Tesla: The Modern Sorcerer [Paperback]

Daniel Stewart (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 22, 1999

Toward the end of the nineteenth century dawned an age, all but forgotten. It was an era of immense flying machines, tall buildings, electric wires and telegraph cables. Miracles of science astonished the masses of Europe and the United States daily. Thomas Edison arose to prominence on an empire of stolen patents. He epitomized the spirit of the industrial age.

Suddenly Edison faced a mysterious rival, the enigmatic genius Nikola Tesla. This Serbian inventor tackled the problem of generating and utilizing alternating current, making Edison's direct current monopoly obsolete. He went on to invent radio before Marconi, develop X-rays and telephonics, and contributed fluorescent and neon lighting, microwave technology and wireless systems for the generation and transmission of current anywhere in the world for free.

His experiments in his Colorado Springs laboratory led to the building of towering Tesla coils, for the generation of artificial lightning, to be harnessed by his technologies. He built Wardenclyffe Tower to power the world on limitless energy and faced sudden financial ruin in 1905 when investor J. P. Morgan withdrew his financial support while claiming exclusive rights to the inventor's works.

Tesla: The Modern Sorcerer is an epic tale of the early age of technology, the climax of the industrial revolution. It is also a fascinating study of one of history's most prodigal geniuses.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Daniel Blair Steward is a novelist and artist who resides in Northern California with his son, River. He is the author of Akhunaton: The Extraterrestrial King, an epic tail of alien contact in ancient Egypt, and Pinnacle (Mendocino Publishing), the saga of a band of UFO abductees lost in a labyrinth of deadly conspiracies. Visit him at www.danielblairstewart.com.

Product Details

• Paperback: 440 pages
• Publisher: Frog Books; First edition. edition (July 22, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1883319919
• ISBN-13: 978-1883319915
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 1.2 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,951,304 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #66 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( T ) > Tesla, Nikola

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good For Young Readers, January 30, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Tesla: The Modern Sorcerer (Paperback)

I purchased this book wanting a good biographical account of Nikola Tesla. Though it is that, what I didn't realize was that it is really aimed at young readers (ages 9-12). Nothing on the cover or the introduction mentions that fact. The odd book size(wide format), the larger font size and the limited vocabulary give it away as a juvenile selection. I would recommend it highly for that age group. However it was not the adult biography I looking for. I think I will give my copy to my son. I believe he will enjoy it.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pleasantly informative., March 26, 2008

By 

Sigurd Gogol "Sigurd Gogol" (FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tesla: The Modern Sorcerer (Paperback)

It seems some people blindly grab books off shelves, expecting to discover epic literature by such methods. It may indicate something about someone who buys books before examining the first page. Stewart's objective here seems to be of biographical and circumstantial nature, and not too technical. But for those of the technical class, it'd seem that they might by default, look at the book a bit, before purchasing it. If I set out to buy a dictionary, but got instead some old discourse by Chomsky, I would be disappointed, though I certainly would not criticize Sir Noam for my mistake. For Stewart's intended purpose, this book is a success. I suppose if this is a children's book, then a whole lot of top-notch science fiction and other creative writings should have many o' men embarrassed. This book captures many of the fascinating aspects of Tesla's life, as well as the generally historically-neglected crimes of Edison. I may be a bit cynical, but I have my doubts that certain critics of this work would have been satisfied had they purchased technical writings of Tesla-Himself, and would have complained about the lack of style and tedious documentation. Yes, this work is in novel format, but it is the last thing the common child will understand on any significant level. As for many great fantasy works, we read them as children, then many years later read them again, only to discover new things we had never considered. Perhaps an appeal to the young and vibrant imagination is more a benefit than a deficiency. I highly recommend it to any open minded person who does not insist on wandering through infinite realms of technical data and references, and is not afraid of being entertained whilst learning.
A great book! It will always have a place on my shelf.

8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This book is not what you think..., September 5, 2001

By 

J. Farrell (Austin, TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tesla: The Modern Sorcerer (Paperback)

Tesla, The Modern Sorcerer, is not what I expected. I wanted an biography of the scientist, but the dialogue with his father at the start led me to believe that it was a children's book, assuming details of actual dialogue were not recorded for posterity. However, after a more careful inspection of the jacket, I found that although the book is labeled Science / Alternate Technology, it is none too clearly also identified as a novel. This is not bad in itself. However, the writing is terrible! Names, dates and place are given and dropped as quickly without having any kind of cohesion. It became apparant to me that the author had writen an outline to help him structure his story, but then he copied the outline and filled in nothing. Details and dialogue are stacatto and stilted. He references, at one point, a machine that runs at so many Webers, without defining what a Weber is or even mentioning it again. Details appear to be decently researched, but the "novel" concept allows these to be manufactured. The authors other works are novels about UFO abductions, and he uses this book to tout his UFO theories. A waste of time to read, but perhaps interesting to a child without previous knowledge of science.