b'B ookR eviewBY MARGIE MILLER, ARNPThe Invisible RainbowA History of Electricity and LifeBy Arthur Firstenberg (ISBN 13:978-1-64502-009-7; Chelsea Green Publishing; 2020, paperback, 576 pages; $18.38)W henIfirstdecidedtodismissed. One of the unwanted read this book, I did soeffects was istupidimento, or becauseIknewnoth- mentalconfusion,astheItal-ing about electricity and because Iians called it. Other untoward was aware that if I wanted to haveeffects included headache, nau-a broader understanding of electro- sea,weakness,heartpalpita-magnetictechnology,Imustfirsttions,muscleandjointpains, gain a greater understanding of hownosebleeds, mental depression, our current technology evolved. Ishortness of breath, coughing, calleduponmyself-disciplineinorasthma-typewheezing.An anticipation of a dry, textbook-likeexcerpt from a letter written by treatise.Fromchapterone,pageBenjamin Franklin describes his one, I was transfixed! convulsive tremors after ex-What I discovered was that thisposure to electric shocks (in fact, book is about much more than elec- Firstenbergfillsmanypages tricity. When I scanned the title, I didwithfascinatingdocumented not heed the last word of the subtitlepersonal accounts made by sci- Life. The Invisible Rainbow doesentists and physicists of the cen-build upon the history of electricityturies past). but the major theme throughout theInthesecondchapter, book is how every breakthrough inFirstenbergdifferentiatesbe-the realm of electricity, beginning intween direct current (DC) and the 1700s, has been associated withalternatingcurrent(AC)and ill effects upon life on our Planet describesthebattlefordomi-humans, plants, and animals. nance of one over the other be-Thestoryofelectricitybeginsporarily or, as we will see, permanentlytweenWestinghouseandthe in the 16th century. The author, Arthurinjured or even killed by these experimentsproponents of direct current. AC won the Firstenberg, takes the reader through eachbecame lost in the general excitement . duel despite its more deleterious impact discovery and advancement in the under- Entertainmentinthehomesoftheon health. By 1889, 150 generating stations standing and harnessing of electricity, be- wealthy often involved exhibitions of newlywereinoperation,incandescentlamps ginning with static electricity. By delvinginvented electrical machines and a form ofwere in full production, railroads criss-into the idiosyncrasies of the scientists ofrecreation known as the electric kiss. Be- crossed the North American continent and the day, Firstenberg makes each chapter acause electricity was associated with thetelegraph lines were widely distributed. fascinating read. He leads the reader intolife force, Leyden jars were soon used inIt was also during this year, 1889, that a thesocialnormsofthetimesandhowmedicine followed by electrotherapy tostrange disease struck out of nowhere, a the public fascination with the newly-dis- restore equilibrium throughout the body.disease that physicians had never encoun-covered phenomenon called electricityFor close to three centuries, while the ben- tered before. That disease was influenza. shrouded what the reader views as obvi- efits of electricity were widely sought, theOne million people died during that four-ous, The fact that people could be tem- physical harm that it could cause was beingyear pandemic. Typical of Firstenberg, he 32 H ealtHF reedomN ews /s ummer2020'