Mad Like Tesla: Underdog Inventors and their Relentless Pursuit of Clean Energy

by Tyler Hamilton

An “illuminating and important” look at the scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs who are working to save us from catastrophic climate change ( New York Journal of Books ) Climate change solutions so crazy they just might work! A search for the contemporary Nikola Tesla ― considered a mad scientist by his society for predicting global warming more than 100 years ago ― fuels this analysis of climate issues, which introduces thinkers and inventors who are working to find possible ways out of the energy crisis. From Louis Michaud, a retired refinery engineer who claims we can harness the energy of man-made tornadoes, to a professor and a businessman who are running a company that genetically modifies algae so it can secrete ethanol naturally, these individuals and their unorthodox methods are profiled through first-person interviews, exposing the social, economic, financial, and personal barriers that prevent them from making an impact with their ideas. The existing state of green energy technologies, such as solar, wind, biofuels, smart grid, and energy storage, is also explored, creating a sense of hope against a backdrop of climate dread.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, History, Technology, Environment, Biography

256 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2011

About the author

Tyler Hamilton is editor-in-chief of Corporate Knights magazine and a business columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. Clean Break, his weekly column, discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the clean technology and green energy market.

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book to be really interesting. This book suffers from the curse some non-fiction technology books have: the research is now dated nearly a decade old. What is good is that a lot of the information in this book was new to me and the writing style is not pretentious so it's easy to understand. The chapters are broken up into different vignettes about tech companies that are trying to disrupt the energy industry. I did have fun searching the companies to see where they are at with their emerging technology. Most of them have not had their big breakthrough yet.

[Reuben Janzen-martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read. Very inspiring to hear about the number of inventions and start-up companies that are pushing for "think-outside-the-box" solutions to the energy and climate change crisis we find ourselves in. It has been a few years since writing - it would be nice to have a follow-up to see how predictions have panned out.

[Christina Vasilevski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nikola Tesla was a scientific pioneer whose inventions and predictions about the future of technological development were derided in his day by his contemporaries. Tyler Hamilton's book attempts to find current-day equivalents to Tesla working in the clean energy industry - people who have ideas that sound crazy at first, but end up being surprisingly plausible.

And boy, does he know how to pick his subjects. We've got in-depth discussions about perpetual motion machines, cold fusion, biomimicry, ethanol production via algae (pond scum), and tornado power. And that's barely half the list.

Some of the techniques proposed - such as the man who wants to generate power by creating a stationary tornado or the company that is researching the possibility of building solar panels in space to collect solar energy and beam the stored energy to Earth via microwave beams - are wacky, to say the least.

However, some of the other innovations in the book sound more viable, like the people attempting to increase energy efficiency through biomimicry or create vast quantities of ethanol using genetically modified cyanobacteria. In these cases, the main thing holding these companies back is institutional inertia, which is quite depressing.

Parts of the book make reference to extremely recent events, such as the hurricanes that happened in Joplin earlier in 2011 or the reactor meltdown at Fukushima after the Japanese earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. The timeliness and quick turnaround are striking, but I fear that such topicality could date the book extremely quickly.

[Camille McCarthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very interesting and very useful for engineers because it is about new technologies being developed for clean energy and higher efficiency but it focuses both on the actual technology and on the complicated process of moving that technology forward so that it will actually go commercial. This is important because it gives a better idea of all the steps needed to take an invention from an idea to a commercial enterprise.
I had heard of a few of the inventions presented but there were many that I had never heard of, such as one man who plans to use waste heat from coal factories to produce man-made tornadoes and harvest energy from them. There are so many interesting energy ideas out there which aren't very well-known and some of them seem likely to succeed someday with the help of investment and further careful planning. The most interesting inventions presented were for higher efficiency using biomimicry, in such things as fans with designs based on swirls and vortexes found in nature.
Highly recommended for anyone interested in new energy inventions, especially engineers but the book is written for lay people so it should be easily understood by all.

[Bob Shepherd · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book which was at once provocative, frustrating, uplifting and informative. Many amazing inventions and ideas are explored with the potential for green energy solutions that would revolutionize our world – but the opposition from established industry, the absence of sponsorship by risk takers with money, competition from other scientists, and so on prevent great ideas from going ahead. This book is about scientists and inventors working on the fringe, on their own, in their basements and garages, outside the mainstream of universities and industry, who time after time just can’t catch a break. But it is also about their great numbers and their great ideas and the fact that every once in awhile somebody’s great discovery survives and mushrooms in some unprecedented way that changes everything.

[Du · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting book. I initially grabbed it because of the Tesla name/connection. In some ways the book does evoke Tesla through the inventory and description of inventors who are not understood or appreciated now, just as Tesla was not appreciated or understood 100 years ago.

The inventions and discoveries reviewed and introduced in the book run the gamete from just around the corner to far out there. They are all energy related and after reading Too Much Magic about the futility of presuming replacement fuel sources are just around the corner the book seems too far fetched and like science fiction.

I wonder if I would have appreciated it more, if I hadn't just read TMM.

[Sonja · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book. Highly recommend for anyone interested in energy. I can't believe the crazy thing people are trying, and how radically different our future could be if just one of these things actually became reality.

If someone wrote a fictional story about people trying to build a fusion reactor, or harness power from man-made tornados, no one would buy it.

The book is well written and these characters really come alive, and belief me, there are some real characters.

I wish I could give it 4.5 star.

[stinaz · Rating 3 out of 5]

State of the nation (as of 2010/11) of a number of alternative energy ideas and where they sit along the road from idea to research to development to commercialisation. From bio-fuels to solar to out there concepts like cold fusion and everything in between.

[Hans · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book overall. It goes from "somewhat-more-reasonable" to "kind-of-out-there" ideas over the course of the book, which I kind of liked. I wish he had included more diagrams of many of the technologies they describe. It would have helped with understanding.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just linked author's blog to his home page.
Also the book has a website.....................
http://madliketesla.com/

[Hava · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this. If you're interested in clean energy, it's a not to be missed book.

[Shayne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting review of current efforts in alternative energy; not bad science writing.

[Science For The People]

Featured on Skeptically Speaking show #134 on October 16, 2011, during an interview with author Tyler Hamilton. http://skepticallyspeaking.ca/episode...

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read. Lots of stuff I know very little about but it was interesting to walk through some of what people are coming up with as possible solutions.

[Shawn Williamson]

I don't think any of these people were quite as "mad like Tesla" (pigeons and all!!) but an intersting read ...

[Robert Shedd · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit dated (published in 2011), but very interesting.