Wizard

The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla: Biography of a Genius

By: Marc J. Seifer

Narrated by: Simon Prebble

Length: 22 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

Nikola Tesla (1856-1943), credited as the inspiration for radio, robots, and even radar, has been called the patron saint of modern electricity. Based on original material and previously unavailable documents, this acclaimed book is the definitive biography of the man considered by many to be the founding father of modern electrical technology. Among Tesla's creations were the channeling of alternating current, fluorescent and neon lighting, wireless telegraphy, and the giant turbines that harnessed the power of Niagara Falls.

©1996 Marc J. Seifer (P)2011 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Seifer's vivid, revelatory, exhaustively researched biography rescues pioneer inventor Nikola Tesla from cult status and restores him to his rightful place as a principal architect of the modern age." ( Publishers Weekly)

The Man History Forgot

Would you listen to Wizard again? Why?

Yes, because there are a lot of things to digest although very interesting.

Any additional comments?

I really enjoyed learning more about Tesla of course, but I also liked learning about his contemporaries and how there histories were interwoven.

If you work with electronic equipment......

Where does Wizard rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

At number 2.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Tesla of course

What about Simon Prebble’s performance did you like?

He did well with the different characters and did not sound like a dufus when he did an impersonation.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

The Forgotten Magician of Electricity.

An objective overview of the legendary wizard

This a biography of Nikola Tesla as well as historical review of the times and events during and after his life.

interesting biography

an interesting biography of a man that should be better known and could have accomplished so much more with a little more help.

Dense

This was quite a hard read, due to its length of 22 hours and dense descriptions of Tesla's machines and devices. Having read many Tesla biographies and books before this, it almost confused me. The narrator also made this book quite hard to listen to due to his overpronunciation of the letter 's' no matter where in the word the letter was.

While the majority of the information was good, I disagree with Seifer's conclusions. One being that Tesla was homosexual; Seifer's argument hinges on the point that Tesla didn't like sex (Tesla often being accepted as asexual), but due to his mother's rejection after his brother's death, Tesla specifically rejected women. His second conclusion continues in the same vein, attributing much of Tesla's strange eccentric behaviours, including his love of pigeons and his germophobia to his brother's death while Tesla was a child. Much of Seifer's arguments were unsubstantiated and farfetched which stretched this book beyond credibility.

Best Biography Yet

This is literally the most inspirational and educational biography I have ever read. It is extremely thorough and expensive covering everything from personality to the actual science of his inventions. Nothing is missing.

Tremendous Tesla

Loved listening to be educated and enthralled by a great narrator and terrific story of one of the greatest minds the world has ever known. The audio book covers Tesla from cover to cover leaving no stone unturned.

Tesla- a man ahead of his time

He was a man ahead of his time and paid the penalty for it. self sacrifice and poor business skills became his undoing.

excellent story of a misunderstood legend

Siefer delivers a concise and entertaining recollection of the life and mystery of Tesla allowing the reader to ultimately decide on what Tesla was really up to over his last decades.

I'm not a book critic but I really enjoyed this

loved it and the big monitor manually the game of the office until I get