Scientist, the Madman, the Thief and Their Lightbulb [Paperback]

Keith Tutt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 6, 2003

THE SCIENTIST, THE MADMAN, THE THIEF AND THEIR LIGHTBULB reveals the revolutionary work of inventors and scientists who have struggled to develop clean and 'fuelless' new ways to produce the electricity we need for the 21st century and beyond. If the technologies could be developed commercially, they would offer almost costless energy, which would mean the end of the oil economy and freely available electricity throughout the developed and underdeveloped world. THE SCIENTIST, THE MADMAN, THE THIEF AND THEIR LIGHTBULB contains the elements of a dramatic conspiracy thriller in which greed, mendacity, murder, suicide, suppression, betrayal, jealousy, madness and misunderstood genius all play their full parts. It also investigates the complex psychology of invention and reserves a chapter for those inventors who are either self-deluded mavericks or charlatans who aim to trick gullible investors out of their savings. Most importantly, there are technologies here that offer to solve the planet's most serious problem: global warming and climate change caused by fossil fuel power plants and car emissions. Is the technological solution to global warming contained within these pages?

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Keith Tutt studied psychology and philosophy at Bristol University before becoming a full-time writer in 1981. He has produced a number of science and environmental TV programmes for the BBC. In 1993 he was the winner of the prestigious BT Science Journalism of the Year Award, for his documentary, KILLING US SOFTLY?, about the Sizewell 'B' nuclear power station.

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (January 6, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743449762
• ISBN-13: 978-0743449762
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,362,118 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Balanced Yet Encouraging Overview of The Quest For Free Energy, May 4, 2006

By 

Peter A. Farrell (San Mateo, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Scientist, the Madman, the Thief and Their Lightbulb (Paperback)

This intriguing book is a useful and balanced introduction to the field of Free Energy, with detailed discussions of several potentially successful inventions, from a 1901 patent awarded to Nikola Tesla through T. Henry Moray's work in the 1920s and '30s to Jim Griggs' Hydrosonic Pump in the 1980s and '90s. The author examines the politics behind the public debacle of Cold Fusion (it may still work), and the scientific principles behind what may seem to the layman like some mythical perpetual motion machine. Along the way he debunks a host of false claims. The first chapter is an excellent starting point for anybody who wishes to learn about Tesla, the genius who brought electricity into your home.

Tutt is fair-handed and has obviously done his homework, having personally investigated Paul Baumann's Thesta-Distatica in a religious community in Switzerland. He repeatedly addresses the questions about the veracity of his subject just before they arise in the mind of the reader. For example, many of the inventors who tried for decades to get confirmation or funding for their devices never saw penny one for their efforts, in contrast to the usually successful short-lived "take the money and run" practices of transparent shysters (who are covered in Chapter 11).

Tutt quotes extensively from statements sworn by scientists and bureaucrats who have tested the inventions in question, and reports the failures, too. In Chapter 12 he discusses the urgent need for new energy sources and also admits the difficulties in accepting and implementing new technology.

Conspiracy theories are addressed, too, and the fact is that many of the inventors featured have been mysteriously harrassed, threatened or worse. Possibly a greater threat to the viability of these devices is the difficulty of getting funding to develop a technology which is difficult to understand and not supposed to work. We've been able to electrify the world, but promising yet underexamined anomalies in electromagnetic theory have been around since Faraday's homopolar generator in 1832 (Chapter 4). Once another Maxwell comes around to explain those anomalies in equation form, it may all make sense.

The point of the book is to encourage interest in the idea of "Free" Energy without becoming a mystical or mathematical muddle, and it succeeds in an enjoyable way. It's like a mystery novel, but about actual work being done which just might change the world.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars History of the search for free-energy:, October 30, 2005

By 

Venice J. Rembold "a watcher" (TX United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Scientist, The Madman, The Thief and Their Lightbulb: The Search for Free Energy (Paperback)

FROM THE PUBLISHER
"Imagine a world freed from the damaging demands of the oil economy; a world powered by 'fuel-less' energy; a world where all countries - rich and poor - have freely available electricity. Too good to be true? Or simply too good to be allowed? For over a hundred years, a maverick group of inventors and scientists have struggled to develop technologies which may end our addiction to fossil fuels. Their extraordinary and controversial discoveries now offer the potential to defuse the global climate crisis and yet they face opposition - both from the oil-dominated energy market and from the scientific establishment." Drawing on extensive and revealing research, this is the story of the mavericks, geniuses and madmen who have set out on a path paved with good intentions, and yet who have often arrived soaked with the bad blood of betrayal and conspiracy. Filled with colourful characters - mad, sane and brilliant - The Scientist, the Madman, the Thief and their Lightbulb has all the elements of a dramatic conspiracy thriller in which greed, suicide, murder, jealousy and misunderstood genius all play their full parts.

5.0 out of 5 stars GOOD INTERVIEWS, September 7, 2011

By 

Dave (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Scientist, The Madman, The Thief and Their Lightbulb: The Search for Free Energy (Paperback)

One item in particular needs attention. Page 217 reports the Ball Lightning created by Kiril Chukanov (patent 5537009). Within the center of the Ball Lightning is a Quantum Plasma Macro Object. His plasma ball is luminous, layered, cooler, and produced near atmospheric pressure with RF and DC energy. This is similar to a gaseous Complex Space Charge Configuration (CSCC) whereas the layers are assembled and detached and creates energy per "Zero Point Field and Intertia" by Haisch on the outer surface. Within each layer, the ions assemble together and become massive compared to free ions and lowers the vibrations to become cooler. Then the random hot electrons between each layer assemble together to form Cooper Pairs traveling spherically around circles. In an instant, the heats released, conductivity increases, and it enters a new state. In this system, all radiated energy is quantized and only optical and x-ray energy is allowed to be radiated, while the rest is absorbed within. The electrons pair together so tight that if you stopped one, they all would stop and the persistant current effect would ensue. It would get so cold that Wigner Crystallization would occur in its center. It can be rightfully argued that the temperature and pressure is too high for these things to occur. If its possible for this effect to work, it would probably work at limited temperatures and densities. If Haisch ZPE worked, they why would you need to continually zap it with energy to keep it running? Chukanovs device makes a great story. Another interesting device in this book made by Blacklight creates hydrinos (patent 6024935). This book is a good read in the pursuit of clean energy.