A celebration of the life and engineering achievements of Isambard
Kingdom Brunel by two of the world's foremost authorities.
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. 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.
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 fascinating new
book draws on Brunel's own diaries, letters and sketchbooks to
understand his life, times, and work.