Tesla: Master of Lightning

Rating:
Summary: A WINNING COMBINATION
Review: How could Margaret Cheney (Tesla : Man Out Of Time) and Robert Uth (Tesla : Master Of Lightning) improve upon their past individual works (a book and documentary video, respectively)? By combining their efforts to produce this wonderful book, that's how. The informative text is interspersed with 250 b&w and duotone images that show Tesla and the era in which he excelled. Also included are 36 sidebars that explain some of the technical aspects of Tesla's works. After reading several other works on Tesla, I thought I knew it all. I'm happy to say that this book proved me wrong. Not to be missed by true Tesla fans.

Rating:
Summary: Good Overview, but...
Review: I found this book to be an excellent overview of Tesla's work and life. It's also a quick read. The book successfully conveys the image of Tesla as a remarkable inventor whose work and ideas were at the very forefront of the practical application of electromagnetic theory.

The book plays along uncritically, however, with Tesla's apparently self cultivated image of being a Wizard / Scientist. Many of Tesla's more controversial ideas and clams that were never, and have never been substantiated through experiment, can be dismissed as poppycock. By contrast all of Tesla's successful ideas rest on very firm scientic foundations. The Author makes no attempt to discriminate one from the other. Instead, unsubstantiated claims are sprinkled liberally with vague references to missing documents and political intrigue.

One excellent example of Tesla's tendancy for hyperbole is his claim of having built and tested an oscillator cable of creating earthquakes. Such a claim would have elicited knowing smirks even from 19th century scientists. Anyone doubting the foolishness of such a claim would do well to stay away from earth compactors and jackhammers, lest the Earth itself split in two! The Author(s)' failure to address Tesla's penchant for embellishment and hyperbole, and other odd aspects of Tesla's character (Other than frequent idle speculation on his sexual orientation) makes for a rather flat and onesided presentation.