Edison: A Biography [Paperback]

Matthew Josephson (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471548065 | ISBN-13: 978-0471548065 | Publication Date: February 11, 1992 | Edition: 1

Regarded as the classic standard biography on Thomas Edison. It is the only biography written in the last 40 years to be recommended by the official voice of the caretakers of the Edison Laboratory National Monument in New Jersey which houses all of Edison's original records, sketches, notes, correspondence and memoranda. Depicts Edison as a pivotal figure in America's economic and industrial revolution success and at the same time as a human being, including his exploitative and, at times, crude qualities.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Regarded as the classic standard biography on Thomas Edison. It is the only biography written in the last 40 years to be recommended by the official voice of the caretakers of the Edison Laboratory National Monument in New Jersey which houses all of Edison's original records, sketches, notes, correspondence and memoranda. Depicts Edison as a pivotal figure in America's economic and industrial revolution success and at the same time as a human being, including his exploitative and, at times, crude qualities.

Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (February 11, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471548065
• ISBN-13: 978-0471548065
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #998,282 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Edison, April 8, 2005

By 

Bomojaz (South Central PA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Edison: A Biography (Paperback)

Written 45 years ago, this biography is still the best we have on the great inventor. Josephson focuses as much on Edison's work as he does on the man, and the book can be somewhat technical at times. It is natural to compare it to Neil Baldwin's EDISON: INVENTING THE CENTURY, written in 1995, and Josephson's Edison is much more solid than Baldwin's. Baldwin sacrifices the inventions while dealing mainly with the man; Josephson is much more rounded and deals with all aspects of Edison's life. Highly recommended.

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars In depth and very readable, June 5, 2000

By 

Jonathan Leblang (Menlo Park, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Edison: A Biography (Paperback)

I had been looking for something to get me past the grade school biographies that I remember reading about Edison -- this is the best biography of the inventor that I have read. Not only does it dispell many of the myths surrounding Edison (he didn't come up with the idea for the incandesent lamp; he was not made deaf by a conductor chastising him for a fire with his chemistry set), but it highlights his major work not in individual inventions, but in combining his inventions into systems ... that were both practical and profitable.

The book is very readable, and goes into just enough depth about his personal life (of which he had very little) and his public and professional lives. The only negative is that because it was written in the early 1950's, it is missing a perspective that could be added by 50 more years of luxuriating in the lifestyle which Edison has made possible.

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Still Readable, February 6, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Edison: A Biography (Paperback)

"It's still burning" was the phrase repeated as the light bulb stayed lit longer and longer. The same phrase was used by Edison's son to keep the death-vigil crowds informed as the great man lay dying, as relayed by this author. Unlike the Edison method of great volumes of empirical data patiently sifted down in huge experiments, the author deftly moves in and out of topics in a refreshingly constrained manner, which he really has to do to keep his book medium-length and still cover a lot.

The middle to the end of the book explores some very important themes, where there are irreconcilable problems with some of Edison's later inventions and the marketability of the resulting products. Like the ore-smashing enterprise in New Jersey, which worked, but not at a market profit. Same thing with the goldenrod-into-rubber operation in Florida.

These then become background for some surprisingly sensitive observations on Edison, made by his friends John Burroughs and Henry Ford. Ford is too sentimental to shut down the funding of the hopeless goldenrod operation; and Burroughs gently points out how Edison in his later years at least, contradicted his personal core-beliefs about sleeping and eating food (He sleeps till 10 am, "bolts half a pie," dumps tons of sugar in his coffee, then lectures on how Americans should eat less and sleep less).

The disconnect which also developed between Edison and his children is developed against the backdrop of Edison's inability to relate to the scale and demands of the electric power industry which he helped create. At his core, as the author shows, Edison's ability to do things was not necessarily transferable to others, including his children. The first batch of kids went kind of bad, and the group from marriage #2 turned out better because wife #2 was more strict and traditional than Edison.

Harvard Business Review recently had an article on great leaders, and pointed out that for every narcissistic leader, you need about 100 obsessive-compulsives scurrying around to make things really work. Each type needs the other to get anything done. This seems to have been the case with Edison, who in addition to being headstrong and creative, had the essential gifts described by Henry Ford as necessary to get anything done: also have "the soul of an Irish construction foreman and a Jewish broker." Or something like that.