Edison

As a frame of reference, over the past four and a half decades I've read all of the Edison and Tesla biographies, going back to the first "Edison & His Inventions" of 1879. I was delighted to learn much more from this new biography than I have from the others, with much new and enriching material presented, all carefully footnoted and referenced. Of particular interest are several pieces of communication and comments that Edison and Tesla made to and about each other, which cast a very different light on the popular conception of their relationship.Most of the Edison biographies (and Tesla's as well) have been highly derivative of content from prior published work, and if footnoted sources were given at all, they often led to a source that itself was not footnoted or was absent of any referenced primary historical data at all. Other biographical work that has done a fine job of maintaining professional and historical integrity, has nonetheless been of a scholarly bent and might not appeal to a general audience. I am giving Edmund Morris's book 5 stars because he not only provides voluminous original source material references, but because he writes as a mature author who knows how to put the pieces together, and when he does editorialize it is with unusual insight that rings true to this seasoned reader. Morris knows and portrays his subject and his subject's personality traits unusually well, and does not shy away from conveying the personality flaws that make Edison such a complex character. This is not a hagiographic account, so those looking for hero worship of a saintly personality may be disillusioned.What does come through however, in addition to the flaws, are those aspects of the man that are honorable and noteworthy. Those for whom Edison has had enduring appeal will likely come away with a deeper appreciation of the inventor's personality and its influences, shaping the man he ultimately became.Reviews have commented on the author's peculiar choice of telling the story chronologically backwards. This does take some getting used to and can be momentarily disorienting, but I think I understand the author's intent. As each layer of Edison's challenges, his reactions to them and their consequences gets peeled away, the more clearly and plainly we comprehend how his personality evolved. There is something uncannily effective about the journey toward a greater innocence and naivety, as we gradually come to understand how these traits became leitmotifs in Edison's life, as others came to be added, along the way to a long and remarkable life.

The book is an exhaustive -- and at times exhausting -- treatment in detail of Edison's life. Large sections of it that are so technical and detailed that my eyes glazed over and I skimmed over the material. You will get a deep dive into electricity and various engineering minutiae of Edison's prolific inventive mind.What comes through was Edison's almost superhuman, inexhaustible, indefatigable energy and intellectual wattage. He would work for long stretches of time without sleeping or eating, so focused on his experiments, inventions and projects. His mind was constantly churning with ideas as he filled notebooks with future visions and projects. He would try hundreds, thousands of methods and experiments until he found a solution to the problem that he was tackling. His intellectual persistence seems superhuman. It is hard to think of another individual who was his prolific and productive through sheer output of ideas and ingenious inventions.This is not a hagiography, however, that lionizes Edison. Feet of clay show through. The book shows him, warts and all. He seemed to lack business savvy and flirted with financial problems despite the massive financial windfalls available from his various inventions, patents and products. He wed twice, but one gets the impression that he essentially lived a life separate from his wives, so absorbed was he with his work. His children became afterthoughts as well; it is hard to say that he had any relationship with them other than monetarily. He fathered children, but did not seem to be much of a Dad to his children, many of whom suffered from lacking much other than a genetic/biological relationship with him.The curious feature of this book is its unorthodox structure and organization. I am a huge fan of Edmund Morris and -- in particular -- his three-volume opus on the life of Theodore Roosevelt. Unlike those books, however, Morris opts for a weird organizational structure to this biography. Essentially, he begins the book at the end of Edison's life and then works backwards in roughly ten-year chunks from the end-of-life, ending with Edison's boyhood in Ohio. It is a Benjamin Button-esque approach to biography. It is not reader-friendly and evokes some head-scratching.One might expect that, in a Preface/Foreword, either Morris or his Editor posthumously would have provided context for the unorthodox, counterintuitive anti-chronological approach used here. It's almost as though Morris was saying, "I did it because . . . well, I can!"As other reviewers have correctly noted, one workaround is to simply read the chapters in reverse order. I chose not to do that, but why not make the manuscript as reader-friendly as possible or provide context for the unorthodox biographical approach? A rhetorical question but a legitimate one nonetheless.Ultimately, this was a detailed biography of perhaps America's most prolific inventor. The technical details and approach to the narrative however at times tested my willpower to grind on through to the very end. Your mileage may vary.

This is the best detailed history of Edison I have ever read. The writing is smooth and conversational. The research is well-targeted and thought-provoking. Telling Edison's story backward from the end of his life allowed me to jump into the middle of major events rather than having to plow through a lot of childhood stories as background before getting to the really big public, economic, industrial, and scientific events. The format worked very well for me as a reader.Morris's interpretation of a number of events corresponds to my perceptions based on family letters and conversations with my grandmother Madeleine Edison [Sloane]. I think she would have liked this book.David Edward Edison Sloane

This book is totally awesome, the writing style is such a high standard, good illustration, the page quality is high (paperback). I recommend to everyone to read this book and happy reading....

As much about business as invention. An implicit guide to life: Half what to do and half what not to do. Edited, you might say, by Sigmund Freud.

Impressive inventor and the book is filled with lots of historic fragments of his life. Just don't get why the writer decided to reverse the order of the biography. So annoying to read from his older years to the younger years, what a waste of an otherwise good book.

Educational..?

Loved the book