Brunel The Man Who Built the World

by Brindle, Steven; Cruickshank, Dan

• ISBN13: 9780297844082
• ISBN10: 0297844083
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-09-01
• Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson

Summary

One of the great minds of the 19th century, Isambard Kingdom Brunel was responsible for some of the most impressive engineering feats of his day. By the age of 26, he had been appointed chief engineer of the Great Western Railway, linking Bristol to London. His love of steamships led him to build a series of revolutionary vessels, including theGreat Britain--the first steamship to cross the Atlantic. Illustrated with a wealth of blueprints, drawings, and rare photographs, celebrated British television personality Jeremy Clarkson's new biography tracks the life and achievements of this Victorian-era genius. A fascinating portrait of ambition and innovation, Clarkson's book provides ample evidence to support the claim that Brunel was indeed "the man who built the world."

Author Biography

Steven Brindle currently works for English Heritage as Inspector of Ancient Monuments for Greater London.

Table of Contents

Introduction Father & Son

From London to Bristol Family Life Railways Brunel's Bridges

The Three Great Ships

The Office, the Team and Professional Life

The Legacy

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

"In his lifetime, Isambard Kingdom Brunel towered over his profession. Today, he remains the most famous engineer in history, the epitome of the volcanic creative forces which brought about the Industrial Revolution - and brought modern society into being. Short-tempered, with a cutting wit and an almost unparalleled capacity for work - his vast achievements were the progeny of a restless, charismatic, forceful personality, of a refusal to accept second best, from people or from things." "Brunel's extraordinary talents were drawn out by some remarkable opportunities - above all his appointment as engineer to the new Great Western Railway at the age of 26 - but it was his nature to take nothing for granted, and to look at every project, whether it was the longest railway yet planned, or the largest ship ever imagined, from first principles. Brunel's originality was matched by his breadth of mind: excelling as an architect, surveyor, civil engineer, mechanical engineer, and ship designer - he was the Victorian age's answer to the Renaissance man. A hard taskmaster to those who served him, he ultimately sacrificed his own life to his work in his tragically early death at the age of 53. His legacy, though, is all around us, in the railways and bridges that he personally designed, and in his wider influence." "This new book draws on Brunel's own diaries, letters and sketchbooks to understand his life, times, and work. A mass of contemporary photographs, paintings, sketches and drawings, many previously unpublished, illustrate his great achievements, and convey the many-sided creative genius of Brunel - the man who built the world."--BOOK JACKET.