Thomas Edison: A Life From Beginning to End (Biographies of Business Leaders) Kindle Edition

After reading this book, my esteem for Thomas Edison has decreased. No doubt he was a great inventor, but many times his assistants deserved some, if not much, of the credit. Edison never shared the credit gut took it all for himself. As far as I'm concerned, he had only a few inventions that were his alone -- the vote counter, the phonograph and the fluoroscopy thing (and one of his assistants died from that -- did Edison ever compensate his family?). Contrary to popular belief, other inventors invented the light bulb -- Edison simply improved it. It was stated that he wages notorious for underpaying his workers (unlike Henry Ford who paid very generous wages), and killing dogs to prove a point was cruel. I agree with one of the other reviewers that he probably never should have married ad he spent little time with his wife and children. All in all, this was an illuminating book (pun intended), but not in a good way.

I read the One Hour History of Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison back to back and it was quite the comparison of personalities. I learned a lot from this short bio. In 1997, Life Magazine published a special double issue entitled, "The 100 Most Important People in the Last 1000 Years," and they listed Thomas Edison as number one. One of the biggest surprises for me when reading this bio was that Thomas Edison did not invent the electric light bulb - he improved upon it and successfully marketed it. He was very persistent and stubborn and this worked both to his favor and against him at various times in his life. He was caught up in his inventions for most of his life and he wasn't a good parent. He cheated Nikola Tesla and he was known to be very cheap. He was a good friend of Henry Fords and they were known to spend time together and travel later in life. While he did make money on his inventions he also lost money, had patent disputes in the courts, and turned much of his profits back into his inventions, and therefore he was not a wealthy as many assumed. His inventions include the phonograph, microphone used in telephones, mimeograph machines, and movie cameras, among others. He very stubbornly believe DC current was the only viable way for households to have electricity and he argued against alternating current, to his detriment ( and it is interesting that Nikola Tesla who he cheated would therefore win in the AC current argument.)Quote"I have not failed. I have found 10,000 ways that won't work." ~ Thomas Edison

This was an interesting biography but doesn’t completely define Mr. Edison. He did do much in the way of inventions but took credit for all of his staff‘s work for himself. He should probably never have married since he had no time for his wife and children. Although he didn’t do any philanthropy, he gave back to society by pouring his money into more discovery and inventions that did benefit society. I hadn’t remembered that Henry Ford worked for him before becoming the auto Mogul.

Growing up in the era that I did, Thomas Edison was very much a common subject, even though he had passed on some years earlier. Part of my name is named after this great man, and I am proud that my father chose him. Thomas Edison the book, short as it is, is a very nice overview of this man who would be such an integral part of bringing the world into modern times, modern ideas and the ability to move society forward. I love history as many people do, and am constantly amazed at where we came from and where we are headed to. This book highlights one of the things I most admired of Thomas Edison; the fact that money was secondary to each endeavor and how he was intimately involved in each one, and that he was there from beginning to end whether it succeeded or failed. Visionary is an understatement as he could visualize the task before him in such clear detail. Now having read this book I am going to find a way to visit the site where so much was done.

A rather elementary review of Thomas Alva Edison's life, but certainly worthwhile. I read a lot of 600-1000 page biographies, but most do not wish to absorb such detail. Thus shorter recaps such as this version are useful and may lead readers to more in-depth versions. The grammar could be better, perhaps a good proof reader would help. The style used here is reminiscent of a Readers Digest Condensed version.

A quick ( roughly 1 hour) read that provides and overview of Edison's life, career, and inventions, taking the time to note early experiences, and jobs that influenced later inventions. Contains quite a few familiar facts, along with some historical contexy, and in a few places juxtaposing Edison's personal and professional life, and includes some interesting tidbits:"When George Eastman came up with celluloid film, Edison used it to improve on his motion picture camera. The films were cut into strips with perforated edges; creating the iconic shape that most of us picture when we think about a film roll."

Until I read this account of Thomas Edison and his accomplishments, I thought he invented the light bulb. He didn't; he improved upon it by making it more efficient and cheaper to produce. He also was not a wizard in mathematics, which surprised me. His amazing ability to see the usefulness of product from beginning to end, will keep Thomas Edison in the history books for hundreds of years to come.

Very good when you think of Thomas Edison the only thing comes to your mind is lightbulb that Edison invented.By reading this book the lightbulb was already invented by others his invention towards the lightbulb he improved it to last longer and he also invented many other things like phonograph,kinetograph ,and so on.how upgraded or improved other inventions by other s now when I here the name Thomas Edison or see i will think differently in how he improved the lightbulb to last longer and many other inventions

A very short' biography', probably straight from Wikipedia, written in barely literate English. Here's a sample sentence: 'He was never about making vast amounts of money, however nice that would have been for his many inventions.' What? On reflection, perhaps not from Wikipedia but from some 11-year-old schoolboy's homework. Don't waste your money.

This was a good and interesting summary, so many inventions and so many patent challenges!

I usually love this kind of book but I just couldn't get into it.

Im going to read Tesla now.

Interesting story! Much social history included in this book!