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Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla by Marc J. Seifer Summary

Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla
Marc J. Seifer
3.73 (6473 Reviews)
Biography
Technology
History
Overview
Key Takeaways
Author
FAQs

Overview of Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla

Discover the genius who powered our world. "Wizard" unveils Tesla's electrifying life beyond Edison's shadow, inspiring Tesla Motors co-founder JB Straubel. What revolutionary idea did Tesla conceive that we're only now realizing was a century ahead of its time?

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Key takeaways

1

The Man Who Conjured Lightning From Air

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Picture a winter night in 1899. Against the Colorado darkness, a massive wooden tower suddenly erupts with electrical fire-bolts of lightning one hundred feet long crackling into the sky, visible from miles away. Inside the laboratory, a thin man with piercing eyes calmly adjusts dials, orchestrating this symphony of artificial thunder. This wasn't special effects or movie magic. This was Nikola Tesla, and he was attempting something no one had dared before: to turn the entire planet into a wireless power station. Born during a lightning storm in 1856, Tesla seemed marked from birth to wrestle with electricity itself. His mother, though illiterate, possessed photographic memory and invented household tools by candlelight. His father, a priest, wanted Nikola to follow him into the church. But Tesla had other plans-plans that would literally illuminate the modern world. Yet despite inventing the electrical system powering our civilization, he died penniless in a New York hotel room, feeding pigeons and claiming he'd built a death ray.

2

The Boy Who Saw Machines in His Mind

3

When Titans Clash: The War of the Currents

4

The Showman Scientist: Tesla's Golden Age

5

The Tower That Reached Too Far

6

The Long Twilight of Genius

7

The Lightning That Still Strikes

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"Crazy how much I learned while walking the dog. BeFreed = small habits → big gains."

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@Erin, Investment Banking Associate , NYC
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@djmikemoore
platform
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@Pitiful
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