Matthew Pearl's 'The Technologists'

The year is 1868. The city is Boston. The scene is a demonstration.

William Barton Rogers, the founder of MIT, and two students, Bob and Marcus, are about to do something amazing. Before the eyes of a very skeptical — maybe even slightly scared — audience, they are about to light a street lamp with electricity.

Matthew Pearl's new novel "The Technologists" is set around the time that MIT was founded. The novel tells the tale of scientific derring do: whip smart techies battling the forces of evil while also dealing with the ignorance and doubt of their naysayers.

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