Over the last few years I had attended a few talks by  Jonathan schwartz the CEO of sun, all were excellent and in reading his blog i noticed the recommendation for this book.  It is an excellent read giving great insight into how the world came to have standadised (well nearly) elecricity and lighting. If you have the chance to hear any of Johnathans talks i advise reading this book, it allows you to get more out of them and gives some insight into the direction SUN is trying to pursue.