The Intemperate Engineer: Isambard Kingdom Brunel in His Own Words - Hardcover

Isambard Kingdom Brunel is a huge name in British engineering history and his designs revolutionised public transport and modern engineering. Although his projects were not always successful, they often contained innovative solutions to long-standing engineering problems. During his short career, Brunel not only created the Great Western Railway and constructed numerous important bridges and tunnels, but he achieved many engineering 'firsts', including assisting in the building of the first tunnel under a navigable river and development of SS Great Britain, the first propeller-driven ocean-going iron ship, which was at the time also the largest ship ever built.

Adrian Vaughan takes a unique angle in writing this book and delves into Brunet's largely unpublished letters and writings, concentrating on his early diaries, detailing his work in planning and constructing the Great Western Railway, his relationships with assistants and contractors, enemies and dose friends and with his relations, revealing much about this great man. Vaughan aims to make readers feel that they are standing next to Brunel as he works at his desk and are with him travelling through Victorian Britain. They will feel the detail of his worries, his difficulties and tensions and ultimately realise his humanity, his genius and his fallibility.

Born in the early 1940s, Adrian Vaughan grew up observing the coal-fired nationalized railway in close quarters working at grassroots level as a signalman on the Western Region. He has had a lifelong interest in Brunel and has already written Brunel: An Engineering Biography for the Ian Allan list. He currently lives in Norfolk.