Tesla Biography
July 21, 2012 8:24 AM Subscribe
Which biography of Nikola Tesla should I read?
Yes, that book's quite adequate. Or you could start where I did, in a 1963 issue of Boy's Life, with The Man Who Invented Tomorrow by Lyman M. Nash.
posted by Rash at 9:14 AM on July 21, 2012
posted by Rash at 9:14 AM on July 21, 2012
Let me cast a vote against Marc Seifer's surprisingly well-received Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla : Biography of a Genius. It is full of interesting facts, but is so depressing that I had to stop reading it. As one of the reviewers at Amazon said, “The book spends too much time on Tesla's failed business dealings and with all the secondary people that he seemingly had contact with throughout his life,” not to mention all the people who cheated, exploited and betrayed him (which the book suggests was pretty much everyone alive).
posted by ubiquity at 11:29 AM on July 21, 2012
posted by ubiquity at 11:29 AM on July 21, 2012
Wizard is very good, but Tesla's story is a very depressing one. Any biography will not be much fun. He had a very weak grasp of reality, and was almost impossible in business transactions. I gave up on the book after reading some of his anti-Islamic letters.
posted by scruss at 12:01 PM on July 21, 2012
posted by scruss at 12:01 PM on July 21, 2012
Nice one page hagiography here, criticism and fisking thereof here.
posted by Marky at 2:34 PM on July 21, 2012
posted by Marky at 2:34 PM on July 21, 2012
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posted by THAT William Mize at 8:50 AM on July 21, 2012 [2 favorites]