Review: The Technologists by Matthew Pearl

• Hardcover: 496 pages
• Publisher: Random House (February 21, 2012)
• ISBN-10: 1400066573
• Source: Publisher

In 1868 Boston, a new school opens up on a former wasteland: the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  It promises to study science for the well-being of all, promising to do no harm.  Unfortunately, society doesn’t agree. It sees the school, and the students that attend it, as a machine of sorts, attempting to mechanize jobs normally performed by workers.

Meanwhile, in Boston Harbor, the navigation equipment of several sea vessels go haywire at the same time, forcing them to crash into one another. The closure of the Harbor causes extreme disruption to commerce.  Not long after, the glass windows in several Boston buildings turn to liquid, injuring and killing hundreds of Bostonians.

Everyone is desperate to come up for an explanation of these two events. Clearly the cause is scientific in nature, or is it nature’s way of getting back at humankind for the surge in technology. A group of the Institutes finest, known as the Technologists, band their knowledge together to track down the truth. Lead by Marcus Mansfield, a civil war veteran and former machinist himself the group is made up of an eclectic group of students, some true to life, including the first female student granted admission to the Institute.

Pearl is known for the rich historical detail he brings to each of his novels. This rings true in The Technologists, which is not only a suspense-ridden novel but also a lesson in Boston’s rich history. He vividly portrayed the nation during a pretty important time, the cusp of the technological revolution. While there are some pretty obvious aspects that have been fictionalized (the accident at the Harbor and the melting glass) a great deal is taken right from our nation’s history.

Pearl is a tremendously talented writer. I have read each of his books and I jokingly state that I would read a shopping list if he wrote it. He has the ability to entice and capture the reader for the entirety of a book, no matter the length. I admit, I was a bit wary when I saw that this book was nearly 500 pages, but honestly, once I started, the pages flew by. That said, this is certainly not a light read, full of technical detail and prose that you simply cannot skim. Some have termed it a literary historical thriller, I simply term it brilliant. Highly recommended.

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Thanks to the publisher, I do have one copy of The Technologists to give away.  To enter, please fill out the form below. Open to US & Canadian residents only. The winner will be contacted via email on Friday, March 2nd. Good luck to all who enter!