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Tesla: Wizard at War: The Genius, the Particle Beam Weapon, and the Pursuit of Power
In this revelatory new book, the author of the award-winning international bestseller The Life & Times of Nikola Tesla delves deeper into the groundbreaking ideas and astonishing mind of one of the greatest geniuses of modern times . . .“In a few years hence, it will be possible for nations to fight without armies, ships or guns, by weapons far more terrible to the destructive action and range of which there is virtually no limit. Any city at any distance whatsoever from the enemy can be destroyed by him and no power on Earth can stop him from doing so.” —Nikola Tesla, circa 1925 Drawing on forty years of research and a treasure trove of new information, Wizard at War provides a comprehensive view of Tesla’s discoveries, which continue to influence today’s military technology and diplomatic strategies. One of the world’s leading Tesla experts, Marc J. Seifer offers new insight into the brilliant scientist’s particle beam weapon (aka the “Death Ray”) and explores his military negotiations with pivotal historical figures—including his links to Joseph Stalin, Vannevar Bush, General Andrew McNaughton, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. From Tesla’s role in the origins of Star Wars technology and his dynamic theory of gravity, to the real purpose behind the iconic tower at Wardenclyffe, this is an eye-opening account of Tesla’s projects, passions, and ambitions—and an illuminating, important study of one of history’s most intriguing figures.
386 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 30, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
July 31, 2022
Deeply informative
My thanks to the author, Marc Seifer, for an ebook of this work. This retelling of the scientific life of Tesla is a well researched and professionally written work. The author documents his writing with notes and letters Tesla sent and received from many prominent people. He was not always treated well or fairly and died in n debt. This is an interesting work, especially for those with a background and understanding of the science involved.
My thanks to the author, Marc Seifer, for an ebook of this work. This retelling of the scientific life of Tesla is a well researched and professionally written work. The author documents his writing with notes and letters Tesla sent and received from many prominent people. He was not always treated well or fairly and died in n debt. This is an interesting work, especially for those with a background and understanding of the science involved.
July 5, 2021
I was granted audio ARC access to Tesla via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Tesla is one of my favourite historical figures, so I was excited to try out an audiobook biography of this fascinating man. What I got felt more like a summary and exploration of OTHER biographies written about Telsa. This means the reader still gets a lot of great, fascinating information about Telsa, but it doesn't feel like this is the book we should be getting it from.
Tesla is one of my favourite historical figures, so I was excited to try out an audiobook biography of this fascinating man. What I got felt more like a summary and exploration of OTHER biographies written about Telsa. This means the reader still gets a lot of great, fascinating information about Telsa, but it doesn't feel like this is the book we should be getting it from.
February 26, 2022
It's hard to imagine a duller account of a fascinating genius.
July 28, 2021
3.5 stars.
I used to be a science teacher, though Tesla was not one of the figures I usually presented in my classroom. However, I know a little bit about him, probably just his major contributions. I found his battle with Marconi over who really invented the telegraph interesting. I also thought his ideas about weaponry (bombs or missiles, I don't recall) ensuring an end to war very interesting. He was ahead of his time with the "Peace Keeper Missile" theory.
I just stated that I did not recall exactly what he was proposing: bombs or missiles or something else. That is the problem I had with this book. For the most part, I found it rather boring. As a work of nonfiction, I was not expecting an entertaining novel, but my attention wandered. I had to back up the audio file and listen to parts of it again. I listened to over 80% of the book and decided I was finished and could write a fair review.
In my opinion, this book is not for people who want to learn a little something about Tesla. It includes plenty of detail. It is well researched. Readers who are more familiar with Tesla's life and career than I am may have enjoyed this book more. Since it is nonfiction, readers with a specific interest can certainly refer to that topic rather than reading the entire text.
Depending on what you are looking for, this book may be either 3 or 4 stars.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I used to be a science teacher, though Tesla was not one of the figures I usually presented in my classroom. However, I know a little bit about him, probably just his major contributions. I found his battle with Marconi over who really invented the telegraph interesting. I also thought his ideas about weaponry (bombs or missiles, I don't recall) ensuring an end to war very interesting. He was ahead of his time with the "Peace Keeper Missile" theory.
I just stated that I did not recall exactly what he was proposing: bombs or missiles or something else. That is the problem I had with this book. For the most part, I found it rather boring. As a work of nonfiction, I was not expecting an entertaining novel, but my attention wandered. I had to back up the audio file and listen to parts of it again. I listened to over 80% of the book and decided I was finished and could write a fair review.
In my opinion, this book is not for people who want to learn a little something about Tesla. It includes plenty of detail. It is well researched. Readers who are more familiar with Tesla's life and career than I am may have enjoyed this book more. Since it is nonfiction, readers with a specific interest can certainly refer to that topic rather than reading the entire text.
Depending on what you are looking for, this book may be either 3 or 4 stars.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
July 11, 2021
*I received a free copy of this audio book in exchange for my honest review. That has, in no way, affected my review.*
I couldn't really get into this one. The information in it was good, but it was just so dry and hard to follow. I found myself tuning out and having to back up and listen to the same parts over and over again. It wasn't necessarily the narrator; it was more about how it was written. It was just really draggy in parts.
I really couldn't get into it. I finished it, and again, I enjoyed learning about some of the actual factual information, but I didn't enjoy the way that it was presented.
The narrator was fine. It was just the overall pacing of the story. I just couldn't get into it.
I couldn't really get into this one. The information in it was good, but it was just so dry and hard to follow. I found myself tuning out and having to back up and listen to the same parts over and over again. It wasn't necessarily the narrator; it was more about how it was written. It was just really draggy in parts.
I really couldn't get into it. I finished it, and again, I enjoyed learning about some of the actual factual information, but I didn't enjoy the way that it was presented.
The narrator was fine. It was just the overall pacing of the story. I just couldn't get into it.
August 14, 2022
I don't know a lot about Tesla, and after reading this book, I know a bit more, but the way the book was written was disappointing. There seemed to be little editing done. Instead of quoting from Tesla's writings, you get 4 pages of a letter Tesla wrote. I'm still looking for a good biography of Tesla. This wasn't it.
July 24, 2021
I received a free audiobook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The information in this book about Tesla is interesting, and can be explored thoroughly on some of Tesla's greates inventions. However, I would not recommend this to be the first book somebody should pick up when trying to read about Nikola Tesla. This is a book for educated people who have already made a lot of research or read up on Tesla before and know a great deal about him and his experiments. That would certainly make this book a bit more entertaining and understandable.
Having said that, I feel like the narrator Simon Vance did a great job at narrating this book's contents and I enjoyed listening to the audiobook. It is definitely out of my usual choice of genre, so the fact that I enjoyed this might say that a lot of other people who do not know a lot about Tesla's history might also want to pick this up at some point, if they're truly interested. I enjoyed learning about Tesla's role in the origins of Star Wars technology and his dynamic theory of gravity!
The information in this book about Tesla is interesting, and can be explored thoroughly on some of Tesla's greates inventions. However, I would not recommend this to be the first book somebody should pick up when trying to read about Nikola Tesla. This is a book for educated people who have already made a lot of research or read up on Tesla before and know a great deal about him and his experiments. That would certainly make this book a bit more entertaining and understandable.
Having said that, I feel like the narrator Simon Vance did a great job at narrating this book's contents and I enjoyed listening to the audiobook. It is definitely out of my usual choice of genre, so the fact that I enjoyed this might say that a lot of other people who do not know a lot about Tesla's history might also want to pick this up at some point, if they're truly interested. I enjoyed learning about Tesla's role in the origins of Star Wars technology and his dynamic theory of gravity!
September 9, 2022
Tesla invented many things during his lifetime. Some of the things he invented could be used in a war. The most prominent was his particle beam. This is an in depth look at the particle beam, and other inventions and the way that those are still influencing the world, military development, and diplomatic strategies even today.
May 2, 2022
I`ve been curious about Tesla for years and finally got around to listening to an audiobook about his life. At this point, I`m about 95% of the way through the book, and will definitely finish it.
As with many leading-edge scientists, scientific competition took a toll on Tesla`s productivity. It almost seems like he and Edison were two sides of the same coin, with Tesla inventing and Edison hiring productive inventors who were unconcerned about receiving credit for their inventions. Tesla worked for Edison for a short time and left over their disagreement about whether ac or dc was the best form of electricity (later, Tesla won). If Tesla had succeeded in making money on his marketable inventions he would have become extremely wealthy. It seems a crime that this did not happen. The jealousy of his contemporaries actively interfered with his ability to produce and profit from his inventions and this might have deprived the world of an incredible leap forward in technology.
This audiobook gets only 3 stars at this point. While Seifer has definitely done the research and is clearly authoritative on the topic of Tesla, he could have presented turning points in Tesla`s life with more drama. Frankly put, some parts of the book seemed repetitive and I had to keep backtracking through the audiobook because my mind wandered. On the other hand, Simon Vance has done a good job of dramatizing the text, such as it is.
I would have liked to learn more about Tesla`s health problems at the end. Why did he become anorexic, and was nutritional deficiency the ultimate cause of his death? This part was glossed over. While it`s good to know that Tesla lived a long and relatively healthy life, given his single-minded pursuit of scientific invention, it is a mystery why he became skeletal towards the end of his life. Seifer spent far more time discussing how Tesla`s papers and property were siphoned away by interested parties in the government and elsewhere than he did on the conditions leading to Tesla`s death. Looks like I`ll have to listen to at least one other book on Tesla to learn about this troubling part of his life.
As with many leading-edge scientists, scientific competition took a toll on Tesla`s productivity. It almost seems like he and Edison were two sides of the same coin, with Tesla inventing and Edison hiring productive inventors who were unconcerned about receiving credit for their inventions. Tesla worked for Edison for a short time and left over their disagreement about whether ac or dc was the best form of electricity (later, Tesla won). If Tesla had succeeded in making money on his marketable inventions he would have become extremely wealthy. It seems a crime that this did not happen. The jealousy of his contemporaries actively interfered with his ability to produce and profit from his inventions and this might have deprived the world of an incredible leap forward in technology.
This audiobook gets only 3 stars at this point. While Seifer has definitely done the research and is clearly authoritative on the topic of Tesla, he could have presented turning points in Tesla`s life with more drama. Frankly put, some parts of the book seemed repetitive and I had to keep backtracking through the audiobook because my mind wandered. On the other hand, Simon Vance has done a good job of dramatizing the text, such as it is.
I would have liked to learn more about Tesla`s health problems at the end. Why did he become anorexic, and was nutritional deficiency the ultimate cause of his death? This part was glossed over. While it`s good to know that Tesla lived a long and relatively healthy life, given his single-minded pursuit of scientific invention, it is a mystery why he became skeletal towards the end of his life. Seifer spent far more time discussing how Tesla`s papers and property were siphoned away by interested parties in the government and elsewhere than he did on the conditions leading to Tesla`s death. Looks like I`ll have to listen to at least one other book on Tesla to learn about this troubling part of his life.
July 24, 2021
Marc Seifer has done it again. With Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, his extensive and authoritative account of the many accomplishments of Tesla, he singlehandedly plucked the great inventor from near-obscurity and brought him back into public awareness. Now, with Tesla: Wizard at War, Seifer dives deeper, not only revealing new facts about Wardenclyffe, but continues the Tesla story into the war years and beyond. Using many primary sources Seifer’s meticulous research has ferreted out the facts behind Tesla’s political connections, his involvement with the US Navy and Telefunken, and his impassioned efforts to sell his teleforce concepts to world powers in order to end war. This never-before-told story related by the foremost authority on Nikola Tesla, and the intriguing thesis it leads us to is not to be missed.
February 7, 2022
*received for free from netgalley for honest review* really great, long book! worth the read and a book i really want to put on my shelves!
December 21, 2024
I finally read Tesla: Wizard at War; this to me was a deeply enlightening tour through the stormy times of Nikola Tesla's life-that innovator whose eccentricity and brilliance come through almost always clouded by myths born out of very humble beginnings. Having been interested in his personal background, I liked especially how much more I came to know about his unpretentious childhood and just how that modulated his unstoppable curiosity. One of the most salient points this book revealed was how Tesla fell into a gambling habit when he was younger-a fact that really humanizes him. It is so easy to conceptualize Tesla as just a "mad scientist," so the personal vulnerabilities were a nice contrast to that.
From a historian's point of view, the author has done a very good job in weaving together the complex network of Tesla's relationships: his rivalry with Marconi over wireless telegraphy, his dealings with J.P. Morgan to fund and finally destroy the Wardenclyffe Tower, and his fraught attempts to gain support from powerful figures of the time-even among the Germans and FDR's circle. There are times in this book when one feels how Tesla's idealism ran afoul of banking and political practicality, and how heartbreaking such missed opportunities were. The mention of Abafi-a work of literature which he reportedly read-illuminates Tesla's cultural and intellectual influences and proves how wide his scope of interests ran. Despite the scrupulous investigation, the account also relates how Tesla remains a mysterious figure. For all new material that has been excavated, there are matters left hanging that may never resolve-truly fitting for the genius at hand.
On a personal note, it hit home to hear about Tesla spending his final years in the New Yorker Hotel. My father went to the New Yorker recently and sent me a picture from the selfsame halls where Tesla once lived-and I hope to visit someday, too. I am also determined to travel to Belgrade, where Tesla's legacy is celebrated with a museum housing his archives. This book instigated in me the urge to trace Tesla's footprints across continents and time. To put it differently, Tesla: Wizard at War is a very serious historic in-depth analysis and at the same time an excellent portrait of a genius who had to sacrifice on the altar of novelty far too often. Without ado, it will satisfy deeply interested readers in inventions capable of changing the life of humankind, struggling to be heard and having enormous vision; really highly recommended to such persons is this book. Inspiring to read for anyone who wants to learn about the man behind the legend, this book is also a reminder that some of history's most brilliant innovators were also just as flawed and fascinating as the rest of us.
From a historian's point of view, the author has done a very good job in weaving together the complex network of Tesla's relationships: his rivalry with Marconi over wireless telegraphy, his dealings with J.P. Morgan to fund and finally destroy the Wardenclyffe Tower, and his fraught attempts to gain support from powerful figures of the time-even among the Germans and FDR's circle. There are times in this book when one feels how Tesla's idealism ran afoul of banking and political practicality, and how heartbreaking such missed opportunities were. The mention of Abafi-a work of literature which he reportedly read-illuminates Tesla's cultural and intellectual influences and proves how wide his scope of interests ran. Despite the scrupulous investigation, the account also relates how Tesla remains a mysterious figure. For all new material that has been excavated, there are matters left hanging that may never resolve-truly fitting for the genius at hand.
On a personal note, it hit home to hear about Tesla spending his final years in the New Yorker Hotel. My father went to the New Yorker recently and sent me a picture from the selfsame halls where Tesla once lived-and I hope to visit someday, too. I am also determined to travel to Belgrade, where Tesla's legacy is celebrated with a museum housing his archives. This book instigated in me the urge to trace Tesla's footprints across continents and time. To put it differently, Tesla: Wizard at War is a very serious historic in-depth analysis and at the same time an excellent portrait of a genius who had to sacrifice on the altar of novelty far too often. Without ado, it will satisfy deeply interested readers in inventions capable of changing the life of humankind, struggling to be heard and having enormous vision; really highly recommended to such persons is this book. Inspiring to read for anyone who wants to learn about the man behind the legend, this book is also a reminder that some of history's most brilliant innovators were also just as flawed and fascinating as the rest of us.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 19, 2023
Now one of my heroes. I should have had Tesla's poster on my wall growing up instead of Einstein's. Tesla > Einstein. Tesla really only hated one person and that was Einstein. Einstein was a fraudster and complete theoretical quack like string theorists are (check out Einstein's racist diaries; why is it DNA co-discoverer Watson was condemned by the PC police but not Einstein?).
Tesla was the real deal, but rather bad with business decisions and just had some terrible luck. I can't believe how many people stole his inventions. So many! An example of terrible luck was the way his tower was scrapped. But seemed like some of the hardship was good for his soul. The world didn't deserve his work, wasn't ready for it. It was better that he didn't have the money because if he had been fully funded, well, shoot. "Humanity" (bad governments, reflective of an ignorant populace) isn't ready for that kind of technology, we aren't even ready for what we do have now!!! Then again, what did the FBI/CIA learn from his tower/lab/documents that we don't know about?
Without Tesla's influence America would not have won WWI says the author, who was a bit too hostile to Germany for someone who has read ALL points of view on that terrible, unnecessary war. Yet he worked for Telefunken before it? But through all the ideas stolen from him in America is what is meant...
A war we should never have gotten involved in. If US had not been involved in WWI, there would have been no terrible Versailles Treaty which set the pace for WWII (not to mention Wall St. and City of London funding through IG FARBEN). It's all about cleaving Germany away from Russia, do we not see that now? Nordstream 2?! And when Putin said the Anglos he meant England. Perfidious Albion.
I agree with Telsa on the matter of the ether so far, but I need to challenge the idea further. I question some other things too, like Einstein's "relativity" but won't get into it here. No pearls before swine.
Tesla was the real deal, but rather bad with business decisions and just had some terrible luck. I can't believe how many people stole his inventions. So many! An example of terrible luck was the way his tower was scrapped. But seemed like some of the hardship was good for his soul. The world didn't deserve his work, wasn't ready for it. It was better that he didn't have the money because if he had been fully funded, well, shoot. "Humanity" (bad governments, reflective of an ignorant populace) isn't ready for that kind of technology, we aren't even ready for what we do have now!!! Then again, what did the FBI/CIA learn from his tower/lab/documents that we don't know about?
Without Tesla's influence America would not have won WWI says the author, who was a bit too hostile to Germany for someone who has read ALL points of view on that terrible, unnecessary war. Yet he worked for Telefunken before it? But through all the ideas stolen from him in America is what is meant...
A war we should never have gotten involved in. If US had not been involved in WWI, there would have been no terrible Versailles Treaty which set the pace for WWII (not to mention Wall St. and City of London funding through IG FARBEN). It's all about cleaving Germany away from Russia, do we not see that now? Nordstream 2?! And when Putin said the Anglos he meant England. Perfidious Albion.
I agree with Telsa on the matter of the ether so far, but I need to challenge the idea further. I question some other things too, like Einstein's "relativity" but won't get into it here. No pearls before swine.
August 15, 2022
Tesla was a genius inventor more than a century ahead of his time who worked on many projects that he wanted to create an atmosphere where there was no more war. He worked on his projects through numerous European wars including The Great War and WW2. His projects include automatons, binary code, mixed radio frequencies, and remote control. Millennials have a smaller sense of wonder about many of his visionary projects because they have no idea how we managed to survive with transistor radios, landlines, no TV or garage door remotes. And some of the information has only been declassified in the last decade. There are many high-profile money people showcased as his backers and even a nod to Hedy Lamarr, the actress/inventor. While the aspect of his naval/military war contributions comprises only a part of the book, I found it more than interesting!
I requested and received a free e-book copy from Kensington Books/Citadel via NetGalley. Thank you!
I requested and received a free e-book copy from Kensington Books/Citadel via NetGalley. Thank you!
August 19, 2022
I was intrigued by this book and was happy to have been granted a review copy from NetGalley.
Tesla was ahead of his time and I've always been interested in some of his lesser known experiments. This book gave me that information.
Even with being quite interested in Tesla, I kind of had to slog through many chapters of this book. Some of the writing was dry and even when there was an amazing bit of history, there was no amazing writing to go with it.
I'm happy I have more information on Nikola Tesla than I did before, and knowing this was not fiction, I get the writing style. I just wish the things Tesla invented or helped invent would have been given a more reader friendly voice.
Tesla was ahead of his time and I've always been interested in some of his lesser known experiments. This book gave me that information.
Even with being quite interested in Tesla, I kind of had to slog through many chapters of this book. Some of the writing was dry and even when there was an amazing bit of history, there was no amazing writing to go with it.
I'm happy I have more information on Nikola Tesla than I did before, and knowing this was not fiction, I get the writing style. I just wish the things Tesla invented or helped invent would have been given a more reader friendly voice.
December 23, 2022
More or less what I expected. I am fascinated by Tesla and all he accomplished, yet others stole the honors he deserved. Books of this nature tend to take me a long time to get through being on the dry side. But like I stated that's what I expected. I was rewarded by so many people and situations I had no idea belonged in Tesla's history. What could a man like Tesla accomplish in today's world? With people that are ready to try thing outside of the so-called rules. Marc thank you for you deep devotion to this man.
January 30, 2023
This started off weird, then had a sort of OK middle to it. What about the 80% mark heavily into physics that I just had to skim through, and it ended about as weird as it started. I just really don’t know what to make of Nikola Tesla. Clearly he was a genius, but it was often hard to tell what was fantasy, and what was real. I’m not sure it was worth 20 days to get through it. I’m also not sure why the author wrote two books on him, after his PhD thesis.
February 20, 2025
I've always been fascinated with Tesla, and this book focused largely on his contributions to war efforts--well, his goal to completely eradicate war and establish lasting peace. I found the book enlightening but a tough read because of the technical discussions. I'm impressed with Seifer's astonishing amount of research (the book ends with 35 pages of footnotes!). If you don't mind the dense writing and want to learn more about Tesla, I'd recommend this book.
July 29, 2025
This book was pretty enjoyable near the beginning but became extremely boring towards the middle. Once the book got the physics section the bias towards incorrect physics seemed apparent. Tesla's theories were not too bad for his time but with Marc's modern information available seemed to ignore all fact and seemed to me to just blindly side with Tesla that all of his ideas we law. I could have interpreted this wrong but that's just me.
August 31, 2022
This is part biography, part interest in Tesla's inventions, and part interest in some of his theories. I definitely learned more about Tesla and his times, but the book was terribly disorganized, jumping from subject to subject and from time period to time period. It could have stood more coherence.
October 1, 2022
Very interesting and eccentric scientist who travelled in the right circles but financially was not very capable. It appears he had a lot of opportunities and just made poor choices. There is a lot of repetition in this audiobook but overall very fascinating man who definitely was instrumental in the world of electricity.
December 8, 2022
Somewhat complicated book to read for a summary of Tesla’s contributions, this is a book written by a Tesla author who had already written books and a thesis about him, so if you are looking for a Tesla summary go to earlier books. But I enjoyed this esp. because I had recently read a book about Marconi who he competed with and there was quite a bit on this subject.
March 3, 2024
Somewhere I am missing my write up. Were is this PhD’s research or FOIA request from the FBI, CIA about why they pulled his security clearance?
Very good book overall if you have already read about Tesla because the author just assumes you know the story and try to answer without foundation or an initial question or discussion.
Vibrations within / of the aether = light
Very good book overall if you have already read about Tesla because the author just assumes you know the story and try to answer without foundation or an initial question or discussion.
Vibrations within / of the aether = light
May 20, 2023
Technical bio of Nikola Tesla
Poorly written, not for the general reader. The author concentrates on technical matters and in the end seems to espouse some discredited theories on the ether.
Poorly written, not for the general reader. The author concentrates on technical matters and in the end seems to espouse some discredited theories on the ether.
August 1, 2022
Marc Seifer's books about Tesla are fascinating, and Marc is a joy to speak with. I'll be posting my audio interview with Marc for Smithsonian Associates soon. Stay tuned...thank you, Marc!
January 2, 2023
It was ok. Not what I expected.
September 29, 2023
Interesting read
This was an interesting read. I learned a lot about Tesla. Many of the technologies of today can be traced back to Tesla's patents.
This was an interesting read. I learned a lot about Tesla. Many of the technologies of today can be traced back to Tesla's patents.
October 8, 2023
I found this biography to be disorganized and confusing.
September 2, 2024
Never seen a non-fiction book with so many exclamation marks or references to TV shows. I don’t trust much of what I just read.
Read
June 7, 2025DNF at 25%. The fact I lasted this long is because I love the narrator. But is only more proof that biographies probably never will be a thing for me.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews