Radio is a medium of seemingly endless contradictions. Now in its third century of existence, the technology still seems startlingly modern; despite frequent predictions of its demise, radio continues to evolve and flourish in the age of the internet and social media. This book explores the history of the radio, describing its technological, political, and social evolution, and how it emerged from Victorian experimental laboratories to become a near-ubiquitous presence in our lives.

Alasdair Pinkerton’s story is shaped by radio’s multiple characters and characteristics—radio waves occur in nature, for instance, but have also been harnessed and molded by human beings to bridge oceans and reconfigure our experience of space and time. Published in association with the Science Museum, London, Radio is an informative and thought-provoking book for all enthusiasts of an old technology that still has the capacity to enthuse, entertain, entice, and enrage today.

Alasdair Pinkerton is a reader in geopolitics at Royal Holloway, University of London. He is an avid radio listener and has battled to detect shortwave signals from around the world.

— David Hendy, author of "Noise: A Human History of Sound and Listening"

— Libby Purves, Times Literary Supplement

— Choice

— RadioUser

— Communication, "Books of the Year"