What do you think?
Rate this book
Prodigal Genius: The Biography of Nikola Tesla; His Life, Legacy and Journals
Nikola Tesla was one of the 20th century's great pioneers; his role in advancing electrical energy through the use of alternating current, and his stupendous engineering finesse, make this biography by journalist John J. O'Neill a fine read. Born in a Serbian village to a religious family, Nikola demonstrated an early interest in physics. The nascent science behind electricity - in the 1870s a mysterious, unharnessed force - became his passion. Though the young man's engineering aspirations were almost derailed when he contracted cholera, and later by Austro-Hungarian conscription, Tesla managed to enrol to study in Graz, Austria. A top-class student, tutors admiration for Tesla's gifts and boundless curiosity was tempered by concerns over his tendency to overwork. These attributes marked Tesla's professional life; an obsessively driven man, Tesla's gifts for invention were amply demonstrated and rewarded in the United States. As his ambitions grew in size and scope, Tesla was hailed as a visionary.
186 pages, Hardcover
First published November 30, 1943
94 people are currently reading
1338 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews
October 16, 2011
I find it curious how much time and energy is devoted to debating questions of primacy with the discovery of theories and machines. I've read biographical info on Tesla and Newton and Leibniz, and much of the extant written record of their lives and contributions to science come in the form of editorials and letters to newspapers and societies proving with great attention to detail exactly when they discovered this or that concept.
It's an exercise in differing perspectives: at the time, all of that was super important. But a hundred plus years after their deaths, it's hard to find it relevant.
Tesla is to electricity as Mozart was to music. Both devoted thousands of hours of their childhoods to studying their respective fields, at great cost to any other social or leisure activities. Tesla completed a little over two years of college in one year by sleeping only ~3 hours a day, and devoting almost all the rest to study and examinations. He almost killed himself doing it, and suffered frequent illnesses brought on by total exhaustion. But by the time he was in his early twenties, Tesla understood electricity on such an intuitive level that his demonstrations and theories seemed downright unnatural to any other person -- if mundane and prosaic to a modern person today.
In the late 1800s, Tesla described in detail the plans for an unmanned aerial assault vehicle, not unlike modern day Predator drones. Tesla offered to build these automated flying machines capable of delivering targeted strikes for the US government, but he was laughed out of the office. At the same time, Tesla offered the leading car manufacturers of the time a contract to build fully automated passenger vehicles, not unlike the driverless Google cars that are in alpha testing today. Again, he was laughed out of the conference room. He believed he could deliver electricity from power plants wirelessly, across the globe, with need for only two power plants at the global poles. In a time when the world marveled over transatlantic telegraphs, Tesla knew how to build a global radio transmitters that could send video across the planet.
It sounded crazy to his contemporaries, and yet what he did achieve, and what we now know today, make it seem likely that he could have delivered on those plans. Before Tesla, the only way to get electricity was to live within one mile of a power plant. Infrastructure had been built around the world to bring the wonders of the electrical age to all major cities -- but only major cities, and only certain neighborhoods. One electrical plant per square mile was difficult, and expensive, to manage, but that is where the world was headed, until Tesla broke all existing electrical theories and developed a way to deliver alternating current thousands of miles from the power plant, with virtually no loss in strength.
His alternating current model was adopted globally, and spurred on the development of the modern age. The power transformers that are in preciously limited supply in the US today were designed by Tesla.
Tesla had a big heart and his greatest weakness was his insistence on viewing the big picture. He wanted to bring the greatest benefit to the greatest number of fellow humans. But so many of his great inventions died with him, because he refused to write down any of his ideas, and he would only develop his visions on the grandest, global scale. He could have made thousands of dollars, enough to keep his lab running, had he been willing to sell smaller-scale versions of his visions.
For example, he developed a world wide broadcasting system before radio stations existed. His claims for wireless transmission of data were received with a great deal of skepticism, but a boat race offered him a good sum of cash to use his system to broadcast, wirelessly, the results of the race from the boats to the shore. Tesla turned this down because it was too small scale. He would build a global broadcast system, or none at all.
It's just he never quite got enough money to build the wholly custom equipment needed to complete the global broadcast towers. If he had been willing to start small, he could have built the capital needed to build the big machines.
Tesla intended to live to 125, and told his friends he wouldn't write down any of his ideas or theories until the age of 100. Plenty of time, he believed, to get it all down. He was too busy developing new concepts to write anything down. Tesla had by all accounts a truly flawless photographic memory. So perfect was it, that what he imagined in his head he saw in reality as a full-formed hallucination. He could literally imagine an engine, take it a part piece by piece, and put it back together again. He built prototype machines entirely in his mind, and then verbally recited the dimensions of the pieces of the engines to the machinists who cut the metal. He never had to adjust any of the pieces -- they fit together perfectly, dictated from his head alone. He saved a great deal of time in not having to write down blueprints, or work by trial and error.
The author of the biography knew Tesla personally, and he resented Tesla's atheism and thoroughgoing determinism. Tesla was know to describe humans as "meat machines" driven by the exact same principles of response to electrical stimuli as any of his dreamed of metal automatons. The better part of the biography reads factually and historically, but towards the end the author begins to insert his beliefs into the narrative. The author was sure Tesla did not really believe we were meat machines, and was not truly an atheist. When he told Tesla this, Tesla told him what he thought of others doing his thinking for him, and didn't speak to the author again for many months!
The world could have been so much different had Tesla been a little more practical in bringing his visions to a successful fruition. His story is a stark reminder that technological progress cannot be taken for granted. It is driven by brilliant sparks of innovative individuals, flaring here and there throughout history, and it is the responsibility of society to heed their visionary claims.
It's an exercise in differing perspectives: at the time, all of that was super important. But a hundred plus years after their deaths, it's hard to find it relevant.
Tesla is to electricity as Mozart was to music. Both devoted thousands of hours of their childhoods to studying their respective fields, at great cost to any other social or leisure activities. Tesla completed a little over two years of college in one year by sleeping only ~3 hours a day, and devoting almost all the rest to study and examinations. He almost killed himself doing it, and suffered frequent illnesses brought on by total exhaustion. But by the time he was in his early twenties, Tesla understood electricity on such an intuitive level that his demonstrations and theories seemed downright unnatural to any other person -- if mundane and prosaic to a modern person today.
In the late 1800s, Tesla described in detail the plans for an unmanned aerial assault vehicle, not unlike modern day Predator drones. Tesla offered to build these automated flying machines capable of delivering targeted strikes for the US government, but he was laughed out of the office. At the same time, Tesla offered the leading car manufacturers of the time a contract to build fully automated passenger vehicles, not unlike the driverless Google cars that are in alpha testing today. Again, he was laughed out of the conference room. He believed he could deliver electricity from power plants wirelessly, across the globe, with need for only two power plants at the global poles. In a time when the world marveled over transatlantic telegraphs, Tesla knew how to build a global radio transmitters that could send video across the planet.
It sounded crazy to his contemporaries, and yet what he did achieve, and what we now know today, make it seem likely that he could have delivered on those plans. Before Tesla, the only way to get electricity was to live within one mile of a power plant. Infrastructure had been built around the world to bring the wonders of the electrical age to all major cities -- but only major cities, and only certain neighborhoods. One electrical plant per square mile was difficult, and expensive, to manage, but that is where the world was headed, until Tesla broke all existing electrical theories and developed a way to deliver alternating current thousands of miles from the power plant, with virtually no loss in strength.
His alternating current model was adopted globally, and spurred on the development of the modern age. The power transformers that are in preciously limited supply in the US today were designed by Tesla.
Tesla had a big heart and his greatest weakness was his insistence on viewing the big picture. He wanted to bring the greatest benefit to the greatest number of fellow humans. But so many of his great inventions died with him, because he refused to write down any of his ideas, and he would only develop his visions on the grandest, global scale. He could have made thousands of dollars, enough to keep his lab running, had he been willing to sell smaller-scale versions of his visions.
For example, he developed a world wide broadcasting system before radio stations existed. His claims for wireless transmission of data were received with a great deal of skepticism, but a boat race offered him a good sum of cash to use his system to broadcast, wirelessly, the results of the race from the boats to the shore. Tesla turned this down because it was too small scale. He would build a global broadcast system, or none at all.
It's just he never quite got enough money to build the wholly custom equipment needed to complete the global broadcast towers. If he had been willing to start small, he could have built the capital needed to build the big machines.
Tesla intended to live to 125, and told his friends he wouldn't write down any of his ideas or theories until the age of 100. Plenty of time, he believed, to get it all down. He was too busy developing new concepts to write anything down. Tesla had by all accounts a truly flawless photographic memory. So perfect was it, that what he imagined in his head he saw in reality as a full-formed hallucination. He could literally imagine an engine, take it a part piece by piece, and put it back together again. He built prototype machines entirely in his mind, and then verbally recited the dimensions of the pieces of the engines to the machinists who cut the metal. He never had to adjust any of the pieces -- they fit together perfectly, dictated from his head alone. He saved a great deal of time in not having to write down blueprints, or work by trial and error.
The author of the biography knew Tesla personally, and he resented Tesla's atheism and thoroughgoing determinism. Tesla was know to describe humans as "meat machines" driven by the exact same principles of response to electrical stimuli as any of his dreamed of metal automatons. The better part of the biography reads factually and historically, but towards the end the author begins to insert his beliefs into the narrative. The author was sure Tesla did not really believe we were meat machines, and was not truly an atheist. When he told Tesla this, Tesla told him what he thought of others doing his thinking for him, and didn't speak to the author again for many months!
The world could have been so much different had Tesla been a little more practical in bringing his visions to a successful fruition. His story is a stark reminder that technological progress cannot be taken for granted. It is driven by brilliant sparks of innovative individuals, flaring here and there throughout history, and it is the responsibility of society to heed their visionary claims.
June 11, 2016
I had known a good amount about Tesla and sort of idolized him already so it was really a matter of which of his many biographies would present his story in the best way. This looked like the quintessential one.
Tesla was a brilliant inventor and visionary in electricity and telecommunications (though hardly receives credit outside the scientific world), all stemming from the discovery of one "truth of overwhelming importance for the advancement of humanity." "That this planet, with all its appalling immensity, is to electric current virtually no more than a more than a small metal ball... A telegraphic message, almost as secret and non-interferable as a thought, can be transmitted to any terrestrial distance, the sound of the human voice, with all it's intonations and inflections, faithfully and instantly reproduced at any point of the globe, the energy of a waterfall made available for supplying light... Humanity will be like an ant heap stirred up with a sick. See the excitement coming." - Tesla, 1900. And Edison was just the worst! Total venture capitalist exploiter which still has its use in the world but that's not what he's hailed for.
It is a pet peeve of mine when biographers speculate on the person's personality or motives and John O'Neill did that quite often so I was bothered by his writing while reading. I think biographers ought to simply tell the story, tell it well, and let the reader draw whatever conclusions on the person as he or she may. By comparison, I'm reading Master of the Senate about LBJ right now as well and Robert Caro is brilliant.
However, my attitude changed in the last chapter when Tesla says "Mr. O'Neill, you understand me better than anyone in the world." I suppose he can speculate.
I share a deep-seeded belief with Tesla, that a person has a sort of human or divine duty to do in some capacity what he or she is good at. And if you are endowed with such magnificent gifts at Tesla I would hope you feel the same compulsion to share them with the world and the same happiness in using them. He is a wonderful and fascinating person and I want to read at least one more biography to get a fuller picture.
Tesla was a brilliant inventor and visionary in electricity and telecommunications (though hardly receives credit outside the scientific world), all stemming from the discovery of one "truth of overwhelming importance for the advancement of humanity." "That this planet, with all its appalling immensity, is to electric current virtually no more than a more than a small metal ball... A telegraphic message, almost as secret and non-interferable as a thought, can be transmitted to any terrestrial distance, the sound of the human voice, with all it's intonations and inflections, faithfully and instantly reproduced at any point of the globe, the energy of a waterfall made available for supplying light... Humanity will be like an ant heap stirred up with a sick. See the excitement coming." - Tesla, 1900. And Edison was just the worst! Total venture capitalist exploiter which still has its use in the world but that's not what he's hailed for.
It is a pet peeve of mine when biographers speculate on the person's personality or motives and John O'Neill did that quite often so I was bothered by his writing while reading. I think biographers ought to simply tell the story, tell it well, and let the reader draw whatever conclusions on the person as he or she may. By comparison, I'm reading Master of the Senate about LBJ right now as well and Robert Caro is brilliant.
However, my attitude changed in the last chapter when Tesla says "Mr. O'Neill, you understand me better than anyone in the world." I suppose he can speculate.
I share a deep-seeded belief with Tesla, that a person has a sort of human or divine duty to do in some capacity what he or she is good at. And if you are endowed with such magnificent gifts at Tesla I would hope you feel the same compulsion to share them with the world and the same happiness in using them. He is a wonderful and fascinating person and I want to read at least one more biography to get a fuller picture.
May 25, 2010
They don't write biographies like this any more. But the crazed gushing style, weird sexism, and total lack of documentation make this strangely fun. I don't believe anything in this book, but I still enjoy reading it.
I really liked the bit where at a young age, Tesla made a 16 Junebug powered motor, and the son of an Army commander comes over and eats all of Tesla's spare bugs. This whole book is just that weird.
-0-
Finished it. Tesla was an amazing man, with a towering intellect and enormous flaws. The worst seemed to be he stopped learning after his success with alternating current. He even railed against the existance of subatomic particles.
The AC current that comes from every wall socket in the world comes from generators that are still based on his designs. He changed the world as much as Edison, but died in obscurity.
His last days were very sad, the only love he ever showed was to a lady pigeon.
If he had taken on a business partner and kept up with science, he might have changed the world over and over again.
I really liked the bit where at a young age, Tesla made a 16 Junebug powered motor, and the son of an Army commander comes over and eats all of Tesla's spare bugs. This whole book is just that weird.
-0-
Finished it. Tesla was an amazing man, with a towering intellect and enormous flaws. The worst seemed to be he stopped learning after his success with alternating current. He even railed against the existance of subatomic particles.
The AC current that comes from every wall socket in the world comes from generators that are still based on his designs. He changed the world as much as Edison, but died in obscurity.
His last days were very sad, the only love he ever showed was to a lady pigeon.
If he had taken on a business partner and kept up with science, he might have changed the world over and over again.
February 6, 2017
The author of this book, James O'Neill, was clearly infatuated with Tesla. I've read a couple of other biographies of Tesla, so a lot of it was repeated, but I feel that this version does hold more depth. Two new facts I didn't know: Tesla had a phobia of pearls and a deep love for pigeons.
If you're going to read a biography of Nikola Tesla, read this one.
If you're going to read a biography of Nikola Tesla, read this one.
April 23, 2011
This book deserves 5 stars for informational content but inconsistent storytelling brought the score down for me. Once I pressed through the markedly absurd though graspingly humorous hero-worship of the first section, I was enthralled with tremendous accomplishments of the historical enigma that Tesla has become. If the author is accurate in his portrayal of Tesla's discoveries then Tesla is certainly worthy of the cultic endearment that's developed in modern times. Late in the book, the author unfortunately injects much of his own philosophies in attempting to understand and even excuse some of Tesla's behaviors, when I felt he should have simply stuck to the facts. The science was explained well though, and I became immensely interested in discovering more about the processes that Tesla undertook. I had heard rumors previously of late-life insanity that Tesla perhaps took part in with birds, but I thought it was portrayed well by the author, and I felt the sympathy for which the author was clearly striving to reach. I would absolutely point other readers interested in Tesla to this book, with a warning, to perhaps read between the lines of friendly affection for which the author held for Tesla. Fascinating stuff though.
March 17, 2012
This book reads like a verbal masturbation of Dr. Tesla's career. I am a huge fan of Nikola Tesla's research, but O'Neill really takes it far beyond "doting fanboyism". The first half of the book (especially the War of the Currents chapters) was a terrific read, the latter half became quite a chore as the author started getting into the more technical details of Tesla's projects. What was most frustrating, is the almost apologetic nature of the author's tone towards Tesla's shortcomings. This combined with O'Neill's tendency to defer to "TESLA DID IT WITH ALL THE HAND-WAVY MAGIC THINGS FIRST" as an explanation for modern technology really caused the book to suffer.
August 15, 2022
This book was written in 1944 by Tesla's friend John O'Neill. Although the author has made a sincere and serious effort to bring out the real Tesla, he only seems to have scratched just the surface. Albeit it is not a reflection on the biographer, just that Tesla was a complicated human being and was extremely reserved. He wrote very little as everything was commissioned to his impeccable and unfailing memory. A lot of Tesla was taken by Tesla to his grave.
Towards the end, due to lack of anecdotal evidences, the biographer seems to have resorted to coloring Tesla with his spiritual palette and brush, thereby excusing himself of scientifically analyzing Tesla's methods. I am sure part of the success could be epiphany, but most definitely Tesla had to have a method of investigation, which was left untouched by the biographer.
Inexcusable is the lack of inclusion of any photos. Not sure if it was possible back in 1944 to include photos in the book. I am not sure if it is my version of the book that omitted them, because the biographer has acknowledged some individuals towards the end for the photos.
To sum up it is an extremely good read to get a up close ( as much as Tesla permits ) to machinations and the working of the Enigma that is Nikola Tesla.
Must read for his fans....
Towards the end, due to lack of anecdotal evidences, the biographer seems to have resorted to coloring Tesla with his spiritual palette and brush, thereby excusing himself of scientifically analyzing Tesla's methods. I am sure part of the success could be epiphany, but most definitely Tesla had to have a method of investigation, which was left untouched by the biographer.
Inexcusable is the lack of inclusion of any photos. Not sure if it was possible back in 1944 to include photos in the book. I am not sure if it is my version of the book that omitted them, because the biographer has acknowledged some individuals towards the end for the photos.
To sum up it is an extremely good read to get a up close ( as much as Tesla permits ) to machinations and the working of the Enigma that is Nikola Tesla.
Must read for his fans....
April 10, 2009
The book is well written and vivid with detail about Tesla's life and experiments. I am not, however, a scientist at heart and skimmed much that dealt with the details of his discoveries and inventions. O'Neill clearly revered the scientist, though he refrains from all-out hero worship by including critiques from the broader scientific community, and acknowledging many of Tesla's personal faults (disinterest in remaining financially solvent, a disinterest in other scientists in his field, and Edison in particular). As an historian, I did, however, find the book an interesting artifact, a product of the period with a writing style to match. Recently I have interacted with texts that were conceived and completed in the past, and which might be viewed in a different light if produced today. As such, I found it almost as interesting to look at O'Neill's take on Tesla, as well as Tesla's work itself, from my current perspective--what would these two men think if they saw the world as it is today? And, how does the period in which each man lived inform their behavior and actions? Although this book held little interest for me beyond the historiographic dimension, for one interested in electrical engineering, physics, or a scientist interested in the period in which Edison presented his discoveries, this is very readable and not unengaging.
August 6, 2016
This detailed account of the life of Nikola Tesla, the genius behind alternating current and a host of other inventions, would be of great interest to the science-minded reader. While the nuances of the experiments conducted by Tesla are part-and-parcel of this account, the real value of this book is in the description of the social, political and economic environment of the time. Anecdotes about how Tesla's environment was shaped by Bell, Marconi, Hertz, Faraday, and Edison among others, place his great work in context and show how it was affected by other inventors and industrial magnates (e.g. J.P Morgan). The accounts of some of his experiments, like the vibrating mechanism that literally shook lower Manhattan and his tower on Long Island for world wireless communication are fascinating. Now that the site of Tesla's lab on Long Island has been acquired by a group interested in preserving his legacy, this book is especially appropriate.
December 10, 2007
A bit of a slog to get through but Tesla's life is worth reading about. The day I finished reading it I was in Manhattan for business and quite accidentally found myself at the corner 40th Street and 6th Avenue, officially known as “Nikola Tesla Corner”. It works that way with Tesla...
July 25, 2021
Audiobook.
Polecam bardzo, bo Tesla był niesamowicie intrygujący (i genialny!), a biografia została napisana przez osobę, która go znała.
Polecam bardzo, bo Tesla był niesamowicie intrygujący (i genialny!), a biografia została napisana przez osobę, która go znała.
December 31, 2021
398-The Life of Nikola Tesla-John O'Neill-Biography-1943
Barack
2021/12/31
" The Life of Nikola Tesla ", first edition in 1943. It portrays Nikola Tesla as a scientist and public figure and explores how Tesla's father inspired his engineering career. Why Tesla insists on his theory of electricity in the face of opposition. How the shy Tesla managed the social life in New York in the 1890s. The friendship between Tesla and Mark Twain. The story of Tesla losing the Nobel Prize. Tesla is involved in supernatural phenomena and so on.
Nikola Tesla was born in Smiljan, Austrian Empire in 1856, and died in 1943. Studied at the Graz University of Technology. He is known for his contributions to the design of modern alternating current (AC) power supply systems. Before starting his own business, he worked for a while at Edison Machinery Plant in New York City. With the help of partners to finance and market his ideas, Tesla set up a laboratory and company in New York to develop a series of electrical and mechanical equipment. His alternating current (AC) induction motor and related multi-phase AC patents were authorized by Westinghouse Electric Company in 1888, which earned him considerable money and became the cornerstone of the multi-phase system that the company eventually brought to the market.
Tesla tried to develop his patentable and marketable invention. He conducted a series of experiments with mechanical oscillators/generators, discharge tubes, and early X-ray imaging. He also built a wirelessly controlled boat, which was one of the first boats on display in history. Tesla is known as an inventor and demonstrated his achievements to celebrities and wealthy patrons in his laboratory, and is known for his performance skills in public speeches. Throughout the 1890s, Tesla pursued his ideas for wireless lighting and global wireless power distribution in high-voltage, high-frequency power experiments in New York and Colorado Springs. In 1893, he announced the possibility of wireless communication with his device. Tesla tried to put these ideas into practice in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project, intercontinental wireless communications, and power transmitter but ran out of funds before he could complete it.
After Wardenclyffe, Tesla tried a series of inventions in the 1910s and 1920s and achieved varying degrees of success. Tesla spent most of the money, staying in a series of hotels in New York, leaving unpaid bills. He died in New York City in January 1943. After his death, Tesla's work became relatively unknown until 1960, when the Congress of Weights and Measures named the SI unit of magnetic flux density Tesla to commemorate him. Since the 1990s, public interest in Tesla has revived.
John O'Neill was born in the United States in 1889 and died in 1953. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Reporting in 1937.
Table of Contents
FIRST PART LIGHT AND POWER
THE SECOND PART IS FORTUNE AND FAME
THE THIRD PART IS INTERNAL VIBRATION
THE FOURTH PART IS SELF-MADE SUPERMAN
FIFTH PART AFTERGLOW
“SPECTACULAR” IS a mild word for describing the strange experiment with life that comprises the story of Nikola Tesla, and “amazing” fails to do adequate justice to the results that burst from his experiences like an exploding rocket. ”
Perhaps, some people are born with a mission to create. So they can explode with amazing power. The difference between people is sometimes greater than the difference between different species. What kind of soul does the creator of miracles have?
" The light of human progress is not a dim glow that gradually becomes more luminous with time. The panorama of human evolution is illumined by sudden bursts of dazzling brilliance in intellectual accomplishments that throw their beams far ahead to give us a glimpse of the distant future, that we may more correctly guide our wavering steps today. ”
From the perspective of human development, the acceleration of our scientific and technological progress is getting greater and greater, and it seems obvious that certain time nodes are a step. But I think if there is no accumulation of previous quantitative changes, how can there be subsequent qualitative changes?
" Tesla created the modern era; he was unquestionably one of the world's greatest geniuses, but he leaves no offspring, no legatees of his brilliant mind, who might aid in administering that world; he created fortunes for multitudes of others but himself died penniless, spurning wealth that might be gained from his discoveries. ”
Wealth can bring us many things, but some people, do not need wealth, but they are more addicted to other things. For them, managing wealth may be a burden instead?
" Tesla was a superman, a self-made superman, invented and designed specifically to perform wonders; and he achieved them in a volume far beyond the capacity of the world to absorb. His life he designed on engineering principles to enable him to serve as an automaton, with utmost efficiency, for the discovery and application of the forces of Nature to human welfare. To this end he sacrificed love and pleasure, seeking satisfaction only in his accomplishments, and limiting his body solely to serving as a tool of his technically creative mind. "
For some people, the body is a means to enjoy the pleasures of life. For others, the body may be just a container for their soul. Their souls get more pleasure from creation and art than from the world, right?
“Tesla's whole life seems unreal as if he were a fabled creature of some Olympian world. A reporter, after writing a story of his discoveries and inventions, concluded, “ His accomplishments seem like the dream of an intoxicated god. ”
The vast majority of people in this world are ordinary, ordinary minds, ordinary appearances, when geniuses or beauties appear, they always feel that they should not come from the mortal world. But it is precise because of the appearance of these people that we can probably feel the limit that human beings can reach.
" Both father and mother contributed to the child a valuable heritage of culture developed and passed on by ancestral families that had been community leaders for many generations. The father came from a family that contributed sons in equal numbers to the Church and to the Army. The mother was a member of the Mandich family whose sons, for generations without number, had, with very few exceptions, become ministers of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and whose daughters were chosen as wives by ministers. ”
The influence of parents on children is extremely profound. But we have no way to choose where we came from. All we can do is absorb the good parts as much as possible and try to get rid of the bad parts. If possible, make yourself a good parent in the future.
“ TESLA ' S years in school were more important for the activities in which he engaged in after-school hours than for what he learned in the classroom. ”
Classrooms only give children the foundation. If parents feel that everything about their children is managed by the school, everything will be fine. It is undoubtedly an irresponsible practice. As students, we must use the knowledge in the classroom to generate greater value outside the classroom.
February 18, 2016
People who don't like biographies usually don't like how they just talk too long about the boring parts of the persons' lives, like the parts where nothing is happening in an action movie. It just doesn't make people want to continue. Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla by John J. O'Neill is not like that though. I like it because of that since I am one of those people.
The theme of this book is really cool. Usually biographies are about the person. They say “Even though this information about this persons’ family didn’t influence him at all, we are still going to put it here”. This book doesn’t do that. The only information the author put in the book is the information that matters to his contributions to the world. It focuses more on what he created than the parts of his life. The different chapters of the book are more about different inventions than they are about different parts of his life. Anyone who reads the book will still know a ton about his life, even though it has a lot abut his inventions.
This book is very descriptive. It is only 318 pages, but the author squeezed a ton of words on every page. The author had an amazing ability to simplify things. Tesla made the most complicated inventions, but the way the author described made it so I actually knew what Teslas’ invention was. One example of this description says “ ‘Spectacular’ is a mild word for describing the strange experiment with life that comprises the story of Nikola Tesla, and ‘amazing’ fails to do adequete justice to the results that burst form his experiences like an exploding rocket. It is the story of the dazzling scintillations of a superman who created a new world.”
Kaden Gordon 7-RED
318 Pages
5th Review
Biography
The theme of this book is really cool. Usually biographies are about the person. They say “Even though this information about this persons’ family didn’t influence him at all, we are still going to put it here”. This book doesn’t do that. The only information the author put in the book is the information that matters to his contributions to the world. It focuses more on what he created than the parts of his life. The different chapters of the book are more about different inventions than they are about different parts of his life. Anyone who reads the book will still know a ton about his life, even though it has a lot abut his inventions.
This book is very descriptive. It is only 318 pages, but the author squeezed a ton of words on every page. The author had an amazing ability to simplify things. Tesla made the most complicated inventions, but the way the author described made it so I actually knew what Teslas’ invention was. One example of this description says “ ‘Spectacular’ is a mild word for describing the strange experiment with life that comprises the story of Nikola Tesla, and ‘amazing’ fails to do adequete justice to the results that burst form his experiences like an exploding rocket. It is the story of the dazzling scintillations of a superman who created a new world.”
Kaden Gordon 7-RED
318 Pages
5th Review
Biography
September 20, 2010
I will start by saying that this edition isn't the one I read; the edition I have was written in 1978 and published by Angriff Press of Hollywood, CA. I didn't see that edition in the choices.
That being said, this was a fast paced, highly intriguing, biography of Nikola Tesla--a truly remarkable person! The book is very much written in journalistic voice with a dash of that early 20th century writing style that I love to read in biographies written at the turn of the century.
The book talks about many of Tesla's main experiments and relates several wonderful stories that I've had the pleasure of relaying to others with lots of fun. So much of the world we inhabit is due to the inventions of this man and his staff!
O'Neill's descriptions of the different phases of Tesla's life, the different laboratories, the traveling Tesla did, the experiments--while not complete in any sense, one can read Tesla himself and be overwhelmed by the technical details about his experiments--,his eccentricities, his loves and hates, and the physical descriptions of Tesla at different points in his life, make this a remarkably addictive and engaging book to read.
The one thing I feel I didn't get out of this book was the sense of personal antagonism held by Tesla toward Edison--and vice-versa--when they were competing between the AC and DC power systems. No doubt, there must be other bios dedicated to such things somewhere. Don't get me wrong; the War of the Currents is certainly within these pages, but perhaps I was looking for something more descriptive.
4.5 solid stars if goodreads would let me. I do recommend.
That being said, this was a fast paced, highly intriguing, biography of Nikola Tesla--a truly remarkable person! The book is very much written in journalistic voice with a dash of that early 20th century writing style that I love to read in biographies written at the turn of the century.
The book talks about many of Tesla's main experiments and relates several wonderful stories that I've had the pleasure of relaying to others with lots of fun. So much of the world we inhabit is due to the inventions of this man and his staff!
O'Neill's descriptions of the different phases of Tesla's life, the different laboratories, the traveling Tesla did, the experiments--while not complete in any sense, one can read Tesla himself and be overwhelmed by the technical details about his experiments--,his eccentricities, his loves and hates, and the physical descriptions of Tesla at different points in his life, make this a remarkably addictive and engaging book to read.
The one thing I feel I didn't get out of this book was the sense of personal antagonism held by Tesla toward Edison--and vice-versa--when they were competing between the AC and DC power systems. No doubt, there must be other bios dedicated to such things somewhere. Don't get me wrong; the War of the Currents is certainly within these pages, but perhaps I was looking for something more descriptive.
4.5 solid stars if goodreads would let me. I do recommend.
August 2, 2012
"During the last three decades of his life, it is probable that not one out of tens of thousands who saw him knew who he was" (308).
Tesla - genius. Not perfect. Full of idiosyncrasies. Not much common sense as far as money goes, OCD-ed, alone for the most of his life but giving up millions to help humanity, modest yet refusing a Nobel Prize (which was never officially awarded, only announced) due to pride. He was not an inventor, or so he would like to think. Instead he contributed fundamentals to science: x rays, the idea of radio, and of course, AC. He didn't give up after a disastrous fire, used his last $5 to feed pigeons, and died alone in a hotel room.
His story is certainly an interesting one worth reading. The writing, though, was not my favorite. The year in which the author wrote the book is evident in the language, and at times it gets quite technical (to me). I'm not sure if O'Neill was biased...
I'm sure I would have gotten much more out of it knowing some basic physics... But either way, still worth my time.
Tesla - genius. Not perfect. Full of idiosyncrasies. Not much common sense as far as money goes, OCD-ed, alone for the most of his life but giving up millions to help humanity, modest yet refusing a Nobel Prize (which was never officially awarded, only announced) due to pride. He was not an inventor, or so he would like to think. Instead he contributed fundamentals to science: x rays, the idea of radio, and of course, AC. He didn't give up after a disastrous fire, used his last $5 to feed pigeons, and died alone in a hotel room.
His story is certainly an interesting one worth reading. The writing, though, was not my favorite. The year in which the author wrote the book is evident in the language, and at times it gets quite technical (to me). I'm not sure if O'Neill was biased...
I'm sure I would have gotten much more out of it knowing some basic physics... But either way, still worth my time.
May 15, 2020
If you are a Tesla freak like me, this is the seminal book to know everything about him. If you are anything other than that, then you're in for a slog. In short, Prodigal Genius' strength and its weakness is in its thoroughness. Unfortunately it includes huge tracts from Tesla's writing, which is...dense. True to all engineer types, Mr. Tesla cares not whether a soul in the world follows a word that he's saying. While I would kill to hear any of these lectures in person, reading them for pages and pages is difficult. If you work your way through it, you will be a smarter, more rounded person by the end. If you don't work your way through it... then I don't blame you.
March 9, 2017
This is the most even-handed biography of Tesla I've read. Rather than blaming his death in poverty on greedy capitalists, it focuses the cause on Tesla himself and his laser-like focus on his research. He could have easily hired someone to act as a business development manager, and continued to spend his efforts where it was truly beneficial; regrettably, even thinking that far on practical matters was not perceived to be worth his time. It's truly a shame that the world lost his brilliance as it did.
May 21, 2016
I found this book incredibly profound even though most of the electricity talk was over my head. Tesla was an amazing person and I was left with a deep what-if feeling at the end. How different would our world be if he had shared his later inventions and ideas? I thought it well written and though this was not a quick read--I frequently took breaks and read more entertaining books-- I really enjoyed this book.
February 24, 2010
I thought this was great, first book I've read about Tesla and a great intro. Written by a friend and contemporary, it takes a bit to get used to the style, but once you realize it, it's a great time machine. Definitely going to read more about Tesla and I find it amazing how forgotten and unrecognized he has become.
August 2, 2011
It was fascinating to read about this amazing man, a true genius, who dedicated his life to science, but whose activity was sadly hindered by financial issues and by the ignorance or envy of other leading scientists. Too bad the technical details were mainly lost on me, as I don't have the necessary background.
February 15, 2016
I really like Tesla but this author is very repetitive and injects himself into the story way too much. I will have to find a better Tesla biography.
5 stars = Yearly re-read
4 stars = Re-read eventually
3 stars = Very Good
2 stars = OK
1 stars = Pass on this one.
0 stars = Couldn't finish it.
5 stars = Yearly re-read
4 stars = Re-read eventually
3 stars = Very Good
2 stars = OK
1 stars = Pass on this one.
0 stars = Couldn't finish it.
July 14, 2008
I couldn't get into the writing of the book. It's very dry and kind of impersonal, even though the writer supposedly knew Tesla very well. It also needs illustrations, for all the technical descriptions of Tesla's inventions for those not mechanically minded.
November 16, 2021
Al sinds mijn jeugd ben ik geïntrigeerd door Nikola Tesla. Alleen al de hoeveelheid patenten (toch de minderheid van uitvindingen die hij neerschreef om te laten registreren) met wereld-veranderende gevolgen plaatsen in de tijd waarin hij leefde is wonderlijk. En dan toch bijna volledig vergeten worden door de geschiedenis tot iemand zijn elektrische auto naar je vernoemt.
Hoewel O'Neill wel wat vervalt in een old-school (ook in schrijfstijl - dit boek is al oud, de twee waren vrienden) fanboy boek, kon ik als lezer niet anders dan weer vol verwondering meeleven met Nikola in zijn tocht naar roem en daaropvolgende hardhoofdige ondergang.
Ontdekken dat hij al in de late jaren 1800 gedetailleerde plannen voor een soort radiobestuurde drones voorlegde aan de Amerikaanse overheid, of zelfrijdende elektrische wagens, maar telkens op hoongelach werd onthaald.
En toch zijn de zaken die hij wel uitvond (zoals de wereldwijd gebruikte wisselstroom, radiobesturing, de inductiemotor, neonlampen, radio, X-rays/radiologie, tesla turbine, draadloze elektriciteit, ...) van zo'n technische innovativiteit dat je er enkel met bewondering naar kan kijken. We spreken dan nog niet van de vele honderden uitvindingen en ideeën die hij nooit verder uitwerkte omdat hij voor alles of niets ging, en de moeite niet wou nemen om kleinschalige concepten te bouwen.
Een mens vraagt zich af wat er allemaal uit zijn hoofd zou gerold zijn als hij niet zo hard was tegengewerkt door geldgewin en corporatisme. (en ook wel door zichzelf natuurlijk)
Hoewel O'Neill wel wat vervalt in een old-school (ook in schrijfstijl - dit boek is al oud, de twee waren vrienden) fanboy boek, kon ik als lezer niet anders dan weer vol verwondering meeleven met Nikola in zijn tocht naar roem en daaropvolgende hardhoofdige ondergang.
Ontdekken dat hij al in de late jaren 1800 gedetailleerde plannen voor een soort radiobestuurde drones voorlegde aan de Amerikaanse overheid, of zelfrijdende elektrische wagens, maar telkens op hoongelach werd onthaald.
En toch zijn de zaken die hij wel uitvond (zoals de wereldwijd gebruikte wisselstroom, radiobesturing, de inductiemotor, neonlampen, radio, X-rays/radiologie, tesla turbine, draadloze elektriciteit, ...) van zo'n technische innovativiteit dat je er enkel met bewondering naar kan kijken. We spreken dan nog niet van de vele honderden uitvindingen en ideeën die hij nooit verder uitwerkte omdat hij voor alles of niets ging, en de moeite niet wou nemen om kleinschalige concepten te bouwen.
Een mens vraagt zich af wat er allemaal uit zijn hoofd zou gerold zijn als hij niet zo hard was tegengewerkt door geldgewin en corporatisme. (en ook wel door zichzelf natuurlijk)
May 8, 2022
ชีวประวัติของ Nikola Tesla นักประดิษฐ์อัจฉริยะที่เขียนโดย John J. O'Neill นักข่าวผู้เป็นเพื่อนกับเทสล่า
ข้อดีคือบรรยายชีวิต ความคิดและที่มาของสิ่งประดิษฐ์ของเทสล่าออกมาได้ละเอียดยิบ เล่าทุกมิติไม่ว่าจะนิสัยส่วนตัวที่ผลักดันให้เขาประสบความสำเร็จและนิสัยหลายอย่างที่ทำให้เขาตกต่ำและชื่อเสียงหายไป
ข้อเสียอันร้ายกาจคือเนื้อหาจงใจยกยอเทสล่าในฐานะศาสดาและกดนักวิทยาศาสตร์/นักประดิษฐ์ท่านอืนเสียมิดไปเลย
ข้อดีคือบรรยายชีวิต ความคิดและที่มาของสิ่งประดิษฐ์ของเทสล่าออกมาได้ละเอียดยิบ เล่าทุกมิติไม่ว่าจะนิสัยส่วนตัวที่ผลักดันให้เขาประสบความสำเร็จและนิสัยหลายอย่างที่ทำให้เขาตกต่ำและชื่อเสียงหายไป
ข้อเสียอันร้ายกาจคือเนื้อหาจงใจยกยอเทสล่าในฐานะศาสดาและกดนักวิทยาศาสตร์/นักประดิษฐ์ท่านอืนเสียมิดไปเลย
April 11, 2020
Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla, Inventor Extraordinary by John J. O'Neill
Series: No
Format: Hardcover
Stars: 4
Recommend: Yes
Would Reread: No
I give honest reviews and all my opinions are my own.
For more of my reviews go to Heavenly High Seas Books
https://heavenlyhighseasbooks.blogspo...
Series: No
Format: Hardcover
Stars: 4
Recommend: Yes
Would Reread: No
I give honest reviews and all my opinions are my own.
For more of my reviews go to Heavenly High Seas Books
https://heavenlyhighseasbooks.blogspo...
November 10, 2019
Не те, шоб дуже цікаво, але для загального розвитку - ок.
Єдине, що напружує - це те, що автор у кожному абзаці пише який Тесла чудовий і геніальний. Це ми і так розуміємо. Але ж ні - треба нагадувати по 10 разів на кожній сторінці.
Єдине, що напружує - це те, що автор у кожному абзаці пише який Тесла чудовий і геніальний. Це ми і так розуміємо. Але ж ні - треба нагадувати по 10 разів на кожній сторінці.
April 10, 2021
The beginning is pretty good and interest waned through the middle. Push through. The finale gives the description of who he was a person. Quite an intriguing individual. Absolute genius who changed the world.
July 18, 2021
Postać barwna i mega inspirująca, ale niektóre rozdziały zbyt techniczne i szczegółowe. Autor czasem też wtrącał własne przekonania np. o zjawiskach paranormalnych. Plus za to, że był blisko Tesli, ale czasem brakowało też spojrzenia na jego dokonania z dzisiejszej perspektywy.
January 20, 2026
Za jakiś czas z chęcią przeczytam biografię Tesli napisaną z większej perspektywy czasu. Książka była opublikowana w 1944 roku, rok po śmierci Tesli. Trzeba oddać autorowi, że jest to bardzo szczegółowy opis życia wynalazcy.
January 23, 2018
Shocking style
Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews