Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla » (Reprint)

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, Wizard is the definitive biography of the man considered by many to be the founding father of modern electrical technology. Wizard reveals the details of Tesla's struggles with competing contemporary inventors such as Edison, Steinmetz, and Marconi and with financial giants such as J. P. Morgan and John Jacob Astor as they were underwriting his laboratory work. (Tesla even worked for the Edison Company for several years.). Wizard brings to the fore an extraordinary man and recreates his life during one of the most exciting and innovative eras in America's history. The book is illustrated with 16 pages of photographs and drawings, including the July 20, 1931, Time magazine cover for an issue celebrating the inventor's career.

Scientific American

The story of one of the most prolific, independent and iconoclastic inventors of this century is a fascinating one. . . . The author presents much new material. . . [and] bases his book on a large number of archival and primary sources. . . . Underneath the layers. . . the core of Seifer's book is a serious piece of scholarship.