This book is wonderful for ages 8 - 12 who want to read about Thomas Edison's childhood and important things about his adult life. Each chapter has exciting stories that happened to this inquisitive boy. He was a very curious boy who would always ask questions. His parents, mother in particular, are very supportive of his curiosity. There are interesting events that happen like when Thomas gets his first ice skates and when he rides on a steam engine train. If you are interested in the world around you and maybe interested in science, then this is the book for you. It's fascinating to read about Thomas Edison as a young boy and as he grows into an adult because the only info I had before was a listing of his inventions. By the way, it would be very fast reading for an adult, and it might be nice if your child is reading this that you read it, too.

Have you ever tried to sit on an egg and hatch it? Thomas Alva Edison did! He was a young who was curious about the world around him. He was born in a city near New York City. His family did not have much money, but they made a great effort to send young Thomas to school. At his first school that he attended, he was expelled for asking too much questions to her teacher. At his other 2 schools that he went too, he was also expelled for asking too many questions. At a young age Thomas would sell newspapers at a railroad. At the young age of 23, Thomas invented the phonograph, which is the grandfather of the Compact Disk. Then a couple of years later Thomas after 7 attempts invented the Light bulb. Years after inventing the light bulb, New York City was entirely lighted by light bulbs thanks to Thomas. He was even called "The wizard of Menlo Park".
This hilarious biography will make you want to keep reading and reading. The only thing that can stop you is the end of the book! The author, Sue Gut ridge, really makes you feel like if you were really Thomas Edison and by the way she describes him, you feel sad when Thomas is sad and you feel happy when Thomas is happy. This book is for someone that likes to laugh and feel really emotional at the same time.
Thomas Edison is a motivating biography that makes you feel better about yourself. When I read this book I felt muck better about my family and myself. I realized that I could be anyone if I wanted to by just closing my eyes and having a good imagination. Read it, buy it; you will have hours of unstoppable fun while you read this marvelous book and it has a marvelous ... price.

Although I have not read Mr. Moran's book, I am worried it appears as if he gives credit to George Westinghouse as fathering alternating current electricity. Westinghouse merely had the forsight to finance the brilliant mind behind AC electricity, Nikola Tesla, who conceived it, and designed the machinery for using it. Fortunately, Westinghouse was there at the right moment. It is possible without his financial help, Tesla may not have accomplished what he did. But let's make sure we have the right names for the fueding parties in this war of the currents. Westinghouse can get the credit for the AC electric plants because he was holding the purse strings, and for his courageous fight against Edison. However, it was the genius of NIKOLA TESLA that revolutionized electric power. So give credit where credit is due, and call it by its proper name--TESLA's AC electricity, not Westinghouse!

While this book may not be enough to push you over the line to rejecting the death penalty, it will certainly make you think about it. A very enticing read, the book touches upon complicated legal entanglements and medical issues without becoming too hard to understand. However, for those with little interest in criminal justice (or the mechanics of electricity), this is probably not a wise choice.

This book starts out being about criminal William Kemmler and the first case in which the electric chair was used. However, as the story progresses, it becomes more and more a tale of Thomas Edison (America's prized inventor and advocate of direct current) and his primary competitor George Westinghouse, who utalizes alternating current. Moran paints a dark picture of Edison, who will seemingly stop at nothing to slanderize Westinghouse by encouraging use of alternating currents for electrocution. This proves a major problem for Westinghouse, because in having his current branded an 'executioner's current', something dangerous to the public and only suited for providing death, he could lose valuable customers.

In this work, Moran's primary goal is to show how the invention and enactment of the electric chair as America's primary method of execution was chiefly motivated not by a desire to improve the humaneness of execution, but by corporate greed. When Edison and his lackey Harold Brown (another electrician) propetuate propaganda about alternating current as 'the best current for electrocutions due to its deadly nature', they are not looking out for the public's well being but for the good of Edison's company. And even when intentions for a better method of execution are good, as Moran points out, 'no execution can really be considered humane'.

In 1890, William Kemmler, a thirty-year-old dimwitted alcoholic, was executed at Auburn Penitentiary in New York. He had hatcheted his lover to death while she did the dishes the year before. He was a nobody, unremembered today but celebrated at the time because he was the first prisoner sentenced to die in the electric chair. Under the terms of the new New York law, the Electrical Execution Act, he got "a current of electricity, of sufficient intensity to destroy life instantaneously" rather than being hung. Kemmler's history, and the often bizarre story of how that first execution came to pass, is told in _Executioner's Current: Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and the Invention of the Electric Chair_ (Knopf) by Richard Moran. Moran has found that the problems of adopting this novel method of execution at the time mirror our own problems over capital punishment, because of the universally felt ambivalence on the subject. Although we are all sure that our stances on the death penalty are the right ones, our society acts as if it is not at all sure, and given the recent overturning of capital cases based on DNA testing, it is surely right to be unsure.

Electrocution was advocated as a humane improvement over hanging, but it was promoted as commercial propaganda. Electricity was being wired into homes via two systems, the system of direct current advocated and sold by Thomas Edison, and the system of alternating current pushed by George Westinghouse. Edison opposed capital punishment, but realized that making Westinghouse's system the basis for execution would reinforce that it was a dangerous current, unsuitable for customers' homes. Direct current was safe, Edison maintained, but alternating current was "the current that kills." Before the word "electrocution" was coined, as there was no word for executing by electricity, Edison proposed that condemned criminals be "Westinghoused." No amount of his propaganda could have made direct current easy to transmit or easily transformed from high voltage transmission to low voltage home use, but without Edison's efforts, the push to install electric chairs would not have been nearly so strong. Most states eventually switched from hanging, despite the botched electrocutions that revolted observers. Kemmler's was one of these, requiring a couple of jolts before he had ceased breathing, but leaving him frothing at the mouth and stinking up the execution room with the smell of his burned flesh.

While there were more successful electrocutions which were quiet, quick, and scentless, no one knew at the time whether the procedure was painless (although many maintained it was), and this is still a matter of some controversy. No one really knows the details of the internal process, and no one lives to tell us if it hurt. Moran's exhaustive book traces the legal acceptance of electrocution in our country, with courts at different levels assuring all that it may have been "unusual" when it was novel, but is no longer, and it was not cruel since it seemed to be fast, at least in some cases, so it is not "cruel and unusual punishment" forbidden by the Constitution. The electric chair has continued to be used and "remains the only electrical appliance that has not undergone major modification since its invention more than one hundred years ago." When we have to apply euthanasia to our pets, we would never take them to a veterinarian for electrocution, and the system of intravenous injection seems as painless as any could be. The Gerry Commission examined the use of injectable morphine, but thought that such a painless descent into permanent sleep would unnecessarily rid execution of a needed scare factor. This fascinating book shows that of such judgments, and corporate shenanigans, was electrocution born.

"It's still burning" was the phrase repeated as the light bulb stayed lit longer and longer. The same phrase was used by Edison's son to keep the death-vigil crowds informed as the great man lay dying, as relayed by this author. Unlike the Edison method of great volumes of empirical data patiently sifted down in huge experiments, the author deftly moves in and out of topics in a refreshingly constrained manner, which he really has to do to keep his book medium-length and still cover a lot.

The middle to the end of the book explores some very important themes, where there are irreconcilable problems with some of Edison's later inventions and the marketability of the resulting products. Like the ore-smashing enterprise in New Jersey, which worked, but not at a market profit. Same thing with the goldenrod-into-rubber operation in Florida.

These then become background for some surprisingly sensitive observations on Edison, made by his friends John Burroughs and Henry Ford. Ford is too sentimental to shut down the funding of the hopeless goldenrod operation; and Burroughs gently points out how Edison in his later years at least, contradicted his personal core-beliefs about sleeping and eating food (He sleeps till 10 am, "bolts half a pie," dumps tons of sugar in his coffee, then lectures on how Americans should eat less and sleep less).

The disconnect which also developed between Edison and his children is developed against the backdrop of Edison's inability to relate to the scale and demands of the electric power industry which he helped create. At his core, as the author shows, Edison's ability to do things was not necessarily transferable to others, including his children. The first batch of kids went kind of bad, and the group from marriage #2 turned out better because wife #2 was more strict and traditional than Edison.

Harvard Business Review recently had an article on great leaders, and pointed out that for every narcissistic leader, you need about 100 obsessive-compulsives scurrying around to make things really work. Each type needs the other to get anything done. This seems to have been the case with Edison, who in addition to being headstrong and creative, had the essential gifts described by Henry Ford as necessary to get anything done: also have "the soul of an Irish construction foreman and a Jewish broker." Or something like that.

I had been looking for something to get me past the grade school biographies that I remember reading about Edison -- this is the best biography of the inventor that I have read. Not only does it dispell many of the myths surrounding Edison (he didn't come up with the idea for the incandesent lamp; he was not made deaf by a conductor chastising him for a fire with his chemistry set), but it highlights his major work not in individual inventions, but in combining his inventions into systems ... that were both practical and profitable.

The book is very readable, and goes into just enough depth about his personal life (of which he had very little) and his public and professional lives. The only negative is that because it was written in the early 1950's, it is missing a perspective that could be added by 50 more years of luxuriating in the lifestyle which Edison has made possible.

I think that this book had some good experiments with electricity, some more complicated than others.

We checked this out in the library where it is a reference book. It is that useful and educational!! My son HAD to have it to make the drawer lock for his desk to keep his younger brother out. Don't tell him he might actually learn something too. Lots of basic experiments/ how-to's, and info about Edison. Great book.

I haven't been able to study from this book for any extended amount of time, due to the fact that it arrived with quite a bit of mildew odor. One wonders if it was sitting around in a basement since the publication date. I recommend looking for a used version of this book, preferably one stored in a dry area.

What a gem! Goodwin took what has been described as one of the most difficult languages to learn and created a slim, appealing book that will give a reader who has absolutely no knowledge of Russian enough of a grounding to feel brave enough to go on with further study, as well as enough of a foundation to decipher some of the background signs on the broadcast news. The text itself is visually appealing, inviting the reader to continue. The author's tone is conversational, not pedantic. This book is a delight to read. It is about as close to a page-turned as an introductory foreign grammar can get and has deservedly become a classic.

I liked this book because it told a LOT of facts with history and beliefs without being boring. It was conversational but tight. I enjoyed this book and that's rare considering I usually don't enjoy assigned books for class.

In the 90's I taught 4th and 5th grade in Baltimore, Maryland. I was so delighted with this textbook--with all of its stories and illustrations--that I just had to have it for teaching my own children.

It is a lot like a good literature book with "DK" style illustrations. My male students used to be mezmerized by the full-page, full-color diagram of a continental soldier---I confess I was too. That's not all though, the book is very easy to use-for student and teacher alike.

Far from being a dry,social studies text, this book has excellent photographs, illustrations, maps, diagrams, charts, time-lines, and primary-source literature.

This book teaches social studies the way that children prefer to learn it----visually!

Perhaps more detail has been written about Tesla, than his arch rival, Thomas Edison. The former was in the real sense, an inventor, while Edison, for all intent, was a tinkerer; that is, he took objects and concepts and made them better or workable. Sure, we have all heard about the Phonograph, and the Electric light bulb that Edison made workable, but most accounts summarize his dealings rather than scrutinize them.
The Authors of this book, wrote a highly detailed scholarly account of the 'inventor' Edison, in a way few other authors have ever accomplished.
As for the Tesla/Edision rivalry, I think it fortunate that Tesla won over the world with A/C electric Current rather than Edison's D/C; makes for less electrocutions in the home. Perhaps, fate was that all these inventors and tinkerers were at bat together, but I sometimes wonder what would have happened had they been spread out a little so that more detailed notes could have been made of their work and contribution.

This book has stunning photos of pre-colombian treasures. It's almost like a trip to a museum. Unfortunately, some pieces are enlarged way out of proportion, making scale difficult to gauge. Chapters include several aspects of daily life of the Incas. Also included are photo chapters on several important archelogical sites. A detailed chapter is included on the excavation on the treasures of Sipan from by Walter Alva, one of the principal investigators. This will look great on your coffee table and is a pleasure to page through and read.

People can often be categorized into one of two bins: innovators and followers - a small number pave the way for the rest. I chose to read Israel's biography of Edison because I wanted to understand more about the 'Wizard of Menlo Park,' the innovator's innovator, Thomas A. Edison.

Israel provides a detailed review of Edison's upbringing, influences, successes, and failures. The dominant character of the inventor's personality was his single-minded vision of success: the way he practiced telegraphy as a young man (long hours where ever he could find them), the way little could thwart his visions of innovation, his genius for seeing analogies among various technologies, his charismatic ability to raise capital, and his lack of fear of failure. Israel's portrayal of Edison paralleled de Toqueville's vision of the quintessential 19th century American. The 'Inventor of the Ages' was both a man who knew that what was good today could be made even better tomorrow and one that favored practical, applied knowledge over theoretical and esthetic considerations - "less learnin', more earnin'." (I admit that the latter quote is actually from an episode of Family Ties guest starring Carl Reiner but it is still applicable.) This is perhaps best summed up in the revelation (to me) that Edison did not stop at inventing the light bulb - he invented electric lighting. However, Edison's single-minded dedication to technical innovation negatively affected his personal relationships and his esteem among the scientific community of the early 20th century.

Israel's biography is extremely detailed. The text contains a great deal of the minutia of the individuals with whom Edison worked and technical descriptions of electrical apparatus in which I (who has studied only the physics which accompanies a BS in biology) had little interest or comprehension. I personally would have been satisfied with more interpretation from the author.

Mr. Israel has done an excellent job in capturing the human and scientific sides of Edison. After reading the book the reader has the feeling of actually knowing or having talked with the Inventor. Edison's entrepeneurship is an inspriation to all practicing engineers and scientists. The discussion of Mr Edison as a scientist or inventor in the epilogue is a lofty philosophical tratment(academic rhetoric) of an entrepreneuring individual that didn't add much. With this discussion all of the practicing engineers today are not scientist but inventors. The moving from this entrepreneurship in the educational institutions has been the disservice to the US industry, as shown by the ability of other nations taking over the industries such as electronics, autos and mechanical devices.The book is a must for anyone interested in innovantion history.

I did not know a great deal about Edison before reading this book and this served as a fascinating introduction. After visiting Edison's lab in West Orange, N.J. I became intrigued with him and wanted to learn more. Israel's book served as the perfect introduction to this complex and fascinating genius.

I emjoyed the fact that Israel divided the biography between Edison's professional scientific life and his complicated and sometimes bizarre private life, with strained relationships with his children and two marriages. Despite the fact Edison left much to be desired as a father, one almost feels sorry for him. Apparently his towering intellect made it difficult for him to connect emotionally with the more "plebian" sorts of people (which was everyone else on the planet). His sons struggled under the mighty shadow their father cast.

I highly recommend this book for anyone with a casual or serious insterest in the Wizard of Menlo Park.