Synopses & Reviews
Toward the end of the nineteenth century dawned an age, all but forgotten. It was an era of immense flying machines, tall buildings, electric wires and telegraph cables. Miracles of science astonished the masses of Europe and the United States daily. Thomas Edison arose to prominence on an empire of stolen patents. He epitomized the spirit of the industrial age.
Suddenly Edison faced a mysterious rival, the enigmatic genius Nikola Tesla. This Serbian inventor tackled the problem of generating and utilizing alternating current, making Edison's direct current monopoly obsolete. He went on to invent radio before Marconi, develop X-rays and telephonics, and contributed fluorescent and neon lighting, microwave technology and wireless systems for the generation and transmission of current anywhere in the world for free.
His experiments in his Colorado Springs laboratory led to the building of towering Tesla coils, for the generation of artificial lightning, to be harnessed by his technologies. He built Wardenclyffe Tower to power the world on limitless energy and faced sudden financial ruin in 1905 when investor J. P. Morgan withdrew his financial support while claiming exclusive rights to the inventor's works.
Tesla: The Modern Sorcerer is an epic tale of the early age of technology, the climax of the industrial revolution. It is also a fascinating study of one of history's most prodigal geniuses.
Review
"Tesla was demonstrating several different types of induction coils. He lit his tallest high-energy coil, and the audience drew back, awed. Lightning bolts like fiery pythons streamed from the four-foot shaft, supporting a blazing coppery ball. Without a word of warning, Tesla put both his hands on the discharging ball. The audience was horrified. Tesla was consumed in blazing arcs of lightning. When showers of sparks from his head subsided, his hair was standing on end and blazing streamers of current arced from his hair to the faraday cage behind him. He laughed ecstatically."
Tesla's world was dangerous, full of intrigue and high finance. His story roars out of the last years of the nineteenth century into the last years of the Millennium. A novel of their time, for our time.
The inventions: a telephone repeater, rotating magnetic field principle, polyphase alternating current system, induction motor, Tesla coil transformer, wireless communication, radio, flourescent lights...and more than 700 other patents.
The years: 1856 on.
The players:
- Nicola Tesla His alternating current system sought to harness the electrical field of the earth itself and transmit power in signals through the sky, for hundreds of miles.
- Thomas Edison Inventor, entrepreneur, patent pirate, public hero his direct current technology distributed power to hundreds of U.S. cities, but generators had to be close. Protecting his empire at all costs, he has delared war on Tesla.
- John Pierpont Morgan Railroad tycoon and communications monopolist, he usurped rivals effortlessly. His final challenge will be to take control of the life and destiny of the inventor Nikola Tesla.
- George Westinghouse Throwing his financial backing behind Tesla, he underbid Edison to light the World's Colombian Exposition in Chicago, precisely to showcase Tesla's AC polyphase system. He "couldn't afford to have others own the patents."
- Anne Morgan Turning her back on her father's privlege and wealth, she fought for feminism and equality in a quest as visionary as Tesla's. Her love for Tesla challenged her father and struck to her roots.
Synopsis
This expose-like biography presents an intimate portait of Nikola Telsa, the electrcal engineer and inventor who competed against Thomas Edison for new electrical patents and recognition. Stewart shows us the hidden side of Tesla and thrills us with Teslas amazing inventions, including his death rays and the controversial Wardencliff Tower being built on Long Island, New York to broadcast free energy into the atmosphere. Teslas many eccentricities are shown, including his battles with J.P. Morgan, Edison and the F.B.I.
About the Author
Daniel Blair Steward is a novelist and artist who resides in Northern California with his son, River. He is the author of Akhunaton: The Extraterrestrial King, an epic tail of alien contact in ancient Egypt, and Pinnacle (Mendocino Publishing), the saga of a band of UFO abductees lost in a labyrinth of deadly conspiracies. Visit him at www.danielblairstewart.com.