Surrounded by technology as we are, it's hard to realize what it was like in the old days — when travel was a major undertaking and many people lived their entire lives close to home; when winter nights were long and dark without electricity; when a letter to someone in another country could take months to arrive, if it ever did.

This book does a good job of explaining one of the first steps in the modernization of the world, with other interesting tidbits of information thrown in here and there. The book was well-written and educational.