DK Biography: Thomas Edison [Paperback]

Jan Adkins (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up | Series: DK Biography

Filled with archival photographs and amazing facts, this groundbreaking series introduces young readers to some of history's most interesting and influential characters. The series now features a refreshed design, taking the series' original look in a more modern direction.
Thomas Edison tells the story of the famous inventor, from his childhood as an "addled" student, to his reign as the "Wizard of Menlo Park," where he developed the electric light bulb, the phonograph, and many other inventions still in use today.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jan Adkins, called "the consummate teacher" by David Macaulay, is the author and illustrator of more than three dozen books covering history, technology, and many other topics. He has also art-directed magazines, written TV scripts, and taught design at the college level. He lives on a horse ranch in Novato, California.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: DK CHILDREN (August 3, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0756652073
• ISBN-13: 978-0756652074
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #79,583 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #42 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > People & Places > Biographies > Science & Technology
  • #59 in Books > Children's Books > Biographies > Science & Technology

More About the Author

Jan Adkins was raised in West Virginia and Ohio, around Wheeling. He spent a lot of time wandering the woods around his home with a .22. He was at Ohio State University for many years studying architecture, first, then literature. He worked as a draftsman for one of Eero Saarinen's senior designers, W. Byron Ireland. Married, he moved to his wife's wonderful hometown of Wareham, Massachusetts, which is still home for him. Many of his books are set in New England waters where he sailed up and down the coast with his family.

He has three children: Sally lives with her husband Patrick in Gainesville, Florida, with grandsons Max and Luc; Sam is a chef in DC with his lovely partner Aphra; Web and his Cyn live in Seattle with grandchildren Alder and River.

He moved to Washington, DC, to be an art director for National Geographic Magazine for almost nine years, living in DC and then in Annapolis. He's written for Smithsonian Magazine, Cricket and Muse Magazines, Harper's, Chesapeake Bay Magazine, WoodenBoat, Maine Boats Homes & Harbors and others. He also works on museum exhibits with Eisterhold Associates out of Kansas City.

For several years he taught editorial illustration, history of illustration, and graphic design at Rhode Island School of Design and at Maryland Institute, College of Art. He misses teaching.

He writes books of non-fiction for young people, his special audience. He also writes humor and feature articles for several magazines. He has illustrated for all his books and for dozens of mainstream magazines, especially on marine and technical subjects.

He lives presently in Novato, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he hikes, cooks, sails, skis, plays tennis, and writes every day.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "A Truly Ingenious Man", December 13, 2009

By 

Russell A. Rohde MD "Owl" (West Covina, California USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: DK Biography: Thomas Edison (Paperback)

"Biography Thomas Edison ", Jan Adkins. DK Publishing, New York, NY, 2009. ISBN 978-0-7566-5207-4, PC 128/123. pgs., Index 2 pgs. 7 3/4" x 5".

A biography, lavishly illustrated with tinted photographs, splendidly written in a style for even the youngest readers. This short treatise does a remarkable job of tying in the vastness of Thomas Edison's gift to society: it fills in many areas of endeavor often overlooked, to wit: his designed and built gigantic ore-crushing machines, conveyor belts, huge cement manufacturing plants, concrete cast houses, electric power plants with underground cable placement for safety, improved batteries, and not forgetting the typewriter though now nearly replaced by computer keyboards but functionally unchanged, and so importantly, his concept of specialized research laboratories - a forerunner of JPL, NASA, Bell Labs, NRL, and Los Alamos that were patterned after his Menlo Park work center.

We also become privy to this scientist's personality, his hearing loss, his marriages, children, his hired technicians ("the Boys"), and his association with Henry Ford, Nikola Tesla, George Westinghouse, and studies of x-ray fluoroscope usefulness and dangers, etc.

His inventiveness in such diverse areas is unequaled - and we have much to learn from him, and to be indebted to him, for his wisdom, curiosity and perseverance.

Finis

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wide range of great info, September 23, 2011

By 

A. Nielson (Baltimore, MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: DK Biography: Thomas Edison (Paperback)

Thomas Edison's life spanned some of the most interesting developments in the modern age and his ideas and applications fueled and expanded those developments.

This DK biography packs a wide range of valuable information about Thomas Edison, his work, and his times in a small package. They give enough detail on his inventions and improvements on other equipment that this book could be used as a science resource, as well.

Children are surrounded by so much technology that they take it for granted. My kids found it fascinating to gain some perspective on the hard work in the invention process which led to all the gadgets we have today.