Synopses & Reviews
The definitive biography of the century's godfather of invention-from the preeminent Edison scholar
"Israel's meticulous research and refusal to shy away from the dodgier aspects of Edison's personality offers a fresh glimpse into the life of the inventor."-New Scientist
"Remarkable."-Nature
"An authoritative look into Edison's working methods, here leavened by enough personal detail to give the achievements shape."-Publishers Weekly
"Highly recommended."
"Israel's book should go a long way toward taking Edison out of the shadows and placing him in the proper light."-Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"Exhaustively researched, with strong emphasis on Edison's methods and achievements."-Kirkus Reviews
The conventional story of Thomas Edison reads more like myth than history: With only three months of formal education, a hardworking young man overcomes the odds and becomes one of the greatest inventors in history. But the portrait that emerges from Edison: A Life of Invention reveals a man of genius and astonishing foresight whose career was actually a product of his fast-changing era. In this peerless biography, Paul Israel exposes for the first time the man behind the inventions, expertly situating his subject within a thoroughly realized portrait of a burgeoning country on the brink of massive change. Informed by Israel's unprecedented access to workshop diaries, notebooks, letters, and more than five million pages of archives, this definitive biography brings fresh insights to a singularly influential and triumphant career in science.
Review
"Paul Israel, in this latest biography, has done a remarkable job. Not only has he given us fresh insights into a complex personality, but he has set this against the backdrop of a dramatically changing American society driven on remorselessly by the second Industrial Revolution in which Edison was a pivotal players." (Nature, 9th November 2000)
Synopsis
Paul Israel's ambitious Edison brightens the unexamined corners of a singularly influential and triumphant career in science. Edison places its subject in the context of the Industrial Revolution and its aftermath, providing a rich understanding of how Edison developed the collaborative research model upon which today's corporate research firms and think tanks are based. Armed with unprecedented access to workshop diaries, letters, and more than five million pages of Edison archives, Israel has written the definitive biography of the century's godfather of invention.
Synopsis
Ein Bestseller jetzt neu als Broschurausgabe Die gebundene Ausgabe erzielte hervorragende Kritiken im Daily Telegraph, New Scientist, The Independent und in der Sunday Times - um nur einige zu nennen. Israel hatte erstmals Zugang zu Werkstatt-Tageb chern, Briefen und mehr als f nf Millionen Seiten Archivmaterial. Auf der Basis dieser Informationen hat er die erste ma gebende Biographie von Edison verfa t. Zum ersten Mal wird Edisons Karriere als Erfinder systematisch untersucht und bewertet. Im Detail wird erforscht, wie er u.a. mit der Erfindung des elektrischen Lichts, der Photographie und mehr als tausend anderen Dingen das 20. Jahrhundert pr gte. Dies ist auch die erste Biographie, die Edison im Zusammenhang mit dem rapiden industriellen Wandel betrachtet, indem die Auswirkungen dieses Wandels auf seine Erfindungen beschrieben werden. Dieses Buch liefert eine F lle neuer Informationen ber Edison und seine Erfindungen. Eine interessante und spannende Lekt re. (y03/00)
Synopsis
From the preeminent Edison scholar . . . The definitive life of the inventor of the modern age
The conventional story is so familiar and reassuring that it has come to read more like American myth than history: With only three months of formal education, a curious and hardworking young man beats the odds and becomes one of the greatest inventors in history. Not only does he invent the phonograph and the first successful electric light bulb, but he also establishes the first electrical power distribution company and lays the technological groundwork for today's movies, telephones, and sound recording industry. Through relentless tinkering, by trial and error, the story goes, Thomas Alva Edison perseveres-and changes the world.
In the revelatory Edison: A Life of Invention, author Paul Israel exposes and enriches this one-dimensional view of the solitary "Wizard of Menlo Park," expertly situating his subject within a thoroughly realized portrait of a burgeoning country on the brink of massive change. The second half of the nineteenth century witnessed the birth of corporate America, and with it the newly overlapping interests of scientific, technological, and industrial cultures. Working against the common perception of Edison as a symbol of a mythic American past where persistence and individuality yielded hard-earned success, Israel demonstrates how Edison's remarkable career was actually very much a product of the inventor's fast-changing era. Edison drew widely from contemporary scientific knowledge and research, and was a crucial figure in the transformation of invention into modern corporate research and collaborative development.
Informed by more than five million pages of archival documents, Paul Israel's ambitious life of Edison brightens the unexamined corners of a singularly influential and triumphant career in science. In these pages, history's most prolific inventor-he received an astounding 1,093 U.S. patents-comes to life as never before. Edison is the only biography to cover the whole of Edison's career in invention, including his early, foundational work in telegraphy. Armed with unprecedented access to Edison's workshop diaries, notebooks, and letters, Israel brings fresh insights into how the inventor's creative mind worked. And for the first time, much attention is devoted to his early family life in Ohio and Michigan-where the young Edison honed his entrepreneurial sense and eye for innovation as a newsstand owner and editor of a weekly newspaper-underscoring the inventor's later successes with new resonance and pathos.
In recognizing the inventor's legacy as a pivotal figure in the second Industrial Revolution, Israel highlights Edison's creation of the industrial research laboratory, driven by intricately structured teams of researchers. The efficient lab forever changed the previously serendipitous art of workshop invention into something regular, predictable, and very attractive to corporate business leaders. Indeed, Edison's collaborative research model became the prototype upon which today's research firms and think tanks are based.
The portrait of Thomas Alva Edison that emerges from this peerless biography is of a man of genius and astounding foresight. It is also a portrait rendered with incredible care, depth, and dimension, rescuing our century's godfather of invention from myth and simplification.
Advance Praise for Edison: A Life of Invention
"Familiar Edison stories come alive with fresh insight . . . Israel's scholarship is impeccable while his deceptively easy grace transforms a challenging story into a page turner. One hundred years of history texts have been right all along. Thomas Edison, a protean actor on the American landscape, requires our attention. Paul Israel has given us a book to satisfy that requirement for a long time to come."- John M. Staudenmaier, S.J., Editor, Technology and Culture
About the Author
PAUL ISREAL is the managing editor of the multivolume documentary edition of the Thomas Edison Papers at Rutgers University and the coauthor of Edison's Electric Light. He lives in Highland Park, New Jersey.
Table of Contents
Childhood and Education.
Itinerant Telegrapher.
From Operator to Inventor.
A Leading Electromechanician.
Competing Interests.
From Shop to Laboratory.
New Directions.
The Invention Factory.
The Wizard of Menlo Park.
Inventing a System.
From Research to Development.
Inventing an Industry.
Family Matters.
A New Laboratory.
Inventing Entertainment.
Industrial Research.
Competition and Consolidation.
Innovation and Enthusiasm.
A Modern Legend.
Fame in the Family.
The Business of Innovation.
Edison Incorporated.
Inventor-Philosopher.
Epilogue.
Notes.
Index.