kurtwombat's Reviews (902)

This is not a traditional autobiography. Much of it is culled from separate articles that Tesla wrote more to feed the publicity machine of the time than as considered self assessments. There is not much historical context, plotting a life in the usual ABC fashion or weighing of fact vs. fiction that gives traditional biographies their heft. What is left in this slim volume is more of a mold than a statue—the assumed perception of his own greatness vs. building a case brick by brick of proving it. Instead he concentrates more on the process of how he approached his work. How his strict religious upbringing instilled a love of learning and the discipline to pursue it even though that learning did not lead to a life in the clergy that his parents had hoped for. This love and discipline plus feeling the need to succeed on behalf of a brother who died young, created the drive to work through the problems that challenged him. The one thing he wanted said of himself in the end was that he worked harder than anyone else.

While the most pivotal inventor of the 20th century, Tesla lacked Edison’s business acumen and knack for self promotion. So despite surpassing Edison in genius, he lost the race for fame, financing and fortune. While his name remains cool and does have some cachet, his business impact can be felt mostly through a little company called Westinghouse. A young company when Tesla was in his prime, they recognized his genius and gave a home to his most valuable patents. He countered Edison’s volatile Direct Current with his safer Alternating Current (AC). (For interesting reading, look for anything about the battle between AC & DC to decide which would be lighting the homes of the world—and the lengths Edison was willing to go to win that battle. I will just say that his afterlife will not be lit by electricity but rather by the fires of some very southern location.)

Ultimately Tesla’s genius would be squandered on projects that would either lead nowhere or were as in the case of his grandest effort, wirelessly transmitting electricity—still ahead of their time. (What company is going to support research on a method to provide free energy to the world?) MY INVENTIONS is a very interesting look at the mindset and process of inventing but shirks much discussion of his shortcomings or discussing what might have been. Even though you feel the electricity without seeing the light here, it is a very tasty teaser for checking out a longer biographical work.

Some other area impacted by Tesla:

--> Created the first flourescent lights
--> Greatly influenced how X-Rays were used
--> His Tesla Coil drew electricity from the earth's magnetism
--> Invented the radio years before Marconi
--> Invented radio remote control
--> Invented the electric motor (does not require ignition)
--> Invented the Ruby Laser.
And more...

Most popular entertainment runs full speed ahead—no time to breath or think. Often commotion is created simply to distract from the fact that all the balls have been thrown in the air but no one is actually juggling—there is no art. In a Longmire novel, the world has a slower pace. Like the landscape he inhabits, there is time for quiet introspection—the reader resets their pulse to the pace of the Longmire’s world. When the pace does quicken, you feel it. It is natural and organic to the story. It is not commotion for the sake of motion. This was not quite as true as usual with Craig Johnson's Longmire novel ANY OTHER NAME. I still enjoyed the read but there was a false note that bothered me throughout the story. Longmire’s daughter is about to deliver his first grandchild on the other side of the country and everyone wants him to be there. While this is human and intended to add urgency to the story, this point is driven far into the ground. Longmire's life is in danger on several occasions making the demands of his daughter feel irritating and even irrational. Despite this, ANY OTHER NAME is still quite enjoyable. There are fantastic set pieces of action (including a gripping segment with a coal train being loaded and an old west saloon style shootout with a twist) as well as plenty of vintage Longmire dialogue and cleverly hewn characters. A favorite of mine, Longmire's old boss Lucian Connally, gets more than his usual page time here as Longmire investigates the apparent suicide of an old friend who may be connected to the disappearance of several women. A worthy entry, but just a notch below some of the other Longmire books.

When I might have been reading as a young child, I was watching movies instead. When I finally started reading in my teens, instead of literature aimed at my age group, including Comic Books of all stripes, I dove straight into literature with a capital "L". My first books were THE GRAPES OF WRATH, CATCH 22, and THE HUMAN FACTOR by Graham Greene and I never looked back. In the past couple years though I have discovered the Graphic Novels or Comics that I did not read back in the day. Now WATCHMEN and MAUS are among my favorite books. My relative lack of knowledge led me to read a book cover to cover that I might have otherwise just dipped into from time to time like a reference book: 500 ESSENTIAL GRAPHIC NOVELS. This is a marvelously valuable reference sturdily bound for constant access and book marking--even wedging your foot between pages. Organized by genre, the best of the best is displayed page after page with each book's cover usually a half page tall and often there are brief samples of the work displayed as well. Each has a synopsis and review rating--for quality and age appropriateness. There are indexes to allow searches by titles, artists, writers and publishers. While these are nifty, they aren't perfect. I did notice a few omissions while referencing back and forth. Another odd thing is that the reviews don't always seem to match the star rating given to a particular work. Don't know if these were done independent of each other but it occasionally seemed that way. Each genre subheading has a nice introduction but something I missed was a more comprehensive piece talking about the best graphic novels over all. I may be addicted to lists, but I would have liked a top ten of each genre and then one overall. Sometimes also it was not clear when the original publication date of the work was when they are rating a recent reprint or new collection of older works. But these small quibbles aside, quite the invaluable reference book for someone who knew virtually nothing before I started reading it and I imagine it would hold more than a few surprises for even more hardcore readers.

As a child I voraciously consumed the original Twilight Zone. Loved every episode where expectations were shattered under the hammer of a twist ending. There was one however, that as a small child I always felt I was missing something. That episode, FIVE CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF AN EXIT, was about five people in various costumes (soldier, ballerina, etc) who find themselves in a cylindrical room with no memories and no doors. What I didn’t know then was that it was inspired by SIX CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF AN AUTHOR (Pirandello) and NO EXIT (Sartre). Knowing this now gives the episode greater texture but as a kid I only knew that there was something deeper there that I couldn’t grasp yet. And I like that feeling—finding myself in depths I don’t quite understand.

I would not normally approach a young adult novel like THE ALEX CROW with expectations of depth, but as I began the novel it teased me to hope. The thought process of the main character and how his approach to the world was shaped by the atrocities that he lived through is very well presented. His interaction with authority, fellow refugees and newly adopted family all engaging and as often funny as tender. Rooted in paranoia of clandestine government research into technological terrors, the novel sports some nifty sci-fi creations (especially the title creation). The narrative has a nice pull—you want to keep reading. Seems to be all about surviving the process—refugee camp—summer camp—road trip—childhood. But as the book draws to a conclusion, the pull ends. There seemed to be nothing at the end of the rope that had been pulling me along and despite all the movement, I felt like I had never left the shallow end of the pool.

Considerable quality time is given to the main character’s back story with seemingly little direct payoff. Reminded me of coming to the end of Stephen King’s IT—the most disappointed I have ever been at the ending of a book. (Really, a giant ****** from outer space!) At least with IT, however, the build up of the characters was so strong that even after the ending ****** me off, I found myself coming back to the characters—their joys and fears and how they leaned on each other to get through it all. The draw of THE CROW was not nearly as strong so I was left with SEVERAL CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF AN ENDING. Would still recommend it for younger readers who might be satisfied by the journey. I didn’t end up anywhere I hadn’t already been.