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Tesla, May 2013
Hardcover / e-Book
Inventor of the Electrical Age
Princeton University Press
May 2013
On Sale: May 7, 2013
500 pages ISBN: 0691057761 EAN: 9780691057767 Kindle: B00CHRQ1C0 Hardcover / e-Book
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Non-Fiction Biography
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.
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