This is not one of L. Frank Baum’s best known works, and it probably should not be compared to the Wizard of Oz. Yet it is well worth the read, even if it is just to see what a great thinker predicted, in 1901, would be the most important electrical inventions of the following century. If you’re wanting a book for purely entertainment purposes, you’ll probably tire of the boy protagonist and his exploits about 50 pages in. If you’re wanting a book about science, be warned: there’s no hard science here, just references and speculation. Yet all-in-all, it’s a delightful, thought-provoking read.The full title of the book is The Master Key: An Electrical Fairy Tale, Founded Upon the Mysteries of Electricity and the Optimism of Its Devotees. It’s a classic, Faustian tale: the devil is the electrical demon, bringer of three amazing electrical gifts a week, and the protagonist a young boy who loves experimenting with electricity. .What’s impressive is that all of the electrical demon’s devices are ones that we have in some form today. True, we don’t have watches that let us use electrical forces to fly, but we do have airplanes. Baum predicts Internet news, a device a bit more powerful than a lie detector (it could label people good or evil), bullet proof vests (his are electrical, but still cool), and other products. For example, the “Illimitable Communicator” predicts the cell phone: “a simple electrical device which will enable you, wherever you may be, to converse with people in any part of the world, without the use of such crude connections as wires.” Throughout the book, there seems to be an underlying commentary that more advanced technology doesn’t necessarily make us better or happier; in fact, it can often add to our problems. I like the way this is learned by the main character through various circumstances. As a modern reader, I’m not so optimistic as Baum’s narrator in the idea of videos documenting the truth without human intervention—it would be fun to read a postcolonial critique of Baum’s work, which definitely incorporates the racism and colonialism of his time. This book is public domain, so you can get it free on Kindle or read it as part of the Gutenberg Project online. It was a fast, fun, and worthwhile read.
What do You think about The Master Key (2006)?
This is an entertaining book, and it's quite different from the Oz series. The premise is that budding electrician Rob Billings Joslyn accidently summons the Demon of Electricity with his experiments. The Demon of Electricity is NOT the "minion of Satan" variety. It's more like the old term "daemon", which refers to an inspirational force, or a spirit in Greek mythology. Or you could think of him as a genie, as his situation is compared to Aladdin and the magic lamp. The Demon starts off by giving Rob a flight device based on magnetism, what is effectively a Taser, and "electric pills" that resemble the "food pills" found in a lot of old science fiction. The story then follows Robert's misadventures, though he manages to make it back in time for the Demon's second set of gifts. This time, they are a box that can see any important event in the world, "character goggles" that tell the user whether a person is good or evil, and clothing that repels attacks (think a super-Kevlar). Rob is a bit more successful this time, even though he still hasn't brushed up on geography. He saves France from a royalist uprising as well as Edward VII of England, though he winds up in Central Asia instead of Vienna. He then participates in battles between Turkish peoples and Tatars, and flies back home after rescuing some stranded sailors.After all he's been through, he rejects the last of the Demon's gifts, since he doesn't think society is wise and good enough to be worthy of them.The book is quite a bit more violent than most of the other Baum books. Many random people want to kill Rob to steal the inventions. Rob has the worst luck if the first Frenchman he meets wants to murder him! There's one racist segment where Rob lands on an island of African cannibals. Rob even fights in battles using pistols against the Tatars who stole most of his equipment. Rob at one point threatens to feed a cowardly sailor to the sharks, but at least that seemed to be more to scare him into shutting up so they all wouldn't plunge into the deep.This is a pretty good book, depending on how well you can stomach the racism (it's more extreme here than in Enchanted Island of Yew, and you don't see racism in the Oz books).
—Herman Gigglethorpe
