Review: Brief Biography of a Great, But Almost Unknown Inventor
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 21, 2013
The name "Tesla" has become commonplace only because of its adoption by the famous maker of modern electric cars. This short biography highlights the contributions of Nikola Tesla to the fields of electricity, lighting, motors and much more. Tesla faced a constant uphill battle to win backing and support for his brilliant ideas. Most notably, Tesla took Edison to task, claiming that AC power was necessary to widespread distribution of electricity, rather than the DC invented by Edison. He finally got the backing to prove it, and altered the world as we know it; however Edison's name went down in history as the inventor of our electrical system. The U.S. Patent Office stripped Tesla of his radio patents and assigned them to Marconi; only after Tesla's death was this decision reversed and he was finally declared the "father of radio". However, people remember Marconi - they don't know about Tesla.Tesla died at 86 years old and earned over 800 patents during his lifetime, contributing vastly to the technologies of the twentieth century. In spite of this grand accomplishment, he died penniless and alone. I think there is a deeper analysis of Tesla and his relationships with others that could have been included in his biography.The first part of the book is a rehash and quotes of information you've probably read elsewhere. For instance, the author repeats Malcolm Gladwell's premise in "The Outliers" that at least 10,000 hours of practice in any field is necessary to achieve competence. The final part of the book is a sales pitch for the author's other book on the topic of genius, which is available for charge (not for free as this book is); so it seems that this short book exists mainly to pique interest in a book for sale - a useful marketing strategy; however I was hoping for a little more information in this book. There is probably a lot more to write about Tesla than just the list of his inventions and accomplishments.