About this title: Cheney's biography of one of the greatest inventors and scientists of the modern age restores Tesla's precedence as the true inventor of radio, as well as of other remarkable firsts such as the harnessing of alternating current, remotely guided weapons, florescent lighting, and the bladeless turbine. The biography illuminates Tesla's relationships with George Westinghouse, J. P. Morgan, Thomas Edison, Michael Pupin, Guglielmo Marconi, and Mark Twain. Cheney also explains the controversies surrounding Tesla's unusual methods of generating publicity and his unfulfilled explorations into ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Laurel Press
Date Published: 1983
ISBN-13:9780440390770ISBN:044039077X
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. A great copy with only minor edge wear to cover. Pages are like new! Spine has crease from a previous read. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 336 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Description: Like New. May be shiny, in some instances dust jackets are not included, no missing pages, no damage to binding, may have a remainder mark. read more
Edition: 15th Printing
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: NY: Dell Publishing/A Laurel Book
Date Published: 1983
ISBN-13:9780440390770ISBN:044039077X
Description: Near Fine. 320 pages, includes a group of pictures, a few illustrations and an Index. "Flamboyant, eccentric, almost supernaturally gifted, had he been born today he would still be ahead of his time. Called a madman by some, a genius by others, and an enigma by nearly everyone, Nikola Tesla was perhaps the greatest inventor the world has ever known...This fascinating biography...is a riveting journey into the mind of the nineteenth-century wizard who was Edison's enemy, Mark Twain's friend, J ... read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Dorset Press
Date Published: 1989-12
ISBN-13:9780880294195ISBN:0880294191
Description: Very Good. HARDCOVER. Very Good Condition. Binding tight, pages clean. Dust Jacket lightly wrinkled at periphery. Very nice copy! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Marboro Books
Date Published: 1989
ISBN-13:9780880294195ISBN:0880294191
Description: Near Fine in Near Fine Dust Jacket. Man Out of Time. Black cloth spine with gilt title over blue boards; blue dj with b/w photo of Tesla. No price on unclipped Dj. read more
Description: NEW YORK DORSET PRESS 1989 xvi, 320pp DUST JACKET HARDCOVER, BLUE PAPER BOARDS QUARTER-BOUND IN BLACK CLOTH WITH GOLD TITLES ON SPINE. 6TH PRINTING SLIGHTLY COCKED, DJ WITH MINOR RUBBING AND SHELF-WEAR VG/VG. read more
Description: Prentice-Hall c1981, hardcover, separation starting at center of; Photos, pages bright, still solid copy, else GOOD+ in a GOOD+ dust jacket, in a new clear mylar DJ cover. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Dell, New York, NY
Date Published: 1983
ISBN-13:9780440390770ISBN:044039077X
Description: Fair. 044039077x C, shelf and cover wear, slightly darkened, stamp and writing inside cover, portions of text are underlined in red. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Dorset Press
Date Published: 1989-12
ISBN-13:9780880294195ISBN:0880294191
Description: LIKE NEW HARDCOVER IN JACKET. Size: standard hardcover; This book was engrossing from start to finish. The number of patents, the ideas he presented so far ahead of his time and the inventions he brought forth literally changed the world. He does not get credit for most of what he did. He was just recently added to the Smithsonian Museum for his invention of the radio which many still believe was invented by Marconi. And children are still taught in school that "Thomas Edison invented ... read more
"I believe Chesney intended this to be a hagiography, but I came away convinced that Tesla peaked early and lapsed into a lengthy twilight of self-delusion and puffery. I can admire much of his work in radio and high voltage electricity, but at least in this treatment Tesla does not emerge as a sympathetic character except among cultists, perhaps."
"I few years ago I bought a really excellent album by The Handsome Family called "Last Days Of Wonder." One of the best songs on the album, and the song for which the album was named, was about Nikola Tesla. The song described Tesla's oddness, of course, but its true power came from the use of Tesla himself as a metaphor for the way that we used to think about science and scientists.
Of course I wasn't alive at the time, but from various sources I pick up the idea that, from the beginning of the scientific revolution up until around the time Tesla died, scientists and inventors were these extraordinary individuals who were somehow able to make sense out of the world's essential strangeness. At the same time, their discoveries did not seem to destroy the wonder implicit in the strangeness itself.
The song actually does a better job than I can of describing it, but as an example I would cite Newton's Principia. Anyone who has read it can not come away with feeling two simultaneous impressions of awe. One at the incredible motion of the planetary bodies which operate according to some unexplained magic in a very orderly dance. The other at the mind of someone able to so elegantly unlock the secret direction of their movements.
With all that in mind, I picked up this biography of Tesla. I wanted to know if he was really like the song. Ms. Cheney has made an admirable effort to capture the very bizarre nature of Mr. Tesla's life, as well as to capture the strange things, the wonderful things, that he did and that he claimed that he could do. She also does not fail to point out many things that he did that no one, even today, understands.
Those were the positive things about this book. There were some negative aspects, none of which were Ms. Cheney's fault. Mr. Tesla was a private man, a man given to grand pronouncements, and a man, apparently, with somewhat of a deficiency in follow-through. If he did not deserve all the skepticism with which some of his claims were meant, neither did he do enough to prove those who believed his claims correct.
There is no doubt that he was something of a showman. Nothing wrong with that. But even after securing money for various projects, the things he claimed that he would be able to do never materialized. Was it because his claims were false? Was it because he could not stay focused on the one project he was trying to bring to fruition? He demonstrated brilliance early on, then claimed brilliance throughout his life. But how much should we believe?
It was frustrating to keep seeing this pattern in the book. I think, however, that the portrait painted by Ms. Cheney accurately portrays what Tesla was like. To think about him is frustrating. He is an absolute enigma. I finished the book with more questions than I had before I started it. The man is dead. His papers have vanished. The discoveries he made are still being used in the world. The discoveries he claimed to have made, but never shared, would, if true, rock the foundations of what we call modern science. But were any of them true? No one knows. The ghost of Tesla sits stroking his pigeons.
To end with a line from the song: "He couldn't stand the touch of hair or of skin...but stroked feathers gently, on trembling wings.""
"An excellent bio of the genius who, "invented the 20th century". Not too much of an exaggeration, as he invented radio and is the reason the power coming out of our outlets is 120 volts AC. In my personal opinion a biography should relate a person clearly and truly and be easy to read, transparent to the readers understanding of the subject person, and this one is like that.
I could go on and on about Tesla himself, but as a book this is a must-read for any fan of the genius. The best bio of him so far."
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