Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla : Biography of a Genius (Citadel Press Book) | 
| Author: Marc Seifer
Publisher: Citadel
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
Buy New: $10.48
You Save: $9.47 (47%)
New (37) Used (13) from $10.03
Avg. Customer Rating:  28 reviews
Sales Rank: 6243
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 542
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6.1 x 1.3
ISBN: 0806519606
Dewey Decimal Number: 621.3092
EAN: 9780806519609
Publication Date: February 1, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new item. Over 4 million customers served. Order now. Selling online since 1995. Few left in stock - order soon. Code: K20081201120141G
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Nikola Tesla, credited by many as the inspiration for radios, robots, and even radar, has been called the patron saint of modern electricity. "Wizard" is the definitive biography of this founding father of modern technology of photos .
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 23 more reviews...
 Excellent read if you want to know more about the man August 3, 2008
I read through most of the reviews of this book, and find them, for the most part, dead on.
I did not buy it via Amazon (the horror!), but actually went to a bookstore looking for a book on Nikola Tesla, wanting to learn more about the fascinating individual.
After going through about 10 books by different authors, what made me choose this one was the sheer number of references the author used, including face to face interviews with people who knew Tesla.
The author uses a distinct timeline, which is a change from the other books I observed (such as Cheney's book), and also only used corroborative sources for his details, such as personal notes from Tesla, coorespondence, and so on.
If you are looking for a book on detailed explainations on his experiments, this is not the book for you. It is a highly detailed, personalized look at the man's life, mainly how someone so influential could be erased from common knowledge of history so effectively.
If you want details on his experiments, I recommend the book "The Fanastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla" : The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla (The Lost Science Series)
As a side note, I checked out the reviewers who gave this book one star and disparaged it. They tend to have only written one star reviews for everything. Don't let the one stars discourage you from reading this book and separating the myth from history.
Very good book April 30, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
In my opinion this was a very good book about Tesla, but I must confess, I have not read any other biographies on him so I have nothing to compare it to. As others have stated, the book has lots of details about Tesla's personal life and his relationships with business associates like J.P. Morgan, Westinghouse, Edison, etc.
Tesla was clearly a genius and anyone who says otherwise knows nothing about his accomplishments. Titans like J.P. Morgan became concerned about Tesla's intentions regarding the use of his wireless power transmisson, and other inventions. These corporate puppet masters don't want anything in the marketplace that they cannot wield complete control over. Free, wireless power transmission fell into this category. Tesla wanted to elevate humanity with his inventions, whereas Morgan (and others) wanted to gain greater control over humanity through technology. This is the same plight we are in today, in 2008, a hundred years later.
Tesla's work was by no means the only target for suppression. Those of you fascinated with Tesla will surely be fascinated with the discoveries of Albert Roy Davis and Walter C. Rawls. Tesla's emphasis was on electricity, while Davis and Rawls' was/is on magnetism.
Davis was the first scientist in the world to discover, in 1936, that magnetism consists of two separate and distinct energies, not one as it is still taught in colleges today. Each pole affects all matter in two different ways, so the physics books need to be re-written. Davis and Rawls found that North pole magnetism can not only eliminate diseases like cancer, it can be used to increase the intelligence of animals/people, extend the lifespans of animals/people, increase the growth of plants, make stronger metals/plastics and much more. Read "Magnetism and Its Effects on the Living System", and "The Magnetic Blueprint of Life", by Davis and Rawls. All of their books are great reading, but those two will likely interest Tesla fans the most. Read "The Scope of Biomagnetism", by Walter Rawls, on the Teslatech website too.
I've been told by a credible source that Tesla was involved in the Philedelphia Experiment and that he left it because he knew there were going to be problems. He was also working for RCA laboratories at the time of his death, not just feeding pigeons on a bench waiting for the big sleep.
 Do not waste your Money March 16, 2007
6 out of 16 found this review helpful
If you want to read a good biography of Nikola Tesla I would recommend you two books: Man out of Time or Nikola Tesla: A spark of genius...
Worst book on Tesla ever! January 26, 2007
13 out of 29 found this review helpful
This is by all means the worst book on Nikola Tesla ever! This book portrays Tesla in a way that he never was, a confused lunatic with confused visions and a hard line nationalist attitude. It is no wonder that one reader nicknamed huh concluded that Tesla was stupid and was not able to finish most of his inventions (by the way, this guy sounds like someone from Edison's camp). Tesla was born in an environment of constant clashes between Croats and Serbs, and Ottoman empire (not "Asian barbarians" as this author constantly portrays this great Empire) had nothing to do with Tesla's departure to US. Teslas's father was orthodox priest (a hardliner) who wanted to see his son in the Serbian army (it is the same army who completely escaped into Greece which is unknown example of cowardice in the history and whose king also escaped to England leaving his nation to German mercy, thus Tesla did not see anything great in this "great army"). Tesla refused going to Serbian army and he refused being hard-line nationalist. Tesla once said:" I am proud of my country Croatia and my Serbian nationality". This indicates best that he was not hard-line nationalist (keep in mind that Serbian nationalist even today claim that Croatia is occupied Serbian territory and that it will be wiped off the map). This author actually invented many stories of Tesla's life and even more of them are from second or third hand, totally untrue.
On the technical aspect of this book it is not even worth any comments. Someone who does not know anything about electrical tech must be wondering, what the heck did this guy Tesla invent anyway (hence huh reader again)? I would describe the technical portion of this book as a good joke; even Mr. Bean would do it better. Author just could not sustain a certain hatred for Ottoman empire, which by the way was not much different then eg. Roman empire. Stay away from this book, you will not learn anything from it and could be infected with serious hate.
This book is a zero mark!
The Best on Nikola Tesla November 5, 2006
11 out of 14 found this review helpful
Without a doubt the most comprehensive book I have read on Mr. Tesla's life. This edition is meant for that reader who wants very detailed events and accomplishments about the scientist life. Mr. Seifer's research about Nikola Tesla's early life, his early school years, formal education and subsequent acquaintances establishes an overall base on which the reader can reference easily as the book progresses into Mr. Tesla's later years. The author brings to the reader's mind the fact that Nikola Tesla called his "close friends" the most amazing scientists at the turn of the 19th century who themselves became icons in the scientific community. However, Mr.Seifer, illustrates as well the human side of Nikola Tesla thereby keeping in focus the frail aspect of this incredible scientist and those devils his amazing intellect had to fight. I strongly recommend this book to those who wish to literaly know about Nikola Tesla's life. It is truly a manificent tome.
|
|
|
|
