Tesla: Man Out of Time
ISBN:9780743215367 read summary

I liked the book, but found myself constantly wanting to see a more modern take on Tesla. With all the advances we have made in science since 1981 (when this book was written), I wonder what someone who knows more about science than I do would make of the inventions and ideas of Nikola Tesla.
Otherwise it's a good, neutral overview of the life of a man who contributed to our society in big ways, and was very eccentric as well.

TESLA MAN OUT OF TIME by Margaret Cheney is a 396 page biography. The book has 16 pages of glossy black & white photos, e.g., showing Tesla's radio controlled boat, or Tesla's steam turbine.

SEMI-FICTIONAL WRITING. Towards the beginning of the book (but not later on), there is some semi-fictional writing, apparently to stimulate interest in the book. For example, we read, "Mark Twain's eyes sparkled in anticipation. Let's have a show, Tesla. You know what I always say. No, what do you say, Mark, the inventor asked with a smile. Suddenly, the whole laboratory was flooded with strange, beautiful light . . . but the light show was merely a warmup for the inventor's guests. Twain, in his usual white suit . . . was delighted. He whooped and waved his arms." (pages 21-24) To repeat, this sort of semi-fiction only occurs near the beginning of the book.

INVENTIONS. The book describes a number of inventions, some of them having a permanent impact on the global economy, e.g., AC current. Some of the inventions such as AC equipment, are provided with patent numbers, enabling the reader to acquire a high-quality account of the invention. These patent numbers include 334,823; 335,786; 335,787, and so on (see page 62). Any reader can obtain copies of these patents for free on line from the European Patent Office at espacenet, or from the United States Patent & Trademark Office (uspto.gov). Other inventions are only described in a haphazard way, e.g., a motor that runs only one wire (page 80), reduced pressure gasses that are highly conductive and that glow (precursor to fluorescent lamps) (page 79), a carbon-button lamp that was a precursor to the electron microscope or cyclotron (pages 81-84), and no patent numbers are given. Another invention, is merely the conduction of high voltages through the skin of a living human being. What is inventive is that the voltage is so high, that it does not pass through internal organs (pages 23-24, 101). Other inventions described in this book are merely phony inventions, such as a ring 100 feet off the ground, and encircling the earth, allowing travelers to hop aboard and travel at 1000 miles per hour (p. 39), or use of electricity to cure arthritis (p. 102).

EARLY LIFE. We learn of Tesla's childhood in Smiljan, Croatia, where he wrote poems and fixed a collapsed fire hose, and that Tesla's older brother was killed by a horse. We learn of Tesla's phobias, e.g., to earrings, the need to count steps while walking, the need to calculate the volume of soup bowls, and aversion to touching other people's hair (page 29-30).

CAREER BEGINNINGS. In 1881, Tesla got a job in a telegraph office in Hungary, and he put some effort into improving the Gramme direct current generator. A turning point came when he "hit upon the principle of the rotating magnetic field produced by 2 alternating currents out of step with each other, thus eliminating the need for a commutator or brushes (p. 40-44). We learn that Garland and Gibb had earlier invented AC current, but it was not practical until Tesla made these improvements. We learn of Tesla's first collaborator, Charles Batchelor, who installed Edison's first commercial lights on the S.S.Columbia (p. 47-48). Later, Tesla moved to the USA, and was hired by Edison to repair lights on the S.S.Oregon.

TESLA THE ENTREPENEUR. We learn that J.P.Morgan was the wealthy backer of Edison Electric, which strung DC wires throughout Manhattan. Tesla left Edison to form his own company in Rahway, New Jersey, and later at 33 South Fifth Street in Manhattan. Tesla's backers included none other than George Westinghouse. Tesla invented the 60 cycle AC motor, which is still the universal standard throughout the world. We learned of a massive controversy between Edison (advocate of DC current) and Tesla (advocate of AC current), and that Edison staged public executions of dogs with AC current, in order to blot out Tesla (pages 67-69).

At any rate, we now watch Edison's motion pictures run on Tesla's AC current, today's advocates of vinyl recordings listen to Edison's records run on Tesla's AC current, and we run Edison's incandescent lights on Tesla's AC current. Regarding radio, we learn that in 1893, Tesla made the first public demonstration of radio, though Marconi is usually given credit for doing this in 1895 (page 96). We learn that next to Tesla, Oliver Lodge was the 2nd most important radio pioneer, and we learn that Tesla's radio patents prevailed in the U.S. Supreme Court. We also learn how George Westinghouse wrangled Tesla's patent royalties from him, though more details would have been welcome on this point (page 74).

CRITIQUE. Sometimes, I wish that the book had been written by an engineer. Few of the inventions are described with any degree of specificity, or in a way that distinguishes them from the inventions of others. It would have been useful if the book had provided a list of all of Tesla's patents, not just some of them. The author neglects to give a citation for the Sept. 1900 case heard by Judge Townsend of the U.S. Circuit Court of Connecticut. The author seems to have relied heavily on another book, PRODIGAL GENIUS by J.J. O'Neill (1944), instead of doing fact-finding from primary sources, e.g., newspapers. At any rate, the book is an engaging page-turner. Any reader interested in a skilled description of Tesla's inventions may download Tesla's patents for free. The U.S. patents available from espacenet have better quality images than the U.S. patents available from uspto. The opinions from the various lawsuits can be found in any law library, on LEXIS NEXIS. Law librarians will be more than glad to help the interested reader look up these things!!! If you want to learn other things about Mr.Tesla, I recommend EMPIRES OF LIGHT by Jill Jonnes. EMPIRES OF LIGHT has a more consistent theme (AC generators; AC motors) than Ms.Cheney's book, and seems to dig deeper into details on this particular theme, for example, the partnership between Mr.Tesla and Mr.Westinghouse.

As of May 21, 2010, TESLA MOTORS agreed to open up an automobile production plant in Fremont, California. Hopefully, the re-establishment of Mr.Tesla's name in the public's eye will stimulate more interested readers to buy Margaret Cheney's fine book, and also Jill Jonnes' fine book.

Cheney does an excellent job of describing Tesla's life, which just like for other geniuses was somewhat troubled at times. The book is loaded with facts and some interesting photos. While I enjoyed reading about Tesla's early life (his walk off the roof with an umbrella opened thinking he could fly) and was glad he "recovered" sufficiently to move into work that to this day we are still learning and benefiting from ....I'm more impressed with her excellent research into developments made during the war, and later--the latter half of his life. Also of note: I had no idea Tesla was good friends with Mark Twain until I read it in Man Out Of Time! I appreciate that Cheney takes the time to bring Tesla to life. He was more than a scientist. He was a true genius, in my view even more so than Edison. Her factual description of the "war" between AC and DC electricity is one of my favorite chapters.

A lot of technical books are just that -- "technical", but Cheney makes the work of a genius, a genius we are still trying to figure out, easy to read whether you have a background in science and engineering or are simply someone who wants to know more about the guy who pioneered the technology that lets you sit on the sofa sipping beer while you channel surf -- 'cause he invented remote control.

Wonderful book. I've read excerpts to my daughter and countless friends, both male and female, young and old. We're still figuring out how to use some of the technology this wonderful inventor created. ....fluorescent lights...didn't come up with a use them until about 50 years later for example...

What a disappointing read! I honestly struggled to finish this biography after starting it with such high hopes.

Tesla is a fascinating character. His early work laid the groundwork for much of the modern alternating-current-based electrical grid. Later on he made major discoveries in wireless communications but was unable to capitalize on either. The later part of his life is marked by grand proclamations but little actual experimentation. He's something of a controversial figure and the jury is still out on many of his inventions, including whether or not he actually made various discoveries or if he was just deluding himself.

Cheney does a remarkable job of turning this fascinating story into a dry, boring slog. While generally her writing is technically fine it just doesn't flow. She also has some very annoying habits:
1. She provides very few hard dates and skips forwards and backwards in time, making it very hard to understand the ordering of major events.
2. She provides almost no technical details on anything engineering-related.
3. She clearly has no understanding of most of the scientific principles involved and takes all of his ramblings at face value.
4. She breathlessly mentions how some of Tesla's work explains various paranormal activity which she seems to accept as fact, and at the end of the book implies that there's a huge conspiracy involving the US government to keep all of later inventions, including his "death ray", under wraps.

If you're interested in learning more about Tesla, avoid this book - it will just crush your curiosity.

This has been sitting on my to-read shelf for some time. Cheney has written a solid and serviceable biography of Tesla. I realize this is faint praise. There's nothing wrong with the book, and quite a bit really right. I think I missed some kind of (no pun intended) spark-- mostly around the science. I learned a lot about the man, but really-- think about it-- what these men were doing was really amazing. I got the facts, but missed the madness.

(I did like her view on Edison. The more I read about the man, the more I'm pretty sure he was awful.)

None of this should dissuade you from reading the Tesla: Man Out of Time if you are looking for a good introduction to the subject.