5 ms·

The telegraph was the Victorian internet

32 points by mudil 9y ago

usuallymatt 9y ago
I hardly ever read non-fiction but I read this book a few years ago and absolutely loved it. Was sorry when I was finished. Well worth anyone's time.
peterburkimsher 9y ago
I read this book when I was back in university, and thoroughly enjoyed it! The social change at that time was enormous. Boats were once the fastest way to send a message (faster than horses). The railway suddenly made it much quicker to communicate, and within a generation was quickly followed by the telegraph. The effects of the telegraph on language, as people found cheaper ways to send messages when they had to pay by the character, are having modern parallels with SMS and emojis.
partycoder 9y ago
I also present you with this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semaphore_line https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semaphore_line
LeoPanthera 9y ago
I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir here on HN but if you haven't read Terry Pratchett's "Going Postal", I highly recommend it.
- mboto 9y ago
  There is a follow up board game too called Clacks, that's a lot of fun [1]. It's the detail that makes it even going down to the terminology of using jacquard cards [2]. 1. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/140279/clacks-discworld-board-game https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/140279/clacks-discworld-... 2. http://www.computerhistory.org/storageengine/punched-cards-control-jacquard-loom/ http://www.computerhistory.org/storageengine/punched-cards-c...
tdeck 9y ago
If you're interested in telegraph's and early communications technology, I HIGHLY recommend getting a copy of "The Story of Telecommunication" by George P. Oslin [1]. It's very thoroughly researched and clearly a labor of love. tchingazing video on YouTube. Also, I can't help but share this awesome video I recently found - "How the Teleprinter Works" [2]. It's fascinating and very well done. [1]: https://www.amazon.com/STORY-TELECOMMUNICATIONS-George-P-Oslin/dp/0865546592 https://www.amazon.com/STORY-TELECOMMUNICATIONS-George-P-Osl... [2]: https://youtu.be/HcMHam54EOI https://youtu.be/HcMHam54EOI
Lanthanide 9y ago
It really was, complete with a 1880s-vintage Tinder: http://archive.org/stream/wiredlovearomanc24353gut/24353.txt http://archive.org/stream/wiredlovearomanc24353gut/24353.txt I read that a while ago and though the plot itself is kinda facile (it is supposed to be just a simple romance novel after all), it's really fascinating to see the parallels of the telegraph with the internet from a cultural aspect. It's easy enough to draw comparisons between the two as being different stages in the evolution of networks etc but the human side of things is always a bit harder to sum up.

32 points by mudil 9y ago

I hardly ever read non-fiction but I read this book a few years ago and absolutely loved it. Was sorry when I was finished. Well worth anyone's time.

peterburkimsher 9y ago

I read this book when I was back in university, and thoroughly enjoyed it! The social change at that time was enormous. Boats were once the fastest way to send a message (faster than horses). The railway suddenly made it much quicker to communicate, and within a generation was quickly followed by the telegraph. The effects of the telegraph on language, as people found cheaper ways to send messages when they had to pay by the character, are having modern parallels with SMS and emojis.

partycoder 9y ago

I also present you with this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semaphore_line https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semaphore_line

LeoPanthera 9y ago

I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir here on HN but if you haven't read Terry Pratchett's "Going Postal", I highly recommend it.

mboto 9y ago
There is a follow up board game too called Clacks, that's a lot of fun [1]. It's the detail that makes it even going down to the terminology of using jacquard cards [2]. 1. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/140279/clacks-discworld-board-game https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/140279/clacks-discworld-... 2. http://www.computerhistory.org/storageengine/punched-cards-control-jacquard-loom/ http://www.computerhistory.org/storageengine/punched-cards-c...

tdeck 9y ago

If you're interested in telegraph's and early communications technology, I HIGHLY recommend getting a copy of "The Story of Telecommunication" by George P. Oslin [1]. It's very thoroughly researched and clearly a labor of love. tchingazing video on YouTube. Also, I can't help but share this awesome video I recently found - "How the Teleprinter Works" [2]. It's fascinating and very well done. [1]: https://www.amazon.com/STORY-TELECOMMUNICATIONS-George-P-Oslin/dp/0865546592 https://www.amazon.com/STORY-TELECOMMUNICATIONS-George-P-Osl... [2]: https://youtu.be/HcMHam54EOI https://youtu.be/HcMHam54EOI

Lanthanide 9y ago

It really was, complete with a 1880s-vintage Tinder: http://archive.org/stream/wiredlovearomanc24353gut/24353.txt http://archive.org/stream/wiredlovearomanc24353gut/24353.txt I read that a while ago and though the plot itself is kinda facile (it is supposed to be just a simple romance novel after all), it's really fascinating to see the parallels of the telegraph with the internet from a cultural aspect. It's easy enough to draw comparisons between the two as being different stages in the evolution of networks etc but the human side of things is always a bit harder to sum up.