Introduction: History in real time -- A world without science -- The death of superstition -- The tale of the frog -- Science, showmanship, and the voltaic pile -- Not a gentleman of science -- What hath God wrought? -- Finally, something useful -- Power and light -- Genius by design -- Victorian age of discovery -- Without wires -- Mass-marketing miracles -- What will they think of next? -- Distance dies in the parlor -- The endless frontier -- See it! Hear it! Get it! -- Smaller and smaller -- Always on -- Lab reports -- Epilogue: Bring on the future -- Appendix: Those troublesome Baghdad batteries.