no mercado de telecomunicações daquele país. The Network conta como as ondas eletromagnéticas passaram a ser utilizadas comercialmente, por volta da década de 1910, dando origem aos mercados de radiodifusão, televisivo e, em última análise, a internet. Um dos personagens principais é David Sarnoff, presidente durante cerca de 40 anos da Radio Communication of America (RCA), gigante industrial que desenvolveu uma série de tecnologias inovadoras, como o satélite e a fibra ótica, mas que é mais famosa por ter fundado e controlado durante décadas a NBC, emissora de televisão que produziu diversos clássicos, como Friends. O outro personagem é Edward Armstrong, engenheiro, professor de Columbia e grande inventor. Desenvolveu a tecnologia de recepção que alavancou a comunicação intercontinental por rádio, bem como as transmissões FM. Ambos eram tão à frente de seu tempo, que Sarnoff, em 1965, proferiu um discurso falando que os recém inventados microchips e os encanamentos de lasers (hoje conhecidos como fibra ótica), revolucionariam as comunicações, criando uma rede de dados onde as pessoas poderiam se comunicar de qualquer lugar. A título de exemplo, a RCA comprou em 1971 a Random House, maior editora de livros dos EUA, pois Sarnoff acreditava que o futuro dos livros era digital. Estava corretíssimo, mas bastante adiantado.

I started my telecommunications career in Canada, when the network was transitioning from being analogue to digital. I wish I had the benefit of having all the information in this book back then. It all means so much more now. I wish I could give a copy of this book to everyone who works in the industry now. Thank you Scott Woolley.

The book gives a much more elevated assessment of Sarnoff as a communications visionary. Sarnoff may actually be the very first 'whiz kid' of mass communications- something like the social media and search/portal titans of today. So what was his first calling, ruthless executive or visionary? I still can't decide, but he certainly seem to know what was coming in the '80's with the introduction of modems, BBSs and eventually interconnected networks at the retail level for consumers. Armstrong was driven to suicide by a brain numb judicial system that concerned itself more with 'process' and legal maneuvering than trying to connect the actual inventor or innovator to a scientific advancement that was set for broad commercialization. Some people say Armstrong was stubborn, but I disagree. I think he was just bred with old fashion, protestant, Anglo-American principle and integrity. Time and resources simply ran out for him to continue his battles 'to the last ditch'. A good all round read and lots of detailed information on many other key characters.

For a list of the pioneers of modern civilization, one wouldn't necessarily think of David Sarnoff, but the man obviously qualifies. Sarnoff was a major player in the birth of radio (AM and FM), television, satellite communications, and the development of electronic media generally. He accurately and precisely predicted the internet in 1965! Highly recommended.