Review: WOW!!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 16, 2013
Before I started this book all I really knew about Tesla was that he was somehow responsible for a magnetic event that took place many years ago in some part of Siberia.Looks like I wasn't concentrating too much when I watched the History Channel that day.Now I know he probably invented radio, he and Edison were in a grudge match that should have been held in Madison Square  Garden, and that his life and fortune were manipulated by men who had too much fortune to be jealous of another person.I should've known more; my college major is math. Maybe that's why I enjoyed reading that Tesla stopped when a burst of genius hit him to design a certain something by drawing it in the dirt. You see, a man named Archimedes used to draw in the dirt, but for two reasons: one- because he just got an important idea; two- he couldn't go to Wal-Mart for paper.Tesla was a genius of the same rank as Edison. Do you know what happens when you put two extremely bright men in the same room? They try to win each other over. Neither one will give up his own idea. Edison believed strongly in direct current. You might have had a string of Christmas lights that all go out when one is burned out. That's direct current. I remember my mom testing the strings of bulbs before they went on the tree because DC was the only way strings of Christmas bulbs came at that time. Inevitably one bulb would go out and all the strings plugged in together would go dark. If it was after Christmas, Mom decided it was time to take the tree down anyway.But she didn't put the lights away until she found out which ONE had ruined everything.Tesla believed in alternating current. All strings of Christmas bulbs in my house are alternating current. Do they even make DC anymore? Tesla presented his proposal to a man named Westinghouse. He had a backer.But Edison wouldn't fold that easily. Some of the things he did, the public spectacles he created, to prove how deadly alternating current was reminds me of two 4 year olds fighting over the last cookie.Westinghouse had promised Tesla a certain payment per month and per patent. People were so frightened of something safe, that payment couldn't be met.Oh sure, Tesla had worked with Edison for a short while, until he figured out why  good old Thomas was treating him that way. Their match was made further south of Heaven.But finally alternating current was accepted and preferred. Direct current wasn't practical.Tesla could turn his mind to other interests...so many interests.Now that I know about him I can rank him slightly under Da Vinci for creativity. Except for Jesus Christ and His family, I don't put anyone higher than Da Vinci.But until you read this book to understand Tesla's suffering and true genius you won't know what I'm talking about.Hopefully the man is discussed in today's schools. He was completely ignored in my day. That's one reason I keep reading. My grandfather told me a well educated person knows a lot about one thing and a little about a lot of things. I'm still working on my lot of things.