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  • The Battery: How Portable Power Sparked a Technological Revolution by Henry Schlesinger book cover
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The Battery: How Portable Power Sparked a Technological Revolution

by Henry Schlesinger

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A popular history of portable power

$20.68 USD
$32.32 USD $20.68 USD
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Paperback New English

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Awards & Recognition

  • Critical praise

    Praise from Michael Belfiore

    Michael Belfiore praises Henry Schlesinger’s history of the battery as “the story of civilization as we know it.”

AlbakiReads Editorial

A popular history of portable power

The Battery examines the technology that made electricity portable and traces its place in major scientific and technological developments. Framed as a “hidden history,” it centers a device often treated as background infrastructure, bringing attention to the role stored electrical power has played in modern invention and everyday technology. The book’s historical approach places the battery within the broader story of technological change rather than treating it solely as an engineering component.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers interested in the history of technology
  • Popular-science readers curious about electricity and invention
  • Fans of technology-focused magazines such as Wired

Themes

Battery technologyPortable powerHistory of electricityScientific and technological developmentInfrastructure and invention

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

"Henry Schlesinger is playful and intelligent and obscenely well read." -- Richard Zacks, author of The Pirate Hunter

"Henry Schlesinger's fascinating and superbly researched history of the battery is the story of civilization as we know it." -- Michael Belfiore, author of The Department of Mad Scientists

Henry Schlesinger's The Battery is the first popular history of the technology that harnessed electricity and powered the greatest scientific and technological advances of our time. If you like Wired Magazine and popular science books, you'll love the "hidden history" of The Battery.

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