“The story of one of the most prolific, independent, and iconoclastic inventors of this century…fascinating.”—Scientific American Nikola Tesla (1856-1943), credited as the inspiration for radio, robots, and even radar, has been called the patron saint of modern electricity. Based on original material and previously unavailable documents, this acclaimed book is the definitive biography of the man … definitive biography of the man considered by many to be the founding father of modern electrical technology. Among Tesla’s creations were the channeling of alternating current, fluorescent and neon lighting, wireless telegraphy, and the giant turbines that harnessed the power of Niagara Falls.
This essential biography is illustrated with sixteen pages of photographs, including the July 20, 1931, Time magazine cover for an issue celebrating the inventor’s career.
“A deep and comprehensive biography of a great engineer of early electrical science–likely to become the definitive biography. Highly recommended.”–American Association for the Advancement of Science
“Seifer’s vivid, revelatory, exhaustively researched biography rescues pioneer inventor Nikola Tesla from cult status and restores him to his rightful place as a principal architect of the modern age.” —Publishers Weekly Starred Review
“[Wizard] brings the many complex facets of [Tesla’s] personal and technical life together in to a cohesive whole….I highly recommend this biography of a great technologist.” –A.A. Mullin, U.S. Army Space and Strategic Defense Command, COMPUTING REVIEWS
“[Along with A Beautiful Mind] one of the five best biographies written on the brilliantly disturbed.”–WALL STREET JOURNAL
“Wizard is a compelling tale presenting a teeming, vivid world of science, technology, culture and human lives.”-
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It is a very informative book about Tesla and his upbringing, education and general personality and his quirkiness. I have really enjoyed it.
Okay but pretty techy for non-electricians. I was hoping for more insights into the man himself, not just a detailed description of some of his electrical patents.
Sheds light on the life and personality of a scientist we all heard of but I knew little about.
My husband and I have read many books and articles about Tesla. We enjoy learning about his life and inventiveness. This book added to our knowledge about him.
I had a hard time finishing this book.. To many side stories and corporate intrigue for me. I still don’t know if he was a wizard or a charlitin.
I’m a big Tesla fan, but this book was such a slog that I had to take a break in the middle of it to go read a more engaging book and then come back to finish. The author meant for it to be an exhaustive biography, and it was indeed exhausting. Not every factoid in existence needs to be used just because it’s there.
Some of the text seemed …
This book haunts me because I wonder what kind of world could we be living in now if Tesla’s ideas had been developed 100 years ago. There would have been enough clean energy to do so many more things. It was also tragic because Tesla could have focused more on getting some of his smaller ideas to work on a greater scale before going after the …
Interesting but suffers the common flaw of most Tesla biographies: the writer was not well-versed in electrical technology and Tesla’s quirky, dated descriptions and offbeat theories are difficult even for engineers to follow. Still worth reading.
Nicola Tesla is a virtually forgotten hero of the electrical age. He was essentially the inventor of the AC distribution network which brings power to our homes. He designed the generators, used at the pioneering Niagara Falls hydro project, the transformers which enable long distance power transmission (impossible with Edison’s DC system), and …
Besides a poor organization, this book was difficult to read because it omitted descriptions of most of the inventions or innovations of Tesla. The author would mention the importance of something but failed to describe what it did, how it worked, what made it more effective than previous technologies, and so forth. After a number of chapters, I …
Very informative and in depth.
Excellent review of the politics of early development of electricity for industry and domestic use.
A great book that told me what I wanted to know about Tesla. Very informative.
It could use a re-edit.
It seems at times to jump out of narrative sequence.
Fairly good take on Tesla; author comes out on his side on most matters involving disputes over discovery/credit.
The first part of this book was quite interesting, but half way through, there was far too much technical information that was interesting, but much too detailed.
Uneven in pacing and difficult to follow. An interesting man whose story is not told well here.
I am not sure anyone has captured Tesla’s real character. This book examines his financial history and a couple of friendships, the kinds of things with the easiest paper trail, but does a poor job with his motives and with his late life psychological deterioration. It wasn’t awful but I ended up feeling I had mostly wasted my time.
Informative. A forgotten genius, buried by a contemporary A mind that kept working. In with big names from start of 20th century.
I really enjoyed this book. I have been interested in Mr. Tesla for a very long time. He certainly was an enigma, in so many ways. I learned a lot about the man; Some
was great and some was unique. This is a really good book. If you have an interest in technology, especially electricity you should enjoy this book.