Product Description

With more than 100 patents, electrical engineer Nikola Tesla rivaled Thomas Edison as one of our greatest scientists. This biography, notable for its anecdotal detail and extensive dialogue from original documents, reflects the author's thorough research. Often overlooked as a subject of study in primary schools, Tesla was a leader in electrical innovation whose inventions include the induction motor, alternating-current power transmission, and the radio.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #740080 in Books
• Published on: 1999-07-22
• Released on: 1999-07-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 440 pages

About the Author
Daniel Blair Steward is a novelist and artist who resides in Northern California with his son, River. He is the author of Akhunaton: The Extraterrestrial King, an epic tail of alien contact in ancient Egypt, and Pinnacle (Mendocino Publishing), the saga of a band of UFO abductees lost in a labyrinth of deadly conspiracies. Visit him at www.danielblairstewart.com.

Customer Reviews

Good For Young Readers
I purchased this book wanting a good biographical account of Nikola Tesla. Though it is that, what I didn't realize was that it is really aimed at young readers (ages 9-12). Nothing on the cover or the introduction mentions that fact. The odd book size(wide format), the larger font size and the limited vocabulary give it away as a juvenile selection. I would recommend it highly for that age group. However it was not the adult biography I looking for. I think I will give my copy to my son. I believe he will enjoy it.

Pleasantly informative.
It seems some people blindly grab books off shelves, expecting to discover epic literature by such methods. It may indicate something about someone who buys books before examining the first page. Stewart's objective here seems to be of biographical and circumstantial nature, and not too technical. But for those of the technical class, it'd seem that they might by default, look at the book a bit, before purchasing it. If I set out to buy a dictionary, but got instead some old discourse by Chomsky, I would be disappointed, though I certainly would not criticize Sir Noam for my mistake. For Stewart's intended purpose, this book is a success. I suppose if this is a children's book, then a whole lot of top-notch science fiction and other creative writings should have many o' men embarrassed. This book captures many of the fascinating aspects of Tesla's life, as well as the generally historically-neglected crimes of Edison. I may be a bit cynical, but I have my doubts that certain critics of this work would have been satisfied had they purchased technical writings of Tesla-Himself, and would have complained about the lack of style and tedious documentation. Yes, this work is in novel format, but it is the last thing the common child will understand on any significant level. As for many great fantasy works, we read them as children, then many years later read them again, only to discover new things we had never considered. Perhaps an appeal to the young and vibrant imagination is more a benefit than a deficiency. I highly recommend it to any open minded person who does not insist on wandering through infinite realms of technical data and references, and is not afraid of being entertained whilst learning.
A great book! It will always have a place on my shelf.

A novelized history
Though what you may learn of the subject matter is facinating, the novelization approach and contrived dialogue sometimes borders on annoying.

As well, the amount of background information (on Edison, J.P. Morgan, etc.) provided sometimes is more distracting than helpful.