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kcrouth's review against another edition
3.0
"AC/DC: The Savage Tale of the First Standards War" is an interesting glimpse into the battles waged to establish standards, in this case, the standard for electrical power generation and distribution. As an electrical engineer, the subject caught my attention immediately. Unsurprisingly, the battles were not primarily fought with scientific facts or engineering expertise, but rather with misinformation, fearmongering, and overblown egos and greed. As the cover image suggests, the face off between Edison and Westinghouse was fierce and brutal, and in the end, the loser never really conceded defeat. The book refreshed some forgotten history related to Edison and Westinghouse, but more interestingly, provided many insights into their personalities and motivations as manifest in this particular conflict. This is a nice concise history which is fun in a geekish sort of way. Good book.
bookwoman1967's review against another edition
2.0
Uneven. Spent several pages on the excruciating torture of dogs by Harold Brown, but skimmed over Tesla's harnessing of Niagara Falls for electric power in a paragraph. The topic deserves a more focused and even presentation.
dobermaier's review against another edition
dark
informative
tense
medium-paced
3.5
Interesting, but infuriating! Didn’t feature Tesla as much as I had hoped, but that’s ok. Honestly I hope Edison and Harold Brown are burning in hell. Do NOT read if you can’t handle reading about animal cruelty. There is a LOT.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Animal cruelty
stevenyenzer's review against another edition
3.0
It was good to get a deeper look into what I feel is a surprisingly controversial topic -- essentially, how much of an asshole Edison was. Turns out he was kind of an asshole, but not as much of an asshole as his dog-killing cronie. I found the passages describing Brown's experiments on dogs, not to mention Edison's execution of the elephant, very difficult to hear. The rest was an revealing look into the nature of invention and how technological progress is both aided and hampered by capitalism.
thebrainstorm215's review against another edition
dark
informative
sad
medium-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death
annie_stevo's review against another edition
4.0
This book is a great, readable look at the fierce conflict between Thomas Edison (and his proxies) and George Westinghouse (and Nikola Tesla).
It goes deep into the history of electricity research in a wonderful way. I found it endlessly fascinating. The main protagonists are well fleshed-out, and I found myself rooting for the crotchety old Edison, even though I knew that he would lose. (Not really a spoiler: AC wins.)
I'm not an expert on Edison, Tesla, or Westinghouse. As far as I can tell from other reviews, this book snapshots a very specific portion of these men's lives and doesn't portray any of them in the best light. As the book says, this conflict "brought out the worst in everyone."
The book does go into all of their backstories, though.
It's worth a read for anyone who's interested in Tesla, Edison, or late 19th-century science or industry.
Content warning: This book features a heavy section on animal torture and killing.
It goes deep into the history of electricity research in a wonderful way. I found it endlessly fascinating. The main protagonists are well fleshed-out, and I found myself rooting for the crotchety old Edison, even though I knew that he would lose. (Not really a spoiler: AC wins.)
I'm not an expert on Edison, Tesla, or Westinghouse. As far as I can tell from other reviews, this book snapshots a very specific portion of these men's lives and doesn't portray any of them in the best light. As the book says, this conflict "brought out the worst in everyone."
The book does go into all of their backstories, though.
It's worth a read for anyone who's interested in Tesla, Edison, or late 19th-century science or industry.
Content warning: This book features a heavy section on animal torture and killing.
jeffgrann's review against another edition
5.0
Inspiring story of the individuals responsible for our electricity-empowered lives. Their ambition, pride, and tenacity enabled, but also limited, their success. The AC/DC standards war was also fueled by the public’s fear and ignorance of electricity.
dlsmall's review against another edition
4.0
A tidy summary of the War of the Currents and its participants. If Harold P. Brown’s name has come up before as the primary disparager of AC and slayer of animals, I missed it….regardless, he got a lot of coverage here. Nervier of Edison than Tesla, but maybe that is realistic….we make it Edison/Tesla, but Edison/Westinghouse is the corporate battle of titans.