The Entire Life Story of Tesla & Edison: Giants of Electrical Engineering

The Greatest People, Book 2

By: The History Hour

Narrated by: Jerry Beebe

Length: 2 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

This audiobook includes biographies on the following men: Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison.

Nikola Tesla pursued his ideas for wireless lighting and worldwide wireless electric power distribution in his high-voltage, high-frequency power experiments. Tesla explained the principles of the rotating magnetic field in an induction motor by demonstrating how to make a copper egg stand on end, using a device that he constructed known as the Egg of Columbus and introduced his new steam powered oscillator AC generator. Based on Tesla's new ideas for electrical equipment, including a thermo-magnetic motor idea, Alfred S. Brown and Charles F. Peck formed the Tesla Electric Company.

Nikola Tesla developed an induction motor that ran on alternating current (AC), a power system format that was rapidly expanding in Europe and the United States because of its advantages in long-distance, high-voltage transmission.

There are a lot more to the story than just the light bulb, and there is a lot more to the invention of the light bulb than just Thomas Edison. One thing is for sure that he is still remembered as one of the greatest inventors of all time, and perhaps the greatest that America has ever produced. In truth, Edison was a man who invented a lot of things while bringing about incredible advancements in many other things. With the stock ticker, the telegraph, the light bulb, and motion picture, he may not have invented them, but he improved on them beyond any recognition. They would not be the technologies they were today without Edison’s great mind working on them.

Thomas Edison seems to be remembered these days either the man who invented the light bulb or the man who didn’t. Without knowing any more about him, you are either giving him false praise for something he didn’t do or not taking into account all the other work he did.

©2019 The History Hour (P)2019 The History Hour

Fantastic

I’m only about a quarter way through the book but so far it’s excellent. The subject matter is of course very sensitive but so far I think the author has handled it very delicately which I appreciate.

Best informative.

Awesome books! I’m enjoying listening them as much as the kids are. I’ve recommended to others!

This is a good book if you're looking for an overv

This is a good book if you're looking for an overview of Tesla and Edison but it doesn't go into as much detail as other books on the two inventors.

Being a history buff I really liked this book.

Being a history buff I really liked this book. It put together the story of Hitler in a very easy to comprehend. I have recommended it to friends.

Excellent

There are a lot more to the story than just the light bulb, and there is a lot more to the invention of the light bulb than just Thomas Edison. One thing is for sure that he is still remembered as one of the greatest inventors of all time, and perhaps the greatest that America has ever produced. In truth, Edison was a man who invented a lot of things while bringing about incredible advancements in many other things. With the stock ticker, the telegraph, the light bulb, and motion picture, he may not have invented them, but he improved on them beyond any recognition. They would not be the technologies they were today without Edison’s great mind working on them.

good one

The comparison between Edison and Tesla was amazing. Edison was more of an idea man and Tesla was a genius. Just the difference in their thought process was astounding. Tesla was brilliant and Edison was a hack.

Tesla portion is good. Edison portion is WHACK!

So the Tesla portion is informative and seems accurate and they even reference Tesla's own autobiography. Then the Edison half comes in like a drunk driver in a semi-truck and crashes through and destroys everything.

The Tesla portion is written in a "beginning, middle, end" while the Edison portion bounces around like a dog with ADHD chasing an invisible tennis ball.

And then there are the inaccuracies in the Edison part. Tesla did NOT "invent" AC. Gibbs and Gaulard did. And the "story" of Edison not paying a bet to Tesla is made up. Tesla's own autobiography, mentioned in the first part, even states that this did not happen. This books own admission that Edison made up stories (like the reason for Edison's deafness) reinforces this. There was no "direct rivalry" between Edison and Tesla. The rivraly was between Edison and Westinghouse. Westinghouse didn't hire Tesla to create an AC system to rival Edison's DC system. He hired William Stanley Jr. Tesla invented a brushless AC generator that didn't require a commutator afterwards. Westinghouse bought this patent, but even it needed to be improved upon by Benjamin Lamme before it could be used for the Niagra Fall project.

As for the "Edison killed dogs" part. Wow! Alfred Southwick first use electricity to euthanize dogs and then, in turn, invented the electric chair. And it was Harold Brown that wrote the letter to the N.Y. Post that stated that AC was dangerous and was being used to kill animals. Edison merely hired Brown to further the study of the effects of how lethal AC was, which is how Edison got invloved. This book makes it sound like Edison wen't out and electrocuted the dogs himself!

Poor investigation. Poor writing. Reads like a hit piece from the National Enquirer. The History Hour should be ashamed of themselves.