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Edison, His Life and Inventions
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342 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
March 1, 2015
A good book to read if you know little about the extraordinary Thomas Edison. Published in 1910 and written by Frank Dyer, one of Mr. Edison’s patent attorneys while Dyer was employed by Mr. Edison, the book is an uncritical homage to Mr. Edison. Still there are wonderful stories told here, particularly of the young Tom Edison and particularly those stories told by Mr. Edison himself, which keep this book informative and entertaining.
October 8, 2010
Interesting, I little too much detail.
July 23, 2014
This book was written while Edison was still alive, and by people who were close to him. I think it's clear that this book is heavily skewed in favor of Edison and by the close relationship of the authors to the subject. That being said, it gives great coverage to the inventions and stages of Edison's life, and does go into the early failures of Edison without trying to hide them.
The book can get a bit too technical at times, and it makes it a bit unclear who the intended audience is. Perhaps when it was published, anyone reading such a biography would have been technically inclined enough to follow it all. After getting through the technical parts of the main book, I feared that the appendices would be terrible, but they were pretty readable. I'm sure that illustrations would have helped, but I was listening to this as an audiobook.
Edison himself was a remarkable person. Starting experiments very early and continuing to experiment throughout his life. In fact, it seemed to be the main thing that motivated him rather than the pursuit of money. That being said, he had an incredible mind for the need of any invention to be made in such a way that it would be profitable. His head for business also showed up at a young age as he ran a newspaper on a train, increasing the cost of the papers as they became scarce. He even managed to rent an entire train car where he could print his papers and keep doing his experiments between stops.
I think one of the things that made him such a successful inventor was his deep understanding of electrical, mechanical, and chemical reactions. In many of his inventions, his ability to draw in the chemical aspects of a solution were what made the difference. The biggest failure admitted to in the book was the mining and ore processing business. The lengths he went to create that system are amazing, and it surely would have dominated the sector if the market hadn't dropped.
All in all a very educational, if a bit dry, book that expanded my understanding of Edison.
The book can get a bit too technical at times, and it makes it a bit unclear who the intended audience is. Perhaps when it was published, anyone reading such a biography would have been technically inclined enough to follow it all. After getting through the technical parts of the main book, I feared that the appendices would be terrible, but they were pretty readable. I'm sure that illustrations would have helped, but I was listening to this as an audiobook.
Edison himself was a remarkable person. Starting experiments very early and continuing to experiment throughout his life. In fact, it seemed to be the main thing that motivated him rather than the pursuit of money. That being said, he had an incredible mind for the need of any invention to be made in such a way that it would be profitable. His head for business also showed up at a young age as he ran a newspaper on a train, increasing the cost of the papers as they became scarce. He even managed to rent an entire train car where he could print his papers and keep doing his experiments between stops.
I think one of the things that made him such a successful inventor was his deep understanding of electrical, mechanical, and chemical reactions. In many of his inventions, his ability to draw in the chemical aspects of a solution were what made the difference. The biggest failure admitted to in the book was the mining and ore processing business. The lengths he went to create that system are amazing, and it surely would have dominated the sector if the market hadn't dropped.
All in all a very educational, if a bit dry, book that expanded my understanding of Edison.
February 4, 2017
The book throws a remarkable insight into the life of Edison starting from his childhood days. Edison genius was in the extraordinary effort that he put into all his inventions combined with his eye for detail and uncompromising desire for perfection. The book is a long read since it goes in to a lot of technical details of his inventions, however all the same brings out Edison's character very clearly.
April 27, 2015
Dated since it was written in 1910 and biased since the author was in awe of Edison. I enjoyed portions of it but other sections dragged on. I would recommend it to others though and the price is right!
November 29, 2020
This man, not this book, is notable. Amazing. Never tiring Edison kept creating with only short spurts of sleep each day. His imagination ran rampant all his days at least into 1910 when this book was written. A chemist and a vendor of newspapers on commuter trains in Michigan long before he got his first major remuneration of $40k, the man was and is an inspiration to many— certainly to me.
But the writers didn’t write with much style and thus the 3 stars.
But the writers didn’t write with much style and thus the 3 stars.
September 9, 2020
Very good biography as to what type of person he was. I think the body of the book had too much technical explanations that an average reader, not an engineer, found overwhelming. The appendix took an engineer to understand
February 9, 2017
A methodical attempt at an authoritative biography by a couple of Edison's contemporaries. A bit dry, and too technical.
July 5, 2017
Detailed. Contemporary. The Noble side of an inventor-entrepreneur
December 13, 2018
Too much detail, too little where it was really needed. Yawn
October 17, 2019
Edison, His Life and Inventions Frank Lewis Dyer
Somewhat tedious, a little long at times, but a good read nevertheless. This book is a must if you are trying to understand and comprehend the genius of Thomas Edison. This book once and for all settles the question, did Edison steal inventions from others to claim himself? Simple answer, no. Edison would have been the first to admit this and would give credit to those that had an original idea. What Edison did do, was to greatly improve upon many inventions, as in the case of the telegraph, light bulb, phonograph, the electric railway--and not to take away from Alexander Bell—greatly improved the telephone. All of these inventions he perfected and most importantly made them practical and commercially successful. Not to mention taking the time to document and patent these improved inventions.
What makes this book interesting is the fact it was written during the time Thomas Edison was alive and still inventing. You are reading a living history, almost a real-time sense of how Edison was impacting the society he was living.
Although not a technical book per se, the last chapters do involve some technical writing explaining how many of his inventions worked. I say this kind of lighthearted, but with a ring of truth--this book should be included in a time capsule or vault in case civilization needs to be rebuilt.
It is often said Thomas Edison was a genius. No doubt after reading this detailed book you will draw the same conclusion.
Somewhat tedious, a little long at times, but a good read nevertheless. This book is a must if you are trying to understand and comprehend the genius of Thomas Edison. This book once and for all settles the question, did Edison steal inventions from others to claim himself? Simple answer, no. Edison would have been the first to admit this and would give credit to those that had an original idea. What Edison did do, was to greatly improve upon many inventions, as in the case of the telegraph, light bulb, phonograph, the electric railway--and not to take away from Alexander Bell—greatly improved the telephone. All of these inventions he perfected and most importantly made them practical and commercially successful. Not to mention taking the time to document and patent these improved inventions.
What makes this book interesting is the fact it was written during the time Thomas Edison was alive and still inventing. You are reading a living history, almost a real-time sense of how Edison was impacting the society he was living.
Although not a technical book per se, the last chapters do involve some technical writing explaining how many of his inventions worked. I say this kind of lighthearted, but with a ring of truth--this book should be included in a time capsule or vault in case civilization needs to be rebuilt.
It is often said Thomas Edison was a genius. No doubt after reading this detailed book you will draw the same conclusion.
December 14, 2019
Thomas A Edison, a true genius and a legend amongst scientists. A great read that covers most of his inventions, his approach towards his work were in he use to average approximately 18 hours a day and in some instances avoiding sleep for nights together, his discipline towards learning that involved reading numerous books, magazines and journals on a variety of subjects, his perseverance and relentless drive to find solutions to problems inspire of failing thousands of times, truly the greatest inventor with almost 2500 inventions and a 1000 plus patents to his name. #BookLovers #dntjbookclub #LoveToRead #AtoZEntrepreneurship
March 11, 2014
Would have been four stars if it talked more about the inventions...it never even mentions the lightbulb!
May 31, 2025
The book is very, very long. And I got many valuable things out of it. Planning to go trough again in 2 or 3 years. I had the audio version from the librivox.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews