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)

Great narrative history.

A bit long and tedious at times, but a great history and performance. The speculative nature of some of the book simultaneously detracts from the biographical aspect, yet enriches the narrative.

Excellent !

Ah what a great read and listen!Tesla was truly amazing ,so amazing that a character like his only comes around once every century a modern saint

A man before his time

A great book with lots of insight into Tesla and his creations. Our modern world would be very different without his inventions.

Often confusing storylines

While this book is full of information there is much to be wished for in the way it is organized and presented. For example, in order tonfully appreciate the battles over patents and ideas it is essential to have an at least principle understanding of the differences between operating mechanisms. The author does not provide near enough if that which makes it frustrating to hear about the litigations without a deeper understanding of the main arguments. Similarly, the author assumes often knowledge of period history I did not have. That too added to my frustration. A great example of a biography that also delivers the necessary basics of complex science is Isaacson's Einstein biography.

The Rise and Fall of an archetypal "Mad Scientist"

Listening to this absolutely fantastic biography of Nikola Tesla just makes me want to shake my head in sadness and disbelief. His great genius was literally raped by all the money moguls of Wall Street, and Edison? Shame on him! Of course Tesla was at times his own greatest enemy -- not patenting crucial inventions because he wanted to "save the world". Altruism is great in theory, but money talks. If Tesla had had business savvy, he might not have died penniless and alone.

Seifer's book brings to life the clutching, grabbing and clawing for fame and recognition that went on in the early part of the last century that has, unbelievably, finally put mankind in the position that it is now. Cell phones, the worldwide internet -- name just about every electronic device we use today -- and Tesla's inventive genius was the fuel that guided it.

I checked out Wikipedia after I read this book, and Seifer's in-depth portrayal of Tesla is spot on, and rounds out this amazing personality/wizard in such a way that I feel cheated that this man did not have a better and more charitable response to his genius.

Simon Prebble's narration was just fine, although since there was very little dialogue, per se, I wondered why he felt he had to use accents. They weren't really necessary.

Amazing Story - Too much psycho analysis!!

If you could sum up Wizard in three words, what would they be?

It's a great tale of Nikola and gives many insights to his life I never knew about. But the last hour or two of the book had way too much psycho analysis from the writer. It should have been left out.

What about Simon Prebble’s performance did you like?

Great Narrator. Did a great job.

way more info than I expected or wanted

way more info than I expected or wanted. It took forever to get through but the narrator was good

Great informative book

I loved this book and although it v quite long it is chock full of facts and details about the amazing wizard.

Finally a Tesla Audiobook

What did you love best about Wizard?

At last an audiobook about Nikola Tesla. I've always been interested in Tesla, but just didn't have the time or energy to read one of his many biographies, I guess you could say everything I know about Tesla, I learned from Wikipedia. But the Seifer book is enjoyable enough to listen to leisurely, but detailed enough to hold my scientific interest. I loved the British accent on the reader, who I've heard before, but not sure where. He makes everything seem so profound.

What did you like best about this story?

I liked the psychological angle, Dr. Seifer is a psychologist and that tends to humanize Tesla instead of getting bogged down in all the bells and whistles of his inventions. This is really a story of men behaving both badly and wizardly (so to speak). After listening to Wizard, I feel that Tesla has become 3 dimensional for me, while Edison remains 2 dimension. That probably isn't fair to Edison, but he just seems like a guy who invents a lot of neat things, while Tesla has so much more going on in his personality.

Which scene was your favorite?

Everything to do with Edison is great. In someways this is Gates v Jobs only a century earlier, (not sure who is who) These two characters are archetypes and the differences get played out in so many fascinating ways. I also really like the theories about extra-terrestrial origins, which of course remain a little too far out to be taken seriously.

Any additional comments?

The fact that Tesla invented the foundations of the electrical era is old news. What is really interesting is that he is also the father of the wireless era of the internet, cellphones, and even those new swirly CFL light bulbs. The Seifer book paints with a broad enough stroke to encompass that fact without getting stuck merely on Tesla's electricity contributions. I think listening to the Seifer Tesla book has gotten me ready to tackle the Steve Jobs biography next, one tends to flow effortless into the other.

Exhilarating

True life reading like a scifi novel. Ending with the familiar promise of more chapters.