Book Review - The Technologists

The TechnologistsThe Technologists by Matthew Pearl
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I always worry when I read historical fiction that I'm going to "misremember" historical facts afterwards. I don't think I have too much to fear from this book, however, because it's a rather outrageous tale.

The story revolves around the first graduation class of MIT. Back in the day, technology was feared and misunderstood. Workers feared automation would eliminate their jobs and the general public had little or no knowledge of what even the word technology meant.

When Boston comes under attack from an unknown person(s), it's up to our fledging scientists to determine how the terrorist like attacks were achieved and how to predict and prevent the next incident. There was a lot of science talk, well developed characters and, as it's a mystery, several red herrings. Good read and it gave a good feeling for what Boston was like right after the Civil War.

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