Review from Booklist:
Born in rural Croatia in 1854 and educated as an engineer, Tesla moved to America as a young man and spent his life experimenting and inventing new ways to generate, transport, and use electricity. Often unlucky or unwise in trusting other inventors as well as businessmen in the electrical industry, Tesla enjoyed wealth based on his many patents, yet he died a poor and increasingly eccentric old man. He may not have the name recognition of Marconi, yet according to Aldrich's well-researched account, Marconi actually stole several of Tesla's patented ideas in designing his radio. Aldrich writes involvingly of Tesla's life, while using sidebars to carry information on related topics such as alternating and direct current, the patent system, and Tesla's dream of wireless power. The photos and diagrams are numerous, but oddly (and not particularly attractively) tinged with purple. Back matter includes a time line, source notes for quotes, and lists of books and Internet sites. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved