About the book
Matthew Josephson presents Thomas Edison as a paradox: a boy who was deaf, poor and without formal schooling became a prolific and versatile inventor, built fortunes for himself and others, and valued money only as a way to fund more inventions. The biography covers his chief contributions, among them the phonograph, the carbon microphone, the motion-picture camera, the electric light bulb and systems for distributing electricity. It also examines his methods, halfway between the old craftsman-tinkerer and the modern scientist, as he ran large research laboratories with no training in mathematics or basic science. Josephson does not hide Edison's exploitative and sometimes crude side. The book won the Francis Parkman Prize of the Society of American Historians.
Ryan Holiday praised it as a sweeping, conclusive picture of Edison, modern enough to be accurate and old enough to still respect ambition.
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This book has 1 recommendation
Ryan Holiday (Founder/Brass Check)
Older biographies are better in my experience. This one is 50+ years old and that’s right in the sweet spot. It didn’t have to be trendy, it didn’t have to psychoanalyze, it didn’t have to be political correct or controversial. It just had to be a sweeping, conclusive picture of the man. Modern enough to be historically accurate, old enough to still have respect for ambition. No question, this is a big book but I learned a lot. For instance, I had no idea that Edison had been mostly deaf (and that that deafness fueled and improved many of his sound inventions). I didn’t know about his friendship with Henry Ford or what a shrewd businessman Edison was. If you like big biographies, read this.
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