What the FCC chair is reading: Understanding electricity to inform Web policy

The tech boom that swept across the nation brought on an eruption of innovation, a virtual applications boom that created jobs and propelled the United States into a world leader on the bleeding edge. That tech wave was more than one century ago, when affordable electricity was brought throughout the nation, according to "The Big Switch" by Nicholas Carr. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski is reading Carr's book. And to understand his approach to the agency's task to bring affordable broadband Internet to all U.S. homes and businesses, take a look at what the nation did when electricity arrived.