Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3650479 in Books
• Published on: 1964
• Binding: Hardcover

Customer Reviews

A great junior biography of Tesla
This book was published in 1959, an age when the US government was focusing its Cold War efforts at keeping the US competitive in the fields of math and science. After Tesla's death in 1943, his work had a renaissance of sorts in the 1950s and 1960s, hence this book. This book gives younger readers a more vivid and colorful picture of Tesla's life, especially his childhood. There are many aspects of this book that will appeal to a younger reader, such as the description of Tesla's first invention, a highly unusual egg-beater for his mother!

Beckhard's narrative also is very good about taking children through the problem-solving process, and helps children understand what might have been going through the great inventor's mind. Importantly, Beckhard takes pains to illustrate the fact that failure is a necessary part of the creative and scientific process, and how Tesla learned from his mistakes. It also explains some of the controversy surrounding the field of electrical engineering at the time, such as the debate between alternating and direct current. This book is good for young aspiring electrical engineers and everyone interested in Tesla's work and life.