Tesla: Man Out of Time by Margaret Cheney Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Tesla: Man Out of Time
Book Review: An engaging page-turner. A little chunk of American history.
Summary: 4 Stars
TESLA MAN OUT OF TIME by Margaret Cheney is a 396 page biography. The book has 16 pages of glossy black & white photos, e.g., showing Tesla's radio controlled boat, or Tesla's steam turbine.
SEMI-FICTIONAL WRITING. Towards the beginning of the book (but not later on), there is some semi-fictional writing, apparently to stimulate interest in the book. For example, we read, "Mark Twain's eyes sparkled in anticipation. Let's have a show, Tesla. You know what I always say. No, what do you say, Mark, the inventor asked with a smile. Suddenly, the whole laboratory was flooded with strange, beautiful light . . . but the light show was merely a warmup for the inventor's guests. Twain, in his usual white suit . . . was delighted. He whooped and waved his arms." (pages 21-24) To repeat, this sort of semi-fiction only occurs near the beginning of the book.
INVENTIONS. The book describes a number of inventions, some of them having a permanent impact on the global economy, e.g., AC current. Some of the inventions such as AC equipment, are provided with patent numbers, enabling the reader to acquire a high-quality account of the invention. These patent numbers include 334,823; 335,786; 335,787, and so on (see page 62). Any reader can obtain copies of these patents for free on line from the European Patent Office at espacenet, or from the United States Patent & Trademark Office (uspto.gov). Other inventions are only described in a haphazard way, e.g., a motor that runs only one wire (page 80), reduced pressure gasses that are highly conductive and that glow (precursor to fluorescent lamps) (page 79), a carbon-button lamp that was a precursor to the electron microscope or cyclotron (pages 81-84), and no patent numbers are given. Another invention, is merely the conduction of high voltages through the skin of a living human being. What is inventive is that the voltage is so high, that it does not pass through internal organs (pages 23-24, 101). Other inventions described in this book are merely phony inventions, such as a ring 100 feet off the ground, and encircling the earth, allowing travelers to hop aboard and travel at 1000 miles per hour (p. 39), or use of electricity to cure arthritis (p. 102).
EARLY LIFE. We learn of Tesla's childhood in Smiljan, Croatia, where he wrote poems and fixed a collapsed fire hose, and that Tesla's older brother was killed by a horse. We learn of Tesla's phobias, e.g., to earrings, the need to count steps while walking, the need to calculate the volume of soup bowls, and aversion to touching other people's hair (page 29-30).
CAREER BEGINNINGS. In 1881, Tesla got a job in a telegraph office in Hungary, and he put some effort into improving the Gramme direct current generator. A turning point came when he "hit upon the principle of the rotating magnetic field produced by 2 alternating currents out of step with each other, thus eliminating the need for a commutator or brushes (p. 40-44). We learn that Garland and Gibb had earlier invented AC current, but it was not practical until Tesla made these improvements. We learn of Tesla's first collaborator, Charles Batchelor, who installed Edison's first commercial lights on the S.S.Columbia (p. 47-48). Later, Tesla moved to the USA, and was hired by Edison to repair lights on the S.S.Oregon.
TESLA THE ENTREPENEUR. We learn that J.P.Morgan was the wealthy backer of Edison Electric, which strung DC wires throughout Manhattan. Tesla left Edison to form his own company in Rahway, New Jersey, and later at 33 South Fifth Street in Manhattan. Tesla's backers included none other than George Westinghouse. Tesla invented the 60 cycle AC motor, which is still the universal standard throughout the world. We learned of a massive controversy between Edison (advocate of DC current) and Tesla (advocate of AC current), and that Edison staged public executions of dogs with AC current, in order to blot out Tesla (pages 67-69).
At any rate, we now watch Edison's motion pictures run on Tesla's AC current, today's advocates of vinyl recordings listen to Edison's records run on Tesla's AC current, and we run Edison's incandescent lights on Tesla's AC current. Regarding radio, we learn that in 1893, Tesla made the first public demonstration of radio, though Marconi is usually given credit for doing this in 1895 (page 96). We learn that next to Tesla, Oliver Lodge was the 2nd most important radio pioneer, and we learn that Tesla's radio patents prevailed in the U.S. Supreme Court. We also learn how George Westinghouse wrangled Tesla's patent royalties from him, though more details would have been welcome on this point (page 74).
CRITIQUE. Sometimes, I wish that the book had been written by an engineer. Few of the inventions are described with any degree of specificity, or in a way that distinguishes them from the inventions of others. It would have been useful if the book had provided a list of all of Tesla's patents, not just some of them. The author neglects to give a citation for the Sept. 1900 case heard by Judge Townsend of the U.S. Circuit Court of Connecticut. The author seems to have relied heavily on another book, PRODIGAL GENIUS by J.J. O'Neill (1944), instead of doing fact-finding from primary sources, e.g., newspapers. At any rate, the book is an engaging page-turner. Any reader interested in a skilled description of Tesla's inventions may download Tesla's patents for free. The U.S. patents available from espacenet have better quality images than the U.S. patents available from uspto. The opinions from the various lawsuits can be found in any law library, on LEXIS NEXIS. Law librarians will be more than glad to help the interested reader look up these things!!! If you want to learn other things about Mr.Tesla, I recommend EMPIRES OF LIGHT by Jill Jonnes. EMPIRES OF LIGHT has a more consistent theme (AC generators; AC motors) than Ms.Cheney's book, and seems to dig deeper into details on this particular theme, for example, the partnership between Mr.Tesla and Mr.Westinghouse.
As of May 21, 2010, TESLA MOTORS agreed to open up an automobile production plant in Fremont, California. Hopefully, the re-establishment of Mr.Tesla's name in the public's eye will stimulate more interested readers to buy Margaret Cheney's fine book, and also Jill Jonnes' fine book.
Book Review: An insightful and well written book...
Summary: 4 Stars
I have been intrigued by Tesla for many years as little is known or told of him, or so it seemed. On the odd occasions his name did crop up, it seemed to either be for something important (the name of unit of measure, A.c. generators) or outlandish (transmitting electric power without wires).
Tesla is a fascinating and colorful but often overlooked historical figure, by comparison to his contempory Edison at least. Yet his earliest inventions are still the basis of all major electrical power systems around the world, while some others are still used in laboratories. Some of his later work seems fanciful and extravagent now -- he was clearly not afraid to think big, very big in some instances. Some of his ideas seem fanciful or futuristic even now. Tesla was facinated by very high voltage electricity and enjoyed an understanding of it that few if any could equal at that time. This book does a fine job of summarizing the history, character and work of "the great man" and reveals many -- but not all -- of the mysteries surrounding him. His relationships with some of the major figures and financial giants of the day are touched on. It also covers, quite fully but sensitively the rather sad decent of Tesla into a hotel dwelling, lonely, eccentric "pigeon man" (the male equivalent of a "cat woman"?) towards the end of his life.
This book has pretty much satisified my curiosity about Tesla -- well at least as much as is likely to come out in my lifetime!
Book Review: An intricate biography of Tesla (physics Mr. Jones)
Summary: 5 Stars
Until a few months ago, I knew very little about Tesla's fascinating life and accomplishments. I saw a documentary on the man, and descided to learn more about him. When we were assigned our physics paper, I thought that the most interesting person to write about in the field of physics was Tesla. I ended up choosing this book because as I flipped through some of the pages, I realized that I would be able to understand the complicated aspects of Tesla's theories since they were so well explained. I read this book with ease and enjoyment, and it gave me good insight on Tesla's life. One thing I learned from this book was how vicious the fight was between physicists to dominate the field of electricity. Who would have guessed that Thomas Edison was such a stubborn and hated rival of Tesla? I thought that these great minds would have tried to collaborate with each other in order to craft technological advances. I was also suprised when I learned how hard it was for Tesla to get work and shelter even though he had a great mind.
I definitevely recomend this book to anyone who isn't too familiar with the scientific aspects of modern electrical engineering and wants a simple but accurate explanation of Tesla's works, and anyone who wants to learn how Tesla's rose from a small town in Croatia to one of the leading physicists in the world.
Book Review: Bio of the forgotten greatest inventor
Summary: 5 Stars
This book should be read by teachers so they spread the word about the wonderful person of Tesla, the forgotten electrical engineer who invented wireless, ac motors, ac generators, and many more things that changed the way we live and attributed sometimes (erroneously) to Thomas A. Edison.
Sadly, he was not a good $ administrator, and end his live in misery.
Book Review: Compelling Insights.
Summary: 4 Stars
Having been involved in the utility and finance industry for a few years I noted how much we take for granted the understandings of science in terms of AC electricity and tele-communications. Introductory economics pushes electricity and the invention of the motor car and later the computer, as being "infrastructural enablers" of economic growth and development. So our modern society owes a lot to those early pioneers.
The fact that one man (Tesla) was in the middle of this early utility pioneering around the 1890's to 1920's at a time when the early seeds were sown for mega-corporates (including the Fed Reserve Act 1913), yet today its still vague as to what he really stood for, is amazing. This is testamount to how private Tesla was. In this context I believe Cheney did an admirable and focussed effort. The book is a must read for those, like me, who had no idea what Tesla's life outside of his inventions was like.
Tesla's experience shows how important it is to have people on the side of great inventors and thinkers to help commercialise and ground their ideas. The book shows how backfires can easily happen for the eccentric inventors who need loads of personal space and then as a result end up without an implementation team.
I prefer the term "futant" for Tesla - a futurist who's consciousness far exceeded the level of the times. It would be interesting, as Cheney points out, just what Tesla could have done in our modern age with computers etc. Perhaps Tesla Tower's would be providing free and wireless energy from the ionosphere and across the world, shifting us from a Type 0 to Type 1 civilisation as Michio Kaku in Visions describes.
One can only dream...
Regards,
Daniel John Hancock