A review of Iwan Rhys Morus's How the Victorians Took Us to the Moon: The Story of the 19th-Century Innovators Who Forged Our Future. Pegasus Books. 2022.
Thanks for the review, Michael. As you mention Punch cartoons, you might enjoy this one from 1906 which seems to foresee a cultural context more in sync with our own in its depiction of the isolating quality of mobile phone use: https://magazine.punch.co.uk/image/I0000uf21lEwHGH4
Speaking of the telephone in "a cultural context completely out of sync with our own," I was reliably informed that Alexander Graham Bell's idea for the best use of the telephone was that everyone in the world would have one and, on Christmas Day, all the Christians in the world would call all the Africans and sing them hymns to convert them to Christianity. His investors thanked him and hired someone else to manage the business.
Thanks for the review, Michael. As you mention Punch cartoons, you might enjoy this one from 1906 which seems to foresee a cultural context more in sync with our own in its depiction of the isolating quality of mobile phone use: https://magazine.punch.co.uk/image/I0000uf21lEwHGH4
Speaking of the telephone in "a cultural context completely out of sync with our own," I was reliably informed that Alexander Graham Bell's idea for the best use of the telephone was that everyone in the world would have one and, on Christmas Day, all the Christians in the world would call all the Africans and sing them hymns to convert them to Christianity. His investors thanked him and hired someone else to manage the business.