Just Finished Reading: Brunel – The Man Who Built the World by Steven Brindle (FP: 2005)

There are few other men who could be said to have built a world than the brilliantly named Isambard Kingdom Brunel. In Brunel’s case it is the literal truth. During his lifetime Brunel was either associated with (through his father) or directly responsible for a significant number of tunnels, bridges, buildings (often railway stations), piers, harbours and even locomotives that were directly responsible for the explosion of British wealth and power in the 19th Century. In an age when so much work was pioneering Brunel was an outlier in almost every field of engineering endeavour with few peers to compare himself against – Thomas Telford and Robert Stephenson being some of the few in his class. Combining the skills of architect, surveyor, civil engineer, mechanical engineer and ship designer and excelling in each he transformed the English countryside and its economic prospects in equal measure. No understanding of the consequences of the Industrial Revolution can be arrived at without understanding Brunel’s many contributions. The word Genius has been much abused and is much devalued these days but it is an appellation that can surely be applied to Brunel many times over. Not without his faults, being a hard task master and unforgiving of mistakes, he nevertheless drove himself harder than he drove his staff or his contractors to complete his designs on time and to Brunel’s exacting specifications. Brunel is arguably Britain’s greatest engineer and his legacy lives on in concrete form across the country.

This excellent little book (a mere 180 pages) was a delight from start to finish. The author is clearly a fan and, like many other people, completely in awe of the breadth of Brunel’s genius. Whilst not shying away from his flaws the author spins a tale of a hardworking, driven man who took to his monumental tasks like a fish to water. His skills astounded his contemporaries and are even more astonishing when it is remember that engineering theoretical understanding was still in its infancy and that building after advanced so fast that mere theory struggled to keep up. One of the things that interested me personally was Brunel’s involvement with the Great Western Rail line between London and Bristol – something I have travelled on many times particularly when I worked in London and had friends in Bristol. I will definitely pay more attention to that route next time I travel it! I was also fascinated with the political arguments about railway track gauge sizes (OK, I’m a Geek….) and the fight between the canal and coach companies and the new train builders. I need to read more about that period of history! Finally I was riveted (pun intended) to Brunel’s design and building of the biggest ocean going ships of the time and how the designs not only changed trans-Atlantic travel forever but also influenced Royal Naval designs. I definitely want to read more about the competition between paddle steam power and screw propeller (tested in a very public tug-of-war between to two types of ship). Much more of this sort of thing to come when I can dig it up. I’m convinced that in another life, in another universe, I might have been a civil engineer. It’s certainly exciting enough. Recommended.