Customer Reviews

Tesla: A Biographical Novel of the World's Greatest Inventor

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book, while it does leave out most of the technical explanations behind Tesla's work, fulfills its purpose as a novel. I found it quite entertaining. I found myself wanting to pick it back up each time I put it down. Once it's over, you're left wanting more, though. It does the man justice, for the most part.

I've been studying Tesla's life lately, and this came across my reading stack, so I was fairly fresh from other, more scholarly biographies.

With an engaging voice, the arrogant brilliance of Nikola Tesla is brought to life here. Some well-documented incidents are given important depth by the author's attention to detail; other sections bring forth important information I've not seen in other biographies - citations would have been greatly appreciated.

Still, it's not a biography, it's a biographical novel, and as such, it's quite enjoyable. This would make a fine companion to a more scholarly (but necessarily less engaging) work, such as Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla : Biography of a Genius (Citadel Press Book).

All in all, a fascinating and revealing read; I recommend it.

Lots of poor writing, and imaginary dialog by the author, but very little to satisfy curiosity about Tesla, to my mind. What are we to learn about how his noted accomplishments, such as the ac polyphase power system, came about? Very little indeed. ZERO STARS from me. Not recommended.

OK, so maybe I'm drawn to more technical information than the author wanted to risk. Or, maybe I harbor a deep suspicion that there's more to Tesla the person than incessant maniacal ranting. Or, maybe I just wanted a gripping read to get me through the airport. For any or all of those reasons, I finished the book and set it aside with the feeling that I had been given sizzle, not steak. Nevertheless, I recommend the book--go figure. Shortcomings aside, the book WAS intriguing and I find myself sparked (ok, pun intended) to run down to the Colorado Springs library and newspaper's morgue to discover where the biography left off and the novel began. Read it, but only as an appetizer

This book was absolutely fantastic. From the beginning, not knowing anything about the man himself. I came away with complete admiration for the serb Nikola. An overshadowed career, the clear ambition that would help the world and a lifetime of explaining and mystifying all of the principles that encompasses electricity to this day. If you were looking for a how - to - book on Teslas inventions, well you will be sadly let down. A quick scan in a library or store of this book, and you would have found the story! of Nikola Tesla, not his inventions, but that the inventions that came from the man, how and why! To degrade this by saying that Tad Wise, smong other authours did not show a true depcition of mr. Tesla because they didn't dwelle on the inventions, it is probably because the man had much more to his life that his work. That defined the man. It is shown and respected througout our society since he becames famous in 1899. Take a look at the Time Machine and Dr Jeckyll and Mr, Hyde. both, based off the persona of Tesla. Some appreciate, some hate. We call those, 'Edison's' . :)