This paperback edition of a work first published by Oxford in 1999 has a new final chapter, on the second phase in fiber- optics, when stock in bandwith technology became overvalued and went bust in the late 1990s. The book is valuable for its clear descriptions of the technology while also tracing the careers and development of the people and companies that made this a dominant industry. Hecht, an engineer, writes on science and technology in the UK.