Tesla

Wizard at War: The Genius, the Particle Beam Weapon, and the Pursuit of Power

By: Marc J. Seifer

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 13 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's Summary

"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 40 years of research and a treasure trove of new information, Tesla: 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.

©2021 Marc J. Seifer (P)2021 Tantor

review from an electrician

this book will educate you on our current way of viewing electrical work. good job Simon, I first listened to a book you read before I became an apprentice electrician. Somehow your voice always brings me back to when my mom and dad were alive, I'd sit on our front porch every morning for an hour and listen to you read books like "girl with the dragon tattoo series".
As always, Simon can make almost any story a good one.

A Footnote to Wizard

Excellent research. Well written. But more of a footnote to his first book, Wizard. Read//Listen to that first before tackling this one.

The story of Tesla with the research behind it.

"My favorite part of this book is all the research that went into it, especially concerning all the recently declassified documents about Tesla, his death, and devices." - Patric Ryan

3/4 good biography of Tesla, 1/4 pseudoscience

Most of the book is an interesting if somewhat disorganized biography of Tesla with a focus on the military applications of his research. The book completely collapses in the last part where Seifer decides to tackle theoretical physics despite not being a physicist. (Seifer’s training is as a parapsychologist. He mostly keeps this separate from his writing until the end but it does lead me to question his research methods.) Seifer has decided that Tesla is right and Einstein and Quantum physicists are wrong and uses this last part to try to prove this, debating relativity theory, the curvature of space time, the ability to go faster than the speed of light, and the non existence of ether and trying to ‘decode’ Tesla’s never published dynamic theory of gravity by looking at other statements he made.

Here’s a sampling of some of Seifer’s arguments in favor of Tesla over Einstein: because we can see an entire galaxy in a photo it is ‘self evident’ than something must travel faster than the speed of light; space cannot be a vacuum because there must be something there for light to propagate; even though Tesla was incorrect that atomic energy couldn’t exist, this doesn’t mean he was actually wrong; human consciousness obviously transcends space and time, thus the speed of light can be overcome; that the earth’s magnetic sphere operates as a unit and so information between the North Pole and the South Pole must be moving faster than light; and so on. Seifer is out of his depth here and doesn’t realize it. His reverence for Tesla and his own parapsychology beliefs lead him to believe that all of modern theoretical physics is wrong and he is right.

Simon Vance’s reading is, as always, excellent. I would listen to him read the phone book and so was willing to listen to him read this drivel. His back catalogue is large enough, though, that others need not buy this audiobook just to hear Simon’s voice. I’ve never written a review on audible before but this book so bothered me that I felt obligated to.

Interesting

A good little read/listen about Tesla. Another book that adds to my collection of stuff to know. Tesla indeed was a very advanced and knowledgeable soul. So much yet to understand, but this book truly gives it a better glimpse into his works.

Amazing story told by an amazing storyteller!

Tesla was an amazing man. I think the world knows that by now. But just HOW amazing? I had no idea! And learning about this man, how he was 100 years ahead of his time, was a thrill for me. I looked forward to every fascinating minute of this read. And Simon Vance was the perfect narrator for this book. To hear him read it, you'd think it was him telling the story himself. He didn't stumble over or mispronounce any of the many foreign and difficult names in this book and I was most impressed with how he spouted the patent numbers of each of Tesla's and many, many others' inventions. It was definitely 5 stars!

Tesla: Beyond Wardenclyffe

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.

Great Listen

I don’t know exactly why the reading of this book was so captivating but it was. Thanks.

Good but I was hoping for something different

first off I have to say that the author cuts his own credibility right off the bat by mentioning his involvement in the series Ancient Aliens. I have not seen the Tesla program to which he attributes himself yet but I will look for that. Having said that, it's quite possible that he is the foremost expert on Tesla since it's basically his life's work.

with regard to the book itself, it's quite interesting and portrays Tesla as an eccentric and possibly slightly nutty individual. That's not to take anything away from Tesla as he is clearly a genius and visionary. but I suppose with that comes the eccentricity that's described in this book.

The focus on the book appears to be Tesla's involvement in war and the ultimate weapon. however the book carries off on many tangents and then attempts to tie them back into the theme of the book.

towards the end I believe that the author delves a little bit too much into speculation. I won't spoil it for those who wish to read the book.