Download Ebook Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age, by W. Bernard Carlson
The book Tesla: Inventor Of The Electrical Age, By W. Bernard Carlson will always give you favorable value if you do it well. Completing guide Tesla: Inventor Of The Electrical Age, By W. Bernard Carlson to check out will certainly not come to be the only objective. The goal is by obtaining the positive worth from the book until the end of guide. This is why; you should discover more while reading this Tesla: Inventor Of The Electrical Age, By W. Bernard Carlson This is not only exactly how fast you check out a book and also not just has the number of you finished the books; it has to do with exactly what you have actually obtained from the books.
Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age, by W. Bernard Carlson
Download Ebook Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age, by W. Bernard Carlson
Tesla: Inventor Of The Electrical Age, By W. Bernard Carlson. Accompany us to be member right here. This is the internet site that will certainly provide you reduce of browsing book Tesla: Inventor Of The Electrical Age, By W. Bernard Carlson to read. This is not as the various other site; the books will be in the forms of soft documents. What benefits of you to be member of this site? Obtain hundred collections of book connect to download and install and obtain always updated book on a daily basis. As one of the books we will present to you currently is the Tesla: Inventor Of The Electrical Age, By W. Bernard Carlson that comes with a very completely satisfied idea.
Why must be book Tesla: Inventor Of The Electrical Age, By W. Bernard Carlson Book is among the easy sources to look for. By obtaining the author as well as theme to get, you can find a lot of titles that supply their data to acquire. As this Tesla: Inventor Of The Electrical Age, By W. Bernard Carlson, the motivating book Tesla: Inventor Of The Electrical Age, By W. Bernard Carlson will give you exactly what you need to cover the task deadline. And why should remain in this internet site? We will ask initially, have you much more times to go with going shopping guides as well as look for the referred book Tesla: Inventor Of The Electrical Age, By W. Bernard Carlson in book store? Many individuals could not have enough time to discover it.
Thus, this website provides for you to cover your trouble. We show you some referred publications Tesla: Inventor Of The Electrical Age, By W. Bernard Carlson in all types and also styles. From usual writer to the famous one, they are all covered to supply in this web site. This Tesla: Inventor Of The Electrical Age, By W. Bernard Carlson is you're searched for publication; you simply should go to the link web page to receive this web site and afterwards choose downloading. It will not take sometimes to obtain one book Tesla: Inventor Of The Electrical Age, By W. Bernard Carlson It will depend on your internet link. Simply purchase as well as download and install the soft documents of this book Tesla: Inventor Of The Electrical Age, By W. Bernard Carlson
It is so very easy, right? Why do not you try it? In this website, you could additionally locate various other titles of the Tesla: Inventor Of The Electrical Age, By W. Bernard Carlson book collections that may have the ability to aid you discovering the most effective option of your work. Reading this book Tesla: Inventor Of The Electrical Age, By W. Bernard Carlson in soft documents will certainly likewise relieve you to obtain the resource conveniently. You may not bring for those books to somewhere you go. Just with the device that consistently be with your everywhere, you can read this publication Tesla: Inventor Of The Electrical Age, By W. Bernard Carlson So, it will certainly be so rapidly to complete reading this Tesla: Inventor Of The Electrical Age, By W. Bernard Carlson
Nikola Tesla was a major contributor to the electrical revolution that transformed daily life at the turn of the twentieth century. His inventions, patents, and theoretical work formed the basis of modern AC electricity, and contributed to the development of radio and television. Like his competitor Thomas Edison, Tesla was one of America's first celebrity scientists, enjoying the company of New York high society and dazzling the likes of Mark Twain with his electrical demonstrations. An astute self-promoter and gifted showman, he cultivated a public image of the eccentric genius. Even at the end of his life when he was living in poverty, Tesla still attracted reporters to his annual birthday interview, regaling them with claims that he had invented a particle-beam weapon capable of bringing down enemy aircraft.
Plenty of biographies glamorize Tesla and his eccentricities, but until now none has carefully examined what, how, and why he invented. In this groundbreaking book, W. Bernard Carlson demystifies the legendary inventor, placing him within the cultural and technological context of his time, and focusing on his inventions themselves as well as the creation and maintenance of his celebrity. Drawing on original documents from Tesla's private and public life, Carlson shows how he was an "idealist" inventor who sought the perfect experimental realization of a great idea or principle, and who skillfully sold his inventions to the public through mythmaking and illusion.
This major biography sheds new light on Tesla's visionary approach to invention and the business strategies behind his most important technological breakthroughs.
- Sales Rank: #77493 in Books
- Brand: imusti
- Published on: 2015-04-27
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.50" h x 1.30" w x 5.50" l, .0 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 520 pages
Features
- Princeton University Press
From Booklist
*Starred Review* Nikola Tesla once noted that the men who worked for him sometimes “thought I was some kind of magician or hypnotizer.” Like Tesla’s assistants, biographer Carlson sees the magician and hypnotizer in the astonishing inventor. Readers, too, will perceive the magic-working wizard in the Serbian-born genius as he translates intensely conceived imaginative ideals into world-changing technologies—such as the alternating-current motor and the radio-controlled boat. And they will recognize something of the hypnotizer in the flamboyant showman who dazzles lecture-hall audiences and potential backers with electric flames passing through his body. Carlson even has something to teach readers familiar with Seifer’s dissection of Tesla’s tortured psyche in Wizard (1996) and O’Neill’s much earlier chronicle of Tesla’s childhood and early career in Prodigal Genius (1944). Carlson provides not only a more detailed explanation of Tesla’s science but also a more focused psychological account of Tesla’s inventive process than do his predecessors. Carlson also surpasses his predecessors in showing how Tesla promoted his inventions by creating luminous illusions of progress, prosperity, and peace, illusions so strong that they finally unhinge their creator. An exceptional fusion of technical analysis of revolutionary devices and imaginative sympathy for a lacerated ego. --Bryce Christensen
Review
Winner of the 2015 Sally Hacker Prize, Society for the History of Technology
Winner of the 2015 IEEE William and Joyce Middleton Electrical Engineering History Award, History Committee of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers
One of Amazon.com's 2013 Best Science Books
One of Booklist Online's Top 10 Science & Health Books for 2013
One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2013
One of The Guardian's Best Popular Physical Science Books of 2014, chosen by GrrlScientist
Honorable Mention for the 2013 PROSE Award in Biography & Autobiography, Association of American Publishers
Longlisted for the 2014 Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books
"[An] assiduous, endlessly patient biography. . . . In Carlson's eyes, Tesla's relationship with modernity in all its forms--its fixation with progress and explanation, capital and connection, but also its fragmentation of narrative and self--is more complex and revealing than even the conspiracy nuts have imagined."--Richard Barnett, London Review of Books
"Carlson sheds light on the man and plenty of his inventions. . . . [An] electric portrait."--Publishers Weekly
"Superb. . . . Carlson brings to life Tesla's extravagant self-promotion, as well as his eccentricity and innate talents, revealing him as a celebrity-inventor of the 'second industrial revolution' to rival Thomas Alva Edison."--W. Patrick McCray, Nature
"Soundly footnoted, yet eminently readable, it provides a balanced examination of the man and his work, focusing particularly on Tesla's distinctive style of invention."--Natural History
"Carefully researched and thoughtfully written. . . . Clearly surpassing earlier accounts, [this] will be the gold standard for Tesla biography."--Thomas J. Misa, Science
"A scholarly, critical, mostly illuminating study of the life and work of the great Serbian inventor."--Kirkus Reviews
"Carlson even has something to teach readers familiar with Seifer's dissection of Tesla's tortured psyche in Wizard (2001) and O'Neill's much earlier chronicle of Tesla's childhood and early career in Prodigal Genius (1944). Carlson provides not only a more detailed explanation of Tesla's science but also a more focused psychological account of Tesla's inventive process than do his predecessors. Carlson also surpasses his predecessors in showing how Tesla promoted his inventions by creating luminous illusions of progress, prosperity, and peace, illusions so strong that they finally unhinge their creator. An exceptional fusion of technical analysis of revolutionary devices and imaginative sympathy for a lacerated ego."--Bryce Christensen, Booklist starred review
"This is a fascinating glimpse into the life of a monumental inventor whose impact on our contemporary world is all too unfamiliar to the general public. Carlson relates the science behind Tesla's inventions with a judicial balance that will engage both the novice and the academic alike. Highly recommended to serious biography buffs and to readers of scientific subjects."--Brian Odom, Library Journal
"Carlson deftly weaves the many threads of Tesla's story."--Nicola Davis, Times
"Splendid."--Jon Turney, Times Higher Education
"Run, don't walk, to buy this book for the Nikola Tesla cultist in your life. . . . [Carlson] is the first trained academic historian of technology to approach this topic, and he snaps the intense, romantic Serb back into his proper context."--Colby Cosh, Maclean's Magazine
"Carlson takes a historian's approach to piecing together Tesla's life. He resists the temptation to focus only on Tesla's persona as an eccentric genius with a flair for drama. . . . Instead, Carlson sets out to answer three questions: 'How did Tesla invent? How did his inventions work? And what happened as he introduced his inventions?'"--Maggie Fazeli Fard, Washington Post
"Required reading for any would-be innovator."--Christine Evans-Pughe, Engineering and Technology
"An impressive piece of scholarship."--Graham Farmelo, Daily Telegraph
"Carlson has written an exhaustive biography of Tesla, remarkable for its breadth and thoroughness. He explores and details all his major inventions, providing illustrations and in some cases even reproductions of the patent applications. This is as fair and balanced a biography of Tesla as one could hope for, no mean feat for a man so full of contradictions."--Gino Segre, Physics in Perspective
"Historian Carlson . . . has at last written a balanced and nuanced scholarly treatment of Tesla in the technical and social contexts of his time. . . . Carlson's easy-to-read style and almost flawless exposition of technical matters will make this book attractive for everyone from general readers to engineers and historians. It is well illustrated and indexed with extensive footnotes. This book is likely to become the standard scholarly biography of Tesla for decades to come."--Choice
"Since the death of Nikola Tesla in 1943, his life has deserved a worthy biography. Bernard Carlson has delivered that in Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age, which portrays Tesla as intensely human. . . . Anyone, whether simply an interested reader or a professional historian, engineer, or physicist, will finish Tesla with a deepened understanding of his world, character, and accomplishments."--Robert Rosenberg, Physics Today
"This major biography sheds new light on Tesla's visionary approach to invention and the business strategies behind his most important technological breakthroughs."--World Book Industry
"The author Bernard Carlson has put a herculean effort in presenting a detailed biographical study of one of the greatest engineer-scientists of human history, Nikola Tesla. . . . The book may be treated as a benchmark by future biographers of inventors and scientists."--Mainak Sengupta, Current Science
"It is a very readable work and presents the whole picture of Tesla both as an electrical wizard and as a human being with all the associated foibles. I particularly liked the way Carlson interspersed the narrative with commentary on the inventive process, the role of illusion, and the social implications of his technologies on bringing about positive changes in society as a whole. If you wish to read a factual book about Tesla, this is the one."--Eric P. Wenaas, IEEE Technology and Society Magazine
"[Readers] will certainly see this volume as an indispensable guide to one of the most fascinating yet controversial and misunderstood innovators of the modern era."--Graeme Gooday, Metascience
"[A] masterly study of the man and his work, explaining how business interests as well as scientific curiosity drove Tesla. Carlson shows how engineers, just as much as artists, benefit from creativity, imagination and idealism."--Roger Backhouse, Journal of the Society of Model & Experimental Engineers
"[T]his is an enjoyable biography of Tesla, concentrating in detail on his engineering achievements and business arrangements, even though it could have been firmer on the unscientific nature of some of Tesla's ideas."--Brian Clegg, Popular Science
"The most objective and balanced Tesla biography to date."--Tibi Puiu, ZME Science
"Tesla is a tour de force of sound scholarship and cogent analysis that brings to life one of the most eccentric and enigmatic characters in the history of technology."--Michael Brian Schiffer, Register of The Kentucky Historical Society
"An eminently readable history that, while avoiding hagiography, reconstructs the intellectual development of one of history's great electrical inventors and the social contexts in which he worked."--Benjamin Gross, Chemical Heritage
"Carlson's book is likely the definitive biography of Tesla. It is a challenging read, but a rewarding one. It also contributes in the wider context to the reinvention of scientific biography as a prism of cultural history."--Guillaume de Syon, Canadian Journal of History
"Carlson's book stands out compared with previous Tesla biographies. . . . The result is an eminently readable history that, while avoiding hagiography, reconstructs the intellectual development of one of history's great electrical inventors and the social contexts in which he worked."--Benjamin Gross, Chemical Heritage
"Dr. Carlson has written an outstanding work, exhibiting a true understanding of the complex person who was Nikola Tesla. The book is alternatively uplifting--as it reveals how Tesla's mind worked, creating prototypes of inventions which have changed the world--and heartbreaking. . . . The book is much more than a biography, as Carlson examines the art of invention as it applied to Tesla. He skillfully weaves into the narrative insights as to why Tesla approached his work in the way he did."--John Bowditch, Technology and Culture
"Only the bravest of historians elects to take on the challenge of writing a scholarly biography of Tesla that examines and critiques such fondly cherished myths. And Bernie Carlson is certainly up to this challenge. . . . [A]n indispensable guide to one of the most fascinating yet controversial and misunderstood innovators of the modern era."--Graeme Gooday, Metascience
"[Carlson's] extensive notes on his sources are invaluable for Tesla researchers, and his book sheds light on many misconceptions perpetuated in some popular Tesla biographies."--Nexus Magazine
"The problem for any biographer is that there are really two distinctly different Nikola Teslas. One is the towering genius shunned by the ignorant establishment, whose greatest works are still suppressed; this is the Tesla adored by the alternative science community and the popular media. . . . The other Tesla is the miserable failed inventor whose great plans and endless boasts came to nothing. . . . Carlson manages the impressive feat of steering a middle course between these two."--David Hambling, Fortean Times
From the Back Cover
"Carlson has written a serious, rigorous book grounded in the academic history of technology, but also a page-turner that any fan of Tesla will enjoy."--Robert MacDougall, Western University
"Nikola Tesla, like one of his oscillators, flickered between different states so quickly that they can easily blur. Carlson captures this extraordinary, contradictory life--inventor, futurist visionary, showman, and, at times, ranting narcissist. We get to see how Tesla scrambled like mad, built with ambition, and in his later efforts failed monumentally. Here is a book that guides us through this wild ride with empathy and without hagiography."--Peter Galison, Harvard University
"Combining archival research with the latest scholarship from the history of technology, Carlson has written the balanced, scholarly biography that Nikola Tesla has long deserved. This is the definitive study of his life and work."--David E. Nye, University of Southern Denmark
"Most biographies of Tesla lack technical background and are uncritical and adulatory in their approach. Carlson's perspective as a historian--particularly a historian of technology--is indispensable for understanding Tesla's place in the rapidly changing American society of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His style is engaging and accessible, and the book will clearly be of value to the historical community."--Bernard S. Finn, curator emeritus, Smithsonian Institution
"Tesla is a tour de force of scholarship and analysis. This is the definitive work on Tesla that brings to light much new information about his life, his inventions, and the changing socioeconomic context in which he worked. Carlson has mined the primary sources to an unprecedented depth and breadth. The book is nothing less than extraordinary."--Michael Brian Schiffer, author of Power Struggles: Scientific Authority and the Creation of Practical Electricity before Edison
Most helpful customer reviews
81 of 84 people found the following review helpful.
The best bio in my opinion.
By Electrojim
I've read a lot of Tesla biographies, but this one takes the prize. I haven't quite finished it yet, but find it as 'unputdownable' as any mystery novel. The politics, mystery and intrigues that surrounded Tesla's life are brought to life here, along with a good understanding of electrical technology in general during the subject period. This is not a 'technical' book, but Tesla's major inventions and experiments are covered in sufficient detail and in an easy-to-understand manner. This book is well footnoted for those who whish to dig deeper into the hundreds of references.
142 of 147 people found the following review helpful.
Electrifying!
By Ionia Froment
Many self-described "Tesla Biographers" have taken a shot at writing a book that would be considered comprehensive and worthy of filling in the gaps of this infamous man's life, but none have done so as well as W. Bernard Carlson.
If you are expecting a light, fluff-filled read about this important inventor, please look elsewhere. This book is intelligent, articulate and technical. If your desire is to make sense of the how and why Tesla ended up where he did by the end of his life, this book will not only elaborate on common knowledge of the subject, but will open your eyes to the unfortunate truth of this genius and his fall from grace, society and his descent into poverty.
What I found fascinating about this book, was that rather than giving in to the previous biographer's desire to make Tesla look like a superhuman celebrity with an external muse that produced his creativity, this book shows the rise to fame through his eyes. His inventions are detailed and his numerous ideas and contributions to science and the field of electrical engineering is presented brilliantly. Rather than going from chapter to chapter saying "and then he did this and then he did that" this work has a very natural progression. Frequently using Tesla's own words to describe his creative process, Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age gives a much more in depth view of his life.
I had always thought of Tesla as having been someone who looked within himself to answer the great questions of life, and this book seems to agree with that notion. As someone who is also rather introspective, I appreciated the idea that Tesla turned to his own mind for answers and created his own circumstances for his early success.
If you are the type of history buff that will get lost in an old black and white photo for minutes at a time, marveling at how things have changed, this author has you covered. There are plenty of photos and diagrams in this book of Tesla, his inventions and his previous places of employment. I was intensely drawn to the photo of Edison's Machine Works and the photo of the inside of the machine shop at Wardenclyffe.
Rather than viewing Nikola Tesla in a celebratory way, this book takes a neutral and impartial stand of the inventor, neither praising nor degrading him for his work nor his decisions. The author has researched and presented material that tells the story of a man from humble beginnings who did many great things, and made some choices that were most regrettable in terms of his own preservation.
After reading this, my opinion is pretty simple. I believe Tesla would be proud of this biography. Perhaps just as proud of this as he would be of the unit of measurement named after him.
While Tesla may not be the household name that Edison has turned out to be, for any serious scholar of the age of invention, he will always be an important contributor to many things that we take for granted as every day convenience today.
I feel this is an important book and one that should be shared with the younger generation. Teachers, parents and anyone who is interested in the history of invention and pioneers of their time would benefit from this book. I thank the author for the hard work and dedication they have shown in writing this.
This review is based on a digital ARC from the publisher.
41 of 43 people found the following review helpful.
The best biography of Tesla yet written
By John L. Bowditch
This is the first truly scholarly biography of one of our most fascinating and controversial inventors. Carlson manages to tell the story clearly and fairly. He also analyses Tesla's inventions and theories very accurately. A must read for anyone interested in this great inventor and his work.
See all 190 customer reviews...
Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age, by W. Bernard Carlson PDF
Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age, by W. Bernard Carlson EPub
Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age, by W. Bernard Carlson Doc
Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age, by W. Bernard Carlson iBooks
Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age, by W. Bernard Carlson rtf
Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age, by W. Bernard Carlson Mobipocket
Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age, by W. Bernard Carlson Kindle
Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age, by W. Bernard Carlson PDF
Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age, by W. Bernard Carlson PDF
Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age, by W. Bernard Carlson PDF
Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age, by W. Bernard Carlson PDF
