Customer Reviews

The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla (Lost Science (Adventures Unlimited Press))

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I recommend this book for people who want to get an overview of the man and get straight to the more technical stuff. Just ignore chapter 9.

The book contains a short biographical sketch (1 chapter), many pictures of the patents, two of Tesla's own presentations/papers, and more supporting information. For most of the patents, only the diagrams are reproduced not the legends. This will not be a problem to most anyone with any knowledge of electricity. They can figure out what the various parts are.

The works of Tesla reproduced in the book are a delight to read.

Unfortunately, I guess to make the book more "fantastic", in the last chapter (chapter 9) the author departs from being good information and becomes speculation. It reproduces tired UFO photos from the 50' and 60's trying to connect them to Tesla.

I found this book to be quite informative and satisfying. The only thing I hate about it, was Ch. 9. It was total nonsense, however, let it not ruin the whole book. It may not go into great detail about all of Tesla's inventions (which was a dissapointment), but for those whom are interested in Tesla coils, mainly how Tesla finally came to such a beautiful invention, I highly recommend this book. The book mainly is about Tesla's experiments with alternate currents of high potential and frequency, which is how the Tesla coil was born.(However, this book does not mention the Tesla coil or teaches you how to make one). It is heavily illustrated with diagrams of Tesla's inventions, which I found pleasing (however, the diagrams arent explained, so do not expect to be able to duplicate any inventions after reading this book ). Overall, this book should not necesscarily teach you all about Tesla's invention (most of them are either briefly mentioned or illustrated), but it would greatly inform you about what Tesla was famous for, and especially act as an excellent introduction to the marvelous work's of Nikola Tesla.

This book provides much information of Telsa's patents. AC motor and other apparatus are covered, the bulk of the book pertains to Tesla's "Experiments with Alternate Currents of High Frequency and High Potential" Wireless power and "Death Ray" are critiqued. The other stuff in the book (Atlantis, Mars, saucers, etc.) seems to be almost purely speculative and should be taken with a generous grain of salt. In the end there is a copy of the supreme court documents associated with the demolition of Wardencyffe Tower.

Adam Parker

Please do not waste your time with this book.

Yes, it does have many of the "Fantastic Inventions" of Nikola Tesla in it, but there are only pictures of the patent drawings with no explanations offered.

Some facts are present. Some outright fables are present also.

In summary, Mr. Childress cobbled together this book and seeks only to divest you of your money. You won't learn anything of substance.

Instead, purchase and treasure, "Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla" by Marc Seifer. See my review for this book.

There is little to respect about this book. If you are looking for factual, organized and informed writing, look elsewhere. I found the conjecture regarding Tesla being an Atlantean engineer, incarnate; and the co-founder (with Marconi) of a city of the future in South America -- well I'm sorry, but who needs this. On the other hand, the photos of UFOs were as good as any I have seen. On the plus side, the copied material (Tesla letters, patents and court transcripts) was interesting.

Nikola Tesla is a man misplaced by time. He belongs in the future. He wanted to bring free power to the World using superior technology, opposed to the current system we use, that HE designed. J. P. Morgan, Tesla's financer, pulled the plug on the project due to money considerations.

The book presents several of Tesla's patents, and details a few of his major projects.

This book is good for you if you wan't to learn more about Nikol Tesla, but if you are researching his inventions or attempting to build them, it won't help you. For the most part it is a good book it just depends on what you are looking for.

This book by Nikola Tesla is a good recount of all of his inventions and an overview of them, however the detail is somewhat lacking. It has almost all of his inventions and ideas in it, but there is very little explanation and detail describing them. This can be good when trying to get a good overview of what Tesla accomplished, however if you are trying to get detailed and informative information about these I recommend going and getting a better source after this book because it is nothing more than a good introduction to the nature of his inventions and patents. If you have any background in the field of electricity than these sketches and brief overviews will be no problem to you and you will understand them, but if you have no background than understanding the nature of these will be quite difficult. Nonetheless, this book was still really fun to read and study, the relaxed nature of it allows it to be a fun book to read and learn from without reminding you that it is still a book. Overall, I would say this is a good book to have, especially for the price, the overview it provides is incomparable and it serves as a great introduction to Tesla's life.

This was the second TESLA BOOK I got for my grandson. He and I were surprised to receive it well ahead of stated delivery time and we are very pleased with its quality and my grandson is enjoying his book.I have not been a purchaser until these deliveries but I am already looking at other purchases such was the great service and the clarity of the buying instructions. Cheers, Graeme Stanley New Zealand.

After reading the excellent Tesla: Man Out of Time, this book makes a great companion to that bio. It is partly a collection of reprints of Tesla papers and patents. The second half by Childress looks into Tesla's more controversal inventions (weapons). Did Tesla's tower cause the explosion in Siberia? Were the potential dangers of his weapon designs why the government raided his home after he died? Sure, Childress may be taking things too far when he starts talking about Mars, but out of all the Tesla books he has published, this is the one Tesla fans should explore. Childress has made a career over at his book mill cobbling together books like this, but in the process he has helped spread awareness of Tesla's place in history and the value of his experiments. Perhaps in this new era of looking for new energy sources, Tesla will finally establish is legacy.