Tesla : Man Out of Time

Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Review: A required complement to "My Inventions: the autobiography of Nikola Tesla", this book shows what a single man is capable of accomplishing.

This book isn't just for people interested in science and technology. It describes the character of a man of brilliance equivalent to Newton, Faraday or Einstein, who through his research forever changed how we think and live.

Due to his modesty, secludedness and research without economic interests, he didn't get nearly as much publicity as Thomas Edison, his American counterpart. Later during his life his extremely revolutionary ideas labeled him as a lunatic, which further compromised investments in his research. Once a millionaire due to a royalties from Westinghouse, his careless spending in expensive research and his generosity toward Westinghouse in a time of economic hardship eventually made him penniless, a condition in which he died.

Tesla has hundreds of patents in his name, including the radio's, which _to this day_ is still incorrectly attributed to Marconi. Many of his patents were classified by the military and are still secret. Yet Tesla rarely has any mention in physics textbooks.

Get the book and know that truly Tesla was a Man Out of Time. His accomplishments and his exemplary character shouldn't be forgotten.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Already knowing something about Tesla's eccentric character I was excited to read this book. However, I soon found it confusing, poorly writen, and very easy to put down. Tesla himself is an interesting character who perhaps doesn't get the credit he deserves and his story should be told. He was largely responsible for our advances using alternating current, better understanding of electricity, and he also produced many other inventions. Some of his inventions fell more to the theoretical as opposed to practical side but there can be no doubt that he was a veritable intellect. The problem with Cheney is the book focuses too much on other people instead of Tesla and very little in the way of describing the history of Tesla as a man or of Tesla's character is expounded upon in this book. Instead we are given a bunch of little episodes about Tesla interspersed with droning technical detail. This was supposed to be a biography and not a technical journal. As an example allow me to post part of one of her paragraphs:

*The relevance of ball lightning to fusion research has to do with the problem of confining plasma. The heart of the most common type of experimental fusion reaction involves taking isotopic hydrogen gas and both accelerating and superheating it until the hydrogen nuclei fuse to make helium nuclei, releasing, in the process, staggering amounts of energy. Along the way, while the hydrogen is being charged with vast amounts of kinetic and thermal energy, it enters an imperfectly understood material state known as plasma*

Now, boy doesn't that make for compelling reading! Besides these rather boring technical interludes the book does have a middle section with photographs and smidgets of insight which help prevent making the book a complete waste. Perhaps, most irritatingly to me was the way Cheney was disorganized and bounced around in time. It was hard to tell if she was talking about the younger or the older Tesla and if she was discussing something that already happened or that was occuring later in his life. Anyway, this is a shame because Tesla is without doubt someone worth studying but based on the things I've mentioned I would have to suggest a different biography.

Rating:
Summary: Tesla, Man Out of Time
Review: Excellent introductory work on one of the most brilliant scientists of the 19-th and 20-th Centuries.

Nikola Tesla is a fellow who gave us the System of Electrical Power (Generators, Motors, High-Tension Transmission Lines, Fluorescent Light) that lights our homes, runs our factories, trains, cars, our hydro power plants.

He opened our eyes and gave us pointers to follow with his basic patents in Radio, Robotics, Energy utilization, Communication, High-Energy and Plasma Physics, and many other areas of science and technology.

In addition to the above, as it was not enough, Tesla's genius ventured into many other fields. Over 400 US and Foreign Patents bear his name in the fields as diverse as "AND Gate" without our computers would not work, Bladeless Turbine with high efficiency, High-Frequency Heating Pads used in medical treatment of cancer, High-Voltage Coils that spark our gasoline powered car engines, and ... Please read the book!

Mrs. Cheyenne did excellent job in researching the material used to write the book. Someone in the field of electrical engineering might think that she graduated in Electrical Engineering, or Physics. For an amateur scientist reader the book is a very good source of references for further reading and study.

This book is a very good material for a high-school student that wants to enter the Electrical Engineering or Physics World.

Rating:
Summary: A good overview of Tesla and his work
Review: Overall 'Tesla - Man out of time' is a decent biography of one of the most under-appreciated scientists of the last hundred years.

The problem with most biographies of brilliant and eccentric individuals, is that the books focus more on the times and people around the individual, then the individual themselves. After completing the book, we know about the people who Tesla met and dealt with, the inventions that Tesla developed; but really do not get an intrinsic understanding of what made Tesla tick.

On the downside, the book does not go into any real technical descriptions of any of Tesla's inventions and leaves a bit to be desired from an organizational perspective. Cheney occasionally slips back in time for different events.

Cheney provides an interesting insight into the jealous and greedy side of Thomas Edison and how Edison saw Tesla as a threat.

Overall, Tesla - Man out of time is well worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: THE Definite Tesla Biography
Review: The best biography written on one of the most amazing men of the 20th century, or perhaps of all-time.

Nikola Tesla was one of the world's greatest inventors, and definitely its most mysterious. To say that Telsa was ahead of his time is putting it rather mildly. Most of his inventions were so advanced that the public had a difficult time grasping just how important they really were.

Although Marconi is often credited with the invention of radio, the real credit goes entirely to Tesla. A long-running battle between the two ended when American courts essentially invalidated Marconi's radio patent, and awarded credit for the invention to Nikola Telsla.

In addition to radio, Tesla also invented Alternating Current (AC), which is the form of electricity used to deliver power to most homes and businesses on earth. He also patented hundreds of other inventions, many of which are in use today. Others are yet to be understood by modern scientists.

Probably just as fascinating as Tesla's inventions was Telsa himself though. He was the original, real-life "mad scientist", and often discussed his invention of the "death ray" with the popular press. The world has never seen an inventor the likes of Nikola Tesla, and may never see one again. This book is a fascinating look at an amazing individual.