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D**N
Poorly organized with little material on his major engineering achievements
The book while it contains a lot of Tesla material, it has been slapped together without any editing. It should state that the articles are arranged chronologically, but it doesn't, you need to figure it out yourself by paging through. Since chronological was the organizing principle, the table of contents should have included publication dates for the articles, but it doesn't. All we get in the Table of Contents is 3.5 pages of bare titles with no dates, no grouping or labeling by subject matter. How hard would it have been to put some subtitles or separations to indicate:AC motor related, wireless power related, pump related etc? Also sometimes pages have page numbers, sometimes they don't.The is very little material in this book on Tesla's major engineering contributions. His AC motors, including the AC induction motor, are covered in only first three of the more than 100 entries. There appears to be little, or nothing, on the selection of frequency and multi-phasing for AC power distribution. The first entry in the book is dated May 1888, which is the date his first group of AC motor patents filed in 1887 were issued by the patent office. It is an address to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers discussing the principles of operation of his new AC motors.
V**O
A man for all times.
I don't think that Tesla will ever get the credit he is due, however, I doubt if he cares much about it. He certainly didn't when he spent his time in mortality. What an absolute genius. If I could just spend a few weeks at the side of Tesla, learning how his mind worked. Tesla was an uncommonly good man. Not a hint of shallowness of character.Once you get past the eggshell thin character that is Edison's you come to appreciate Tesla all the more. There are two short stories that tell it all. When Tesla came to the USA he went to work for Edison. He worked his daily tasks and at night still worked on his own. Edison challenged him to fix a problem with electric motors and said if you can fix this I'll give you $50,000.Tesla went to work at it using after hours to continue his efforts. In six months he had the solution and presented it to Edison. This alone made Edison a lot more money. When Tesla mentioned the $50,000, Edison said "oh you need to know when Americans are joking."Tesla left his employ and never worked for him again even though he was digging ditches for a while. He went to work for Westinghouse and they worked well together. He did so well that in just a few years he was owed over a $1,000,000 in royalties by Westinghouse. The company was in bad financial straights and when Tesla found out about it he told Westinghouse "okay, just forget the million dollars you owe me." That helped the company to survive.How great would this world be if we had more like Tesla and fewer like Edison!
J**A
I would have liked to have seen the editorials the letters are responding ...
I'm not sure why this is classified as a biography. There is a small biography in the introduction, but the remaining 600 pages are collections of Tesla's articles, lectures, and presentations. Warning: if you are not an engineer or, at the very least, interested in engineering, most of this book will go over your head. I think the most interesting part of this book is how Tesla had to defend his inventions and theories on a regular basis. I would have liked to have seen the editorials the letters are responding to as well.
M**H
A Book by a Genius
Nikola Tesla was one of the world's greatest inventors. His ideas were way ahead of their time. However, he had a serious flaw. Unlike his rival, Thomas Edison, he lacked business and marketing sense. The world's energy problems would have been solved if Tesla had his way. I'm a great admirer of Tesla's works and this prompted me to buy this book. There's a lot of geeky stuff in here. If you're a fan of Tesla and comfortable with technical stuff, read this book.How can I give anything less than five stars to the author or this book? No way!
N**S
An amazing book about an amazing person
This book is amazing. If you ever thought to yourself, "Gee I wish I had a complete collection of Tesla's work in one easy place," this is the book for you!It is very helpful if you are following his career, or interested in having more detail about his inventions, this is the place. There is so much folklore and myth when it comes to Tesla, that I would rather read his writings directly than read someones 'interpretation' of what they think. He was a marvel of a person and we probably won't see a person change the world in such a profound way for another hundred years. I hope this book will inspire the true inventor in everyone that reads his works. As we are still learning the true potential of his ideas to this day.
H**S
It is excellent reading and gives an insight into a truly remarkable man's life as he himself sees it.
This is an autobiography with many humorous moments like Tesla's hidings for breaking windows with his "peashooter", disassembling 'his grandfathers clocks and failing to assemble them, etc. He describes events and people in an objective way. At a certain stage he does have his strange moments.
B**Y
Five Stars
Good
A**R
This book I liked a lot because it contains a lot of information ...
This book I liked a lot because it contains a lot of information about Tesla's inventions. It is a compilation of several of his writings. Thanks for publising something interesting like that.
H**R
A Technical Treasury
This is probably a valuable resource for anyone studying the evolution of the age of electricity, or for somebody preparing a serious biography of Nikola Tesla. I bought it as research for a magazine feature I am writing and found it overkill. There are snippets of Teslas wit and personality to be found in this, but they are few and far between. Much of the anthology consists of letters and articles he wrote for various technical publications, or speeches he gave to learned societies. That these articles are not terribly witty or colourful, or full of insights into the man's character, is hardly Tesla's fault. They were written with other, specific, purposes in mind. I am glad to have had a browse through it, though.
D**L
Sadly neglected and dumped on from a great height when he was alive and ignored after his ...
Sadly neglected and dumped on from a great height when he was alive and ignored after his death, Nicola Tesla was, to use a hackneyed, cliched word, a genius. From meticulously formulated designs which he literally imagined before they were committed to blueprints, Tesla shaped the modern worlds view of electrical power. Falling prey to the greedy, money grubbing b*****ds who are always with us and willing to steal others ideas, he eventually died, bitter, almost penniless and alone, in a hotel room.This book goes a long way to reestablishing his reputation as a really genuine mental marvel, whose dream was, amongst others, to provide, free, wireless energy for the world.
W**Z
a very clever man
A very interesting and fascinating book about inventions made years ago by a man that stated that all of his new ideas and inventions came through his dreams
A**L
A fantastic read of a brilliant mind.
Nikola Tesla was a brilliant and fascinating being. Mankind owes him a debt of gratitude for his pioneering work. A very very special inventor, who has a hundred inventions still waiting for mankind to wake up, all at the American patent office.His books are mind blowing.Will make all of us consider life as never thought of before.Greed and corruption from the huge business concerns of his time destroyed his labourites and tried to destroy his reputation. Nikola Tesla was a gift to all of mankind, and we should be forever grateful he was here
G**T
A must for the inquisitive reader
Reading this makes you wonder what the world lost withTesla,s passing.He was a truly fascinating character,and gifted Largely forgotten by today,s students of electrical engineering,he was a collosus of his time and is very much underrated.I.would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in matters electrical.It is easy to read and very informative.
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