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Title: Empires of Light : Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World by JILL JONNES ISBN: 0-375-50739-6 Publisher: Random House Pub. Date: 19 August, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.11 (9 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: An Excellent Book!
Comment: This is a book about an important topic in our lives: electrical power. Although the author discusses early discoveries in electricity, the main focus is on the period from the late 1800s to the early 1900s - a period when great advances were made in the development of large scale electrical power generation, as well as on the giants who led the way. The science is discussed, at least to some degree, as are the economics of the time. Mini biographies of Edison, Westinghouse and Tesla are also presented. The writing is clear and engaging such that the book is difficult to put down. My only disappointment was that, in my opinion, the science and engineering aspects were not discussed enough; I think that an appendix with more scientific details would have complemented the book very well. But despite this minor shortcoming, the book certainly succeeds in giving the reader a flavor of those exciting times. Highly recommended!
Rating: 3
Summary: a disappointment, but very interesting as well
Comment: This is a fairly good book on three pioneers of the electrical revolution: Edison, Tesla, and Westinghouse. Only the last was a true industrialist, while the first two were inventors who more or less failed to capture the full value of what they created. The field of battle was was between direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC). Jonnes also attempts to evoke the era - one of huge transition, both technological and social/organizational - in which they lived.
The best things about this book are in overview and context. I learned about the business environment and practices during the Gilded era, which was indeed extremely interesting and useful for my current project. This is well researched and clearly written. Moreover, what each of these individuals faced - their frustrations, ambitions, motivations, and methods - are also examined in some detail. While I know a lot about Edison from previous research, this was a gold mine of info on his principal competitors, Westinghouse and Tesla, whose technology (AC) won the battle to become the standard of wire-furnsihed electric power. Edison was an incredible inventor, but his obstinancy for sticking to what he created led him to bypass AC for the less workable DC (this is a pattern that led him to many strategic mistakes thru his career). Tesla was an eccentric visionary and loner, who made great discoveries early on only to get mired into megalomanaical schemes during the last decades of his life. Westinghouse was a true "broker of innovation" - finding and using talent with great efficiacy - and in many ways a brilliant pioneer of corporate and industrial organization; he was also a decent man with populist ideals in a time of ruthless exploitation and manipulation.
However, this book failed for me on many counts. First, it did not go into enough technological detail for me - I still don't understand the difference between AC and DC from a scientific point of view. Second, I did not get much of a feeling for a story (billed on the cover as a titanic struggle) that was unfolding: instead, the book jumped around and got bogged down in certian details, such as the grizzly chapter on Edison's promotion of an AC-current electric chair (to scare the public) or the maneuvering that preceeded the COlumbian Exposition.
Third, and this is a very personal perception, I did not like the way that Jonnes writes. While her book certainly was not as dry or lifeless as so many academic studies tend to be, I felt she was straining to write as eloquently as McCullough or Schama, which I believe is beyond her talent. This criticism may come from writing 101, but she uses too many adjectives. Waves of panic are "ungulating," electicity is "ethereal," etc., each time failing to find "le mot juste." I really don't mean to be a snob about this - she is a better historian than I ever could be - but her writing style irritated me several times on every page.
Recommended with these caveats in mind.
Rating: 5
Summary: A suspenseful, terrific tale well told
Comment: How can we be but enthralled by the story of the early years of the utilization of the forces of electricity and its revolutionary impact on Western, no, all of Civilization. These three titans brought a laboratory curiosity, a few patents, and not enough capital, to effect the dramatic improvements in the utilization of fossil energy to replace the efforts of slaves, near slaves, and animals, and to make life better for us all.
We have Edison, who started it all with his improved dynamo and the electric lighting system; Tesla and his crucial AC electric motor; Westinghouse who had the business insight and technical acumen to pursue the alternating current. Geniuses, yes. But of a very different sort.
Jonnes does an outstanding job of portraying the times, and the interaction of the approaches to solving problems that each of these heroes had. So different, so complementary and so effective. There was nothing else like it anywhere on earth.
I suppose anyone reading this review has read a bit about Edison and the light, Tesla and his eccentricities, and Westinghouse and his devotion to his workers. The tale of the Niagra generators and the first long distance transport of electrical power will probably be new to you, and it is a story well-told.
But Jonnes has an awful lot to add to the usual stuff. She communicates the downright excitement of it all, the delicious discoveries of the new, and the suspense of the disasters to be overcome. This is no Ph. D. thesis transported into a popularization of science--the technical details are presented in just enough detail to whet your appetite for a deeper understanding of it all, and leave you truly awestruck. How can you ask for anything more?
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Title: Tesla : Man Out of Time by Margaret Cheney ISBN: 0743215362 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 09 October, 2001 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Fleet Fire: Thomas Edison and the Pioneers of the Electric Revolution by L J Davis ISBN: 1559706554 Publisher: Arcade Books Pub. Date: March, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: Signor Marconi's Magic Box: The Most Remarkable Invention of the 19th Century and the Amateur Inventor Whose Genius Sparked a Revolution by Gavin Weightman ISBN: 0306812754 Publisher: DaCapo Press Pub. Date: 14 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: Executioner's Current : Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and the Invention of the Electric Chair by Richard Moran ISBN: 0375410597 Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 15 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: Edison & the Electric Chair: A Story of Light and Death by Mark Regan Essig ISBN: 0802714064 Publisher: Walker & Co Pub. Date: September, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
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