非文學類(傳記)
更新日期:
2016-09-22
Marconi: The Man Who Networked the World
Marc Raboy
Oxford University Press
August 2016
872pp
書籍編號:
03-9205
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● 內文簡介

★網際網路之父Vint Cerf、普立茲傳記獎得主David Kertzer盛情推薦

一百多年前,世界進入了無線時代。電纜以及其他高度受限的低效率傳播方式,迅速被能將新聞、訊息即時傳遞到幾乎每個角落的革命性發明取代:無線電。於是,船隻之間的通聯拯救了無數生命;金融市場之間能配合調節,設定商品價格與固定匯率;軍隊將領能與前線聯繫指揮行動……時間與空間前所未有地延伸,而想像出並實現這個相連世界的是現代無線通訊創始人:馬可尼(Guglielmo Marconi),他是比爾蓋茲與賈伯斯的先驅。

馬可尼是現代通訊領域裡第一位真正的世界人。如同他擁有義大利父親、愛爾蘭母親,他的許多想像與思考都同樣超越國藉,一心實現他的世界主義。綜合技術、堅持、運氣、遠見與時機,馬可尼終將無線電使用普及化,並且更重要的,取得專利保護。從1896年二十二歲的馬可尼展示他的無線電設備,直至1937年過世之前,他都是每項電子通訊重要發明的核心人物。他結合專利保護、政府遊說與媒體公關的模式,使他在科學、政治與金融界皆佔有一席之地。馬可尼獲得俄國沙皇的褒獎,被任命為義大利參議員,英王喬治五世賜予騎士稱號,並榮獲諾貝爾物理獎,這一切成就都驚人地在他四十歲前達成。

《馬可尼》不僅是這位義大利發明家的傳記,更將他適切嵌入當時的時代背景脈絡中,透過記敘馬可尼的一生與事業,追溯了當代全球通訊網路的起源。作者援引最新研究與來自四個國家的未發表檔案資料,首度將馬可尼人生各個重要部份予以連結交織,從他早年在義大利的生活,到他的開創性實驗,以至於他在國際外交事務中扮演的重要角色。作者探索了馬可尼與歷任妻子、情婦、子女的關係,同時仔細檢視馬可尼生前的最後十年,他回到義大利成為墨索里尼法西斯政權要臣。

這部引人入勝的全面性傳記將是書寫馬可能及現代通訊的權威之作,在在證明我們依然活在馬可尼一手創造出來的世界之中。

*如感興趣提報,作者願意討論刪節版本(原書約三十萬字)。

 

● 作者簡介

Marc Raboy,加拿大麥吉爾大學(McGill University)藝術史與傳播學系的倫理、媒體與傳播研究教授。編著作品繁多,曾獲邀至斯德哥爾摩大學、牛津大學、紐約大學、倫敦政經學院擔任訪問學者。現居蒙特婁。

 

● 媒體報導

"Marconi is a tour de force, revealing the fascinating history of one of the most influential figures in the history of modern technology and the communications revolution. Employing a wide range of archival sources, Raboy crafts a highly readable story of a man who is at times heroic, at times a cad. He is unflinching in exposing the major role Marconi played in support of Mussolini's Fascist regime." --David Kertzer, author of The Pope and Mussolini, Winner of the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Biography

"Marc Raboy's book is by far the most comprehensive rendering of Marconi's life and times I have seen. Drawing on numerous and in some cases only recently available resources, Marconi's story is re-told in vivid terms and contemporary context."
-Vint Cerf, Internet Pioneer

"A comprehensive portrait of a complicated man, Raboy's meticulous, judicious work merits anchorage on science-history shelves."--Booklist, Starred Review

"Raboy superbly traces every twist and turn of Marconi's life, showing us his influences, business strategies and shrewd management of his own public persona. Raboy skilfully locates his activities in the context of communications policy, the arms race between Britain and Germany, and popular culture."—Nature

"[Raboy ] is especially adroit at portraying how Marconi was swept up in the modern world he helped create... Marconi really hums when Raboy details how his subject was implicated in the social and political effects of wireless... Marconi, which functions as a cultural history as much as a biography, reminds us that in its earliest incarnations, wireless had a romance and mystique."--New York Times