Tesla: Man Out of Time

Nikola Tesla is perhaps more popular and taken more seriously now than when the great man was alive. "Tesla: Man Out Of Time" is a comprehensive biography that gives the reader a truthful picture of the man without delving much into his "mad scientist" imagery, and while Cheney does mention his bizarre personal behavior, like taking meals only when the servings were multiples of the number 3, an obsession with pigeons, and a few other oddities, her focus is a respectful one. We may recall Tesla as far as today's popular culture as the inventor of the Tesla coils, which could muster amazing amounts of electricity for the time, in the very late 1890's, and of course the much rumored but as of yet unproven or discovered "death ray" that was a possible ultimate deterrentfor all war, with incredibly refined particles capable of instantly disintegrating any target within 200 miles of the device. But his accomplishments were just as phenomenal, such as proving ultimately AC current was far safer and far superior to Edison's DC current, during which the "war of the currents" were taken to absurd levels by Edison and his henchmen, who kidnapped family pets and made public displays of the poor creatures standing on a metal plate and electrocuted with as much as 1000 volts of AC current to try to scare people away from Tesla's model for what would become the modern electrical grid we know today. I came away from this book already knowing Edison was a dirtbag, who gleefully stole ideas from his employees, lied through his teeth on anything that caught his attention, and did all he could to destroy Tesla, with money his only real goal. Tesla gave the world the first wireless (radio) system, beating Marconi by a couple of years, although Marconi would be given credit for radio, and would only be exposed for the imitator of Tesla's very system after the Second World War by the U.S. Supreme Court. Sadly, this vindication was two years after Tesla had died. We discover he was making the first inroads to radar, refrigeration, even haphazardly discovering what would be known as X rays before that supposed inventor Roetgen got the credit. It was astonishing how far advanced this man was, in fact so futuristic he laid the groundwork for transistors and many other important inventions. It would seem the man was indeed ahead of his own human pace, his mind working furiously at a pace Tesla had difficulty keeping up with. He failed to document many of his experiments and their results as he raced from one project to another. While necessarily including details about his patents and working details of his invention that may be a bit tedious especially if you are not a professional in the world of electrical mechanics and other highly refined areas Tesla worked in, it is nonetheless a fine tribute to a man whom, in a society that was bursting with inventors and cutthroat competition for the financial backup of the rich and certain related industries, was seemingly trapped in a Victorian day and age while his mind was becoming one with the cosmos, although Einstein would claim correctly the nature of gravity, speed of light and other mind blowing topics through his special theory of relativity, which incidentally Tesla disagreed with, being one of the relatively few times he would be way off the mark. This is an important well researched and written book, timely and fascinating. Now, the Discovery Channel is supposedly going to air a mini-series on Tesla and his legendary if not verified "death ray", and conspiracy theories that suggest he was murdered and his papers and designs that were of military global importance stolen. The man who basically gave us the blueprint for sonar among so much more died at 86 in 1943, so it would seem that murdering the very ill lonely man would be totally unnecessary. In the meantime, his real work is plenty to get your neurons firing.

I, like many others, have heard the name of Tesla and knew that he was far-sighted and a great inventor. Many rock fans will remember the group "Tesla" and their album "The Great Radio Controversy". I only mention this because I feel it opened the door for a great many young people to have an interest in Tesla.This book was engrossing from start to finish. The number of patents, the ideas he presented so far ahead of his time and the inventions he brought forth literally changed the world. He does not get credit for most of what he did. He was just recently added to the Smithsonian Museum for his invention of the radio which many still believe was invented by Marconi. And children are still taught in school that "Thomas Edison invented electricity" but in fact the type of of electrity we use today was put forth by Tesla.His awesome intelligence invented so many components of micro technology that inventors for years after did not comprehend. For instance, this book brings for the facts that "Inventors of modern computer technology in the last half of the twentieth century repeatedly have been surprised, when seeking patents, to encounter Tesla's basic ones, already on file."To list Nikola Tesla's ideas, discoveries and inventions would take an entire book in itself but some included the Atom Smasher, X-Rays, Radio, electro-magnetic power, AC electricity, Solar Heating, Vacuum Tubes, Remote Control Vehicles, Torpedoes, Force Fields, Microwave Transmissions, Diathormy, High Voltage Conducters, Wireless Communications, World Wide Broadcasting Systems, Flying Saucers, Transisters, The Atomic Clock, Cosmic Rays, Phosphorescent Lighting, The Heating Pat, Robots, Liquid Oxygen, Under Ground Power LInes, Cryogenics, Radar, Guided Missiles, Automobile Speedometer, Highway Systems, Parking Garages, Interplanetary Communications, Laser Beams, Death Rays, Modern Warfare, Geothermal Steam Plants, and the list can go on and on. He once produced an earth quake in New York City and blew out electric plants in Colorado with his experiments. He was so far ahead of his time that the US Air Force is still researching his ideas and the US Government, in posession of his papers, denies that they have any of his notes. What they did acknowledge they had is still classified.Nikola Tesla was a dapper man who spoke eight languages fluently and onced signed away riches for the benefit of a friend (George Westinghouse) who had supported him in the past. He was a naturalized U.S. citizen and this he considered his greatest accomplishement. His experiments through most of his life were constanty in need of funds and he approached the US Government several times. One can only wonder what might have come of his knowledge if the government had agreed to fund him. Thankfully his devotion was to the United States because both Russia and Germany approached him and he turned them down. As it turns out the US Government expressed much more interest in his experiments after his death than when he was alive. Apparently taking his notes and classifying them and also moving forward in his ideas.This book presents a great overview with a little insight into his experiments. It covers the man, the experiments, his friends and his times. It's a great introduction to Nikola Tesla and I highly recommend it to anyone who is searching for the truth about historic inventions. Big companies and powerful men continued to keep Tesla's inventions either ignored, ridiculed (until later knowledge proved them right) or stolen so he could not profit to the full extent that he should have. A study in the down side of capitalism.Buy this book, open your ideas, enjoy history and think about what you have been taught. Fascinating!

Such an interesting but unheralded human being. Very innovated mind.

An interesting book about an inventor and scientist who was ahead of his time.He didn't need to copy or steal ideas as he had so many of his own.A great read.

Natychmiastowa wysyłka, książka zgodna z opisem ale zapakowana w duży karton bez zabezpieczenia w środku w efekcie czego są drobne uszkodzenia. Szkoda, bo byłoby pięć gwiazdek.

decevant car en anglais et tres peu de photos !

Excellent book.........engaging........