Nikola Tesla

by Lisa Yount

This book examines the life and career of electrical pioneer Nikola Tesla.

128 pages, Library Binding

First published October 1, 2011

Reviews

[Joan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book did a decent job of capturing Tesla's erratic life. I ended thinking that the author did not much care for Tesla which is not something I have guessed from most biographers. Tesla was a genius, that much seems unquestioned. However, he was a horrible businessman and died fairly poor although his home country of Croatia started giving him a monthly stipend. When I say horrid businessman, I mean that he simply couldn't be bothered with the painstaking work of taking big ideas and turning them into real objects. That is where Edison for example, excelled over Tesla. Tesla was proven correct in his opinion that direct current wasn't really practical, and houses today are lit with his idea of alternating current. He won "the war of the currents". It didn't do him a lot of good. People still give Edison the major credit for electricity....even though his own company went to AC rather than DC I suspect after they basically kicked Edison out of the company. Tesla doesn't seem to have been a really pleasant person, although he can't have been considered stingy. Not long before his death he was convinced that Twain, who had been friends with him, needed money and tried to get a delivery boy to take an envelope to a site that no longer existed to help a man who was no longer alive. But the envelope when opened contained $100 with no signature to say where it came from. I finally think I understand the difference between DC and AC now. I'm not so sure I yet understand other aspects of electricity but at least I have made this small advance. The book is serviceable and does the job it is supposed to of describing Tesla's life and inventions. I'd be curious to read a book about Tesla that people consider excellent. This isn't it. Still recommended.