Isambard Kingdom Brunel has always been regarded as one of Britain’s great heroes and an engineering genius. His father Marc Brunel has not received the same degree of adulation, but this book will show just how important a part Marc played in his son’s works and will also look at his own great achievements. Marc Brunel arrived in Britain as a refugee from revolutionary France, after a short time working in America. He was a pioneer of mass production technology, when he invented machines for making blocks for sailing ships. He had other inventions to his name, but his greatest achievement was in constructing the very first tunnel under the Thames. Isambard spent his early years working for and with is father, who not only encouraged him but throughout his career he was also able to offer practical help. The famous viaduct that carried the Great Western Railway over the Thames at Maidenhead, for example was based on an earlier design of Marc’s. Isambard’s greatest achievements were in revolutionizing the shipping industry, where hew as able to draw on his father’s experience when he served in the navy. The book not only looks at the successes of two great engineers, but also their failures. Primarily, however, it is a celebration of two extraordinary mean and their amazing achievements.

A celebration of the life and engineering achievements of Isambard Kingdom Brunel by two of the world's foremost authorities. In his lifetime, Isambard Kingdom Brunel towered over his profession. Today, he remains the most famous engineer in history, the epitome of the volcanic creative forces which brought about the Industrial Revolution - and brought modern society into being. Brunel's extraordinary talents were drawn out by some remarkable opportunities - above all his appointment as engineer to the new Great Western Railway at the age of 26 - but it was his nature to take nothing for granted, and to look at every project, whether it was the longest railway yet planned, or the largest ship ever imagined, from first principles. A hard taskmaster to those who served him, he ultimately sacrificed his own life to his work in his tragically early death at the age of 53. His legacy, though, is all around us, in the railways and bridges that he personally designed, and in his wider influence. This fascinating new book draws on Brunel's own diaries, letters and sketchbooks to understand his life, times, and work.

Engineering genius, technical innovator and one of the greatest figures of the Industrial Revolution, Isambard Kingdom Brunel changed the face of the English landscape with his groundbreaking designs and ingenious constructions. L. T. C. Rolt's masterly biography is the definitive work on Brunel, tracing the life, times and monumental achivements of the man who helped to build modern Britain.

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Isambard Kingdom Brunel was the outstanding entrepreneurial Victorian engineer. He helped construct the Thames Tunnel, build the Great Western Railway and its terminus, Paddington Station, but his boldest endeavours were three gigantic ships.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel created a number of quite revolutionary steamships - the Great Western which was the first practical transatlantic paddle-steamer; the Great Britain, the first iron-built screw-driven liner; and the monster Great Eastern which remained the largest ship in the world for almost half a century. Besides these well-known wonders of the maritime world, Brunel also worked with the Admiralty on the introduction of the screw propeller into naval service.

Marc Isambard Brunel (1769-1849) nourished an extraordinary intellect, in spite of a tyrannical father. After serving in Louis XVI's navy as an officer cadet, he left France and, at the age of 30, came to Britain via America; 50 years later he died here. Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) nourished an equally extraordinary intellect. On leaving his native island of Corsica he went to France, where he became First Consul aged 30 and waged war against Britain. He died in St. Helena 22 years later. This revised biography of Marc Brunel reveals, for the first time, how both these temperamentally opposed men labored, unceasingly and with great courage, on behalf of their adopted countries, and how much Marc Brunel contributed to Napoleon's ultimate defeat. Marc Brunel was a man without malice. In addition to being an inventor, artist, and musician, he was the 19th century's most innovative engineer. Until recently, however, he has been acknowledged less for his achievements than for fathering his brilliant and indefatigable son Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-59). Until the age of 56, Marc Brunel was primarily an inventor, but Isambard took his father's and others' inventions when they were barely visible seeds and turned them into highly visible fruits in the shape of steam ships and railways. Marc Brunel worked in a relatively literate age and his frequently forthright comments were eagerly sought by reporters of many newly established daily papers. He never became a "celebrity." This authoritative work must represent the definitive exploration of this remarkable man's life and brings his considerable achievements into focus for the modern historian. Entertaining yet highly informative, and enhanced by a selection of beautifully produced illustrations, it will be widely welcomed.